Gaurotes virginea

Gaurotes virginea is a species of the Lepturinae subfamily in the long-horned beetle family.^[1]

Gaurotes virginea
Gaurotes virginea thalassina
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Superfamily:	Cerambycoidea
Family:	Cerambycidae
Subfamily:	Lepturinae
Genus:	Gaurotes
Species:	G. virginea
Binomial name
Gaurotes virginea (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Carilia virginea (Linnaeus) Villiers, 1978 Leptura virginea Linnaeus, 1758 Pachyta virginea (Linnaeus) Küster, 1846 Gaurotes virgineum (Linnaeus) (misspelling) Gaurotes virgineus (Linnaeus) (misspelling)

Subtaxa

There are four varietets in species, and four varietets in nominative subspecies:^[1]

• Gaurotes virginea aemula Mannerheim, 1852
• Gaurotes virginea kozhevnikovi Plavilstshikov, 1915
• Gaurotes virginea thalassina (Schrank, 1781)
• Gaurotes virginea virginea (Linnaeus, 1758)

• Gaurotes virginea virginea var. notaticollis (Pic)
• Gaurotes virginea virginea var. sanguinaria (Pic)
• Gaurotes virginea virginea var. vidua (Mulsant, 1839)
• Gaurotes virginea virginea var. violacea (DeGeer)

Distribution and habitat

This beetle is distributed in most of Europe (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland) and in the eastern Palearctic realm (Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and Korea).^[1][2] They inhabit spruce forests. They are very common and frequent along the alpine arc.^[3]

Description

Gaurotes virginea has a body length of 7–13 millimetres (0.28–0.51 in).^[4][3] These beetles are quite robust, elytra are bright blue with a metallic sheen. Pronotum is black, reddish or black with rusty spots. The abdomen is usually reddish, but some subspecies are characterized by a totally black prothorax and black abdomen.^[5]

This species is rather similar to Dinoptera collaris, but G. virginea is bright blue with strong metallic reflections while D. collaris is bright black without metallic reflections. Moreover, the first species shows an obtuse tooth on the sides of the prothorax, while in the second the sides of the prothorax are rounded.

Biology

The life cycle of these beetles lasts two years. Larvae are oligophagous wood borers in coniferous trees, they live under the bark and mainly feed on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies), Abies and Larix species. Adult beetles can be found from May to August. Adult beetles feed on pollen of various flowers, especially on Heracleum sphondylium.^[4][3][6]

Gallery

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  Mating
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  Upperside view
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  Side view
• Clip