The timberman beetle (''Acanthocinus aedilis'') is a species of woodboring

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 ...

belonging to the

longhorn beetle 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 Antenn ...

family. It is found in

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

s, with a large distribution through

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 ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. It is also known as the Siberian Timberman due to its range extending northwards in to Siberia. In Finnish this species is known as Sarvijaakko, in Dutch as Timmerboktor and in Swedish as Större Timmerman. Despite a few sources suggesting reports in Central America, no confirmed reports were available at time of editing (May, 2020). The species is also not listed as invasive in North America. The body length ranges from 12-20mm, with antennae up for 3 times the body length in males, or 1.5 times the body length in females. Their lifespan is up to 3 years which includes the 1–2 years spent in the larval stage. This species is capable of surviving freezing temperatures below -37 °C in both the adult and larval stages. The adults are active from March to June, during which they are diurnal. The adults overwinter in pupal chambers in

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituen ...

or under the bark. In Continental Europe, this species has become a serious pest of commercially-grown timber as the larvae feed under the bark, weakening the trees. Through infesting weakened trees, excavating galleries under the bark, the trees then die. Their development within wood debris in natural forests is beneficial for

nutrient cycling A nutrient cycle (or ecological recycling) is the movement and exchange of inorganic and organic matter back into the production of matter. Energy flow is a unidirectional and noncyclic pathway, whereas the movement of mineral nutrients is cyc ...

in forest ecosystems, but can also facilitate the transfer of pathogenic fungi within woodlands.

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-gr ...

(''Pinus sylvestris'' L.) and

Norway Spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very clo ...

(''Picea abies'') are key food sources for this beetle species. A distribution map within the UK can be found courtesy of the National Biodiversity Network. The species is reported to be ''Nationally Scarce category B'' within

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

by the Wildlife Trust BCN in 2018.

References

Insect Natural History, A.D.Imms, Collins, 1973 * * {{taxonbar , from=Q203735 Acanthocinus Beetles of Europe Beetles of Asia Beetles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus