''Pseudovadonia livida'', the fairy-ring longhorn beetle, is a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

species of ''flower longhorns'' belonging to the family

Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns (whose larvae are often referred to as roundheaded borers), are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by anten ...

, subfamily

Lepturinae Lepturinae, the lepturine beetles, is a subfamily of the longhorn beetle family (biology), family (Cerambycidae), containing about 150 genera worldwide. This lineage is most diverse in the Northern Hemisphere. Until recently the subfamily Necyd ...

Subspecies

Subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

include: *''Pseudovadonia livida bicarinata'' (Arnold, 1869) *''Pseudovadonia livida desbrochersi'' (Pic, 1891) *''Pseudovadonia livida hatayensis'' Özdikmen, 2015 *''Pseudovadonia livida livida'' (Fabricius, 1776) *''Pseudovadonia livida pecta'' (J. Daniel & K. Daniel, 1891) *''Pseudovadonia livida setosa'' Danilevsky, 2013

Distribution

This beetle is widespread in most of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, in the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The ...

, and in the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

(Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic (Bohemia, Moravia), Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sicily, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom).Fauna europaea
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Habitat

This species mainly inhabits pine forests, but they are also present in deciduous trees (''

Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

'' and ''

Castanea The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description C ...

'' species).

Description

The adults of ''Pseudovadonia livida'' grow up to . These small beetles are robust and have a broad head with large eyes, dense puncturation and erect pubescence. The antennae are black and robust, slightly shorter than the body. Pronotum is quadrate and shiny black, with shallow puncturation on the surface. Also the scutellum is shining black. Elytra are reddish-brown with darker suture. Shoulders are much wider than the base of the pronotum. They are covered with fine semi-erect golden hair.Cerambyx
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/ref>

Biology

Adults can be encountered from May through September, completing their

life cycle Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to: Science and academia *Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from conception to reproduction *Life-cycle hypothesis, in economics *Erikson's stages of psy ...

in two years. They are very common flower-visitors, especially

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

species, feeding on pollen and the nectar. Larvae do not develop in dead wood, as usual in many species of

, but in humus infested by fungus ''

Marasmius oreades ''Marasmius oreades'', also known as the fairy ring mushroom, fairy ring champignon or Scotch bonnet, is a mushroom native to North America and Europe. Its common names can cause confusion, as many other mushrooms grow in fairy rings, such as t ...

'', feeding on

mycelium Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

Gallery

File:Cerambycidae - Pseudovadonia livida.JPG, Mating pair File:Cerambycidae - Pseudovadonia livida-000.JPG, In flight File:Pseudovadonia livida Fabricius, 1776 (3806963957).jpg, Mounted specimen File:Pseudovadonia livida in copula.ogv, Clip

References

*Ehnström, B. og Holmer, M. 2007.

Nationalnyckeln till Sveriges flora och fauna ''Nationalnyckeln till Sveriges flora och fauna'' (Swedish for "National Key to Sweden's Flora and Fauna") is a set of books, the first volume of which, ''Fjärilar: Dagfjärilar'' (Butterflies, 140 species), appeared on 25 April 2005. The publish ...

. Skalbaggar: Långhorningar. Coleoptera: Cerambycidae. ArtDatabanken SLU, Uppsala. 298 sider.

External links

Coleoptera and Coleopterologists
Lepturinae Beetles of Europe Beetles described in 1776 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius {{Lepturinae-stub