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THE JEWEL BEETLES (COL., BUPRESTIDAE) OF THÁSOS
One of the most striking wildlife features of the Mediterranean district in early summer is the profusion of brightly-coloured, often metallic, beetles that swarm over Cistus and other flowers in hot sunshine. Most of the species involved are either chafers (Scarabaeidae) or jewel beetles (Buprestidae). The Buprestidae are (chiefly) extremely attractive beetles that feed as larvae in dead and dying wood, plant stems and leaves (one sub-family feeds externally on roots) and world-wide there are more than 15,000 described species. Most species occur in hot climates, especially the tropics, but there is a rich fauna in southern Europe. Oertzen (1886) listed 127 taxa from Greece but the Greek fauna has been almost doubled to 242 species in a recent review by Mühle, Brandl, & Niehuis (2000).
I am aware of only three published records of buprestids from Thásos. Buprestis procheki (included in Mühle et al. as Chalcophora intermedia) was collected at Limenas in 1943 (Karnozickij, 1959), Levey (1985) recorded Anthaxia umbellatarum at Potos in 1983, and Markalas (1991) recorded Melanophila cuspidata from burnt pines. However, 26 species are mapped by Mühle et al. (2000) as occurring on Thásos, presumably as a result of examining museum collections. Unpublished records from visits by British coleopterists (D.C. Boyce & A.P. Fowles) since 1995 add a further 12 species (marked *) to the Thásos list. The commonest species appear to be Anthaxia bicolor, A. fulgurans and A. hungarica, whilst Chalcophora detrita and Anthaxia corinthia are also frequently encountered. I'm grateful to Dr B. Levey and S. Bílý for assistance with identification.
CHECKLIST Acmaeodera brevipes* Kiesenwetter [hostplant: Quercus spp.] Acmaeodera crinita* Gory [hostplant: various trees and shrubs] Acmaeoderella farinosa (Reiche & Saulcy) [hostplant: Armeniaca vulgaris and Prunus spp.] Acmaeoderella flavofasciata (Piller & Mitterpacher) [hostplant: various trees and shrubs] Acmaeodera (Acmaeotethya) ottomana* Frivaldsky [hostplant: various trees and shrubs] Acmaeodera pilosellae* Bonnelli [hostplant: various trees and shrubs] Acmaeodera (Acmaeotethya) quadrizonata Abeille [hostplant: Ficus and Quercus spp.] Acmaeoderella villosula (Steven) [hostplant: Ferula (fennel), Malabalia and Zosimia spp.] Anthaxia bicolor Faldermann [hostplant: Olives Olea spp.] Anthaxia (Melanthaxia) corinthia(Reiche & Saulcy) [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Anthaxia fulgurans (Schrank) [hostplant: various trees and shrubs] Anthaxia (Cratomerus) hungarica* (Scopoli) [hostplant: Quercus spp.] Anthaxia hypomelaena (Illiger) [hostplant: Eryngium spp. (sea holly etc.)] Anthaxia nitidula signaticollis* Krynicki [hostplant: various trees and shrubs] Anthaxia (Melanthaxia) obesa* Abeille [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Anthaxia passerinii Pecchioli [hostplant: Juniperus spp.] Anthaxia (Melanthaxia) pinguis* Kiesenwetter [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) praeclara Mannerheim [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Anthaxia podolica* Mannerheim [hostplant: ash Fraxinus spp. and Cornelian cherry Cornus mas] Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) umbellatarum (F.) [hostplant: various trees and shrubs] Buprestis dalmatina Mannerheim [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Buprestis haemorrhoidalis Herbst [hostplant: Abies, Picea and Pinus spp.] Buprestis humeralis Klug [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Capnodis tenebrionis L. [hostplant: woody Rosaceae.] Capnodis tenebricosa* (Olivier) [hostplant: docks Rumex spp.] Chalcophora detrita Klug [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Chalcophora intermedia (Rey) [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Chalcophorella stigmatica (Schoenherr) [hostplant: Prunus spp.] Chalcophorella fabricii (Rossi) [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Chrysobothris affinis (F.) [hostplant: various trees and shrubs, especially oak Quercus spp.] Chrysobothris solieri Gory & Laporte [hostplant: Pinus spp., also Cedrus spp. and Picea abies] Julodis ehrenbergi* Laporte [hostplant: roots of various trees, shrubs & herbaceous plants] Melanophila cuspidata (Klug) [hostplant: various burnt trees and shrubs, especially conifers] Phaenops chalcea Abeille [hostplant: Pinus spp.] Phaenops cyanea (F.) [hostplant: Picea and Pinus spp.] Poecilonota variolosa (Paykull) [hostplant: poplars Populus spp.] Trachypteris picta (F.) [hostplant: poplars Populus spp. and willows Salix spp.] Trachys pumilus* Illiger [hostplant: Phlomis spp. (Jerusalem sage etc.)] REFERENCES Karnozickij, N. 1959. Materialieh zur Koleopterenfauna der Ägäischen Küste und Insel Thasos. Izv. Zool. Inst. Sofia, 8: 237-253. Levey, B. 1985. Revision of the umbellatarum species group of Anthaxia (Coleoptera, Buprestidae). Systematic Entomology, 10: 299-306. Markalas, S. 1991. Insects attacking burnt pine trees (Pinus halepensis, P. brutia and P. nigra) in Greece. Anzeiger Fur Schadlingskunde Pflanzenschutz Umweltschutz, 64: 72-75. Mühle, H., Brandl, P. & Niehuis, M. 2000. Catalogus Faunae Graeciae - Coleoptera Buprestidae. Augsburg, Georg Röble. Oertzen, E. v. 1886. Verzeichniss der Coleopteren Griechenlands und Cretas. Berliner Entomolog. Zeitschrift, 30: 189-293. |
