Rutpela maculata

Rutpela maculata, the spotted longhorn, is a beetle species of flower longhorns of the family Cerambycidae, subfamily Lepturinae.

Rutpela maculata
Rutpela maculata. Male
Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Cerambycidae
Genus:	Rutpela
Species:	R. maculata
Binomial name
Rutpela maculata (Poda, 1761)
Synonyms
Leptura armata Herbst in Füssli, 1784 Leptura fasciata Scopoli, 1763 Leptura nigra Petagna, 1787 nec Linnaeus, 1758 Leptura quinquemaculata Gmelin, 1790 Leptura rubea Geoffroy, 1785 Rutpela maculata (Poda) Nakane & Ohbayashi, 1957 Stenocorus belga major Voet, 1806 Strangalia maculata P(Poda) Mulsant, 1863

Varieties

Varieties within this species include:^[1]

• Rutpela maculata var. calcarata Olivier, 1790
• Rutpela maculata var. maculipes Podaný, 1950
• Rutpela maculata var. nigricornis (Stierlin, 1864)
• Rutpela maculata var. seminotata Kaufman, 1947
• Rutpela maculata var. subbinotata Podaný
• Rutpela maculata var. subsinuata Depoli
• Rutpela maculata var. undulata (Mulsant, 1839)
• Rutpela maculata var. subexternepunctata Podaný
• Rutpela maculata var. parumnotata Podaný
• Rutpela maculata var. subspinosa Fabricius, 1792
• Rutpela maculata var. subundulata Depoli, 1926
• Rutpela maculata var. subdisconotata Podaný
• Rutpela maculata var. sinuata Fabricius, 1792

Distribution

This beetle is widespread in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, and in the Near East (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sardinia, Serbia, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, and the United Kingdom).^[2][1]

Description

Rutpela maculata – mating pair

Rutpela maculata – in-flight

The adults grow up to 13–20 millimetres (0.51–0.79 in). The head and pronotum are dark-brown, while elytra are yellowish, with black dots and stripes, rough imitations of wasps, which probably gives them some protection from birds.^[3]

Biology

The species completes its life cycle in two to three years, spending most of their lives as larvae.^[3] The adults can be encountered from May to August; they are short-lived, only living for two to four weeks. They are very common flower-visitors, especially Apiaceae species, feeding on pollen and the nectar. The larvae are polyphagous in the wood of deciduous trees, mainly feeding on Corylus avellana, Fagus sylvatica, Castanea sativa and Ostrya carpinifolia, as well as on Quercus, Carpinus, Salix, Alnus, Populus and Betula species.^[1][3]

See also

• Clytus arietis, another common wasp-mimicking longhorn beetle.