Brachyta interrogationis
Brachyta interrogationis is the species of the Lepturinae subfamily in Cerambycidae family. This species was described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae under the name Leptura interrogationis.
Subspecies
Brachyta interrogationis interrogationis Linnaeus, 1758Brachyta interrogationis duodecimmaculata Fabricius, 1781Brachyta interrogationis ebenina Mulsant, 1839Brachyta interrogationis eitschbergeri Danilevsky & Peks, 2015Brachyta interrogationis gabzdili Danilevsky & Peks, 2016Brachyta interrogationis lederi Lazarev, 2011Brachyta interrogationis mannerheimii Motschulsky, 1860Brachyta interrogationis marginella Fabricius, 1793Brachyta interrogationis miroshnikovi Lazarev, 2011Brachyta interrogationis russica Herbst, 1784Brachyta interrogationis shapsugorum Lazarev, 2011:Brachyta interrogationis zubovi Lazarev, 2016Distribution
This species mainly occurs in Central Europe, Caucasus, east to Western Russia, Kazakhstan, Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea and Japan.Habitat
In Europe, this species is boreal-mountainous, reaching south to the Italian and French Alps, and north to the Arctic Circle. In the Alps, these beetles can be found at elevations up to 2700 meters above sea level.Description
Brachyta interrogationis can reach approximately a body length of. They have a black body. Pronotum is convex, with dense punctuation. Also head, thorax and legs are black. Legs are relatively long and slender. The elytra are characterized by a very high variability and more than 150 varietas have been described. Sometimes the elitra are completely black or completely yellow, but usually they are brownish-yellow, with black spots on scutellum, two longitudinal black arcuate bands, and black spots on the sides and on the apex. Antennae are composed by 5-11 segments.Biology
The adult beetles can be seen on flowers from around May to August. They mainly feed on leaves, petals and pollen of flowers of wood cranesbill, but also on wild angelica, Anemone, plumeless thistles, hogweed, Bupleurum species, peony and spurge.The larva develop in the soil, feeding on roots of grasses and other perennial plants. in which they dig longitudinal galleries. The development time from larva to imago takes one to two years. Then they form a pupation chamber, from which the imago leaves in May and June.