Gaurotes virginea

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Coleopterida
Ordo: Coleoptera
Subordo: Polyphaga
Infraordo: Cucujiformia
Cladus: Phytophaga
Superfamilia: Chrysomeloidea

Familia: Cerambycidae
Subfamilia: Lepturinae
Tribus: Rhagiini
Genus: Gaurotes
Subgenus: Gaurotes (Carilia)
Species: Gaurotes virginea
Name

Gaurotes virginea (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms

Leptura virginea Linnaeus, 1758

References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiæ: impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii. i–ii, 1–824 pp DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.542: 398. Reference page.

Links

Gaurotes virginea Taxon details on Fauna Europaea
Tribe Rhagiini: Carilia virginea (Linnaeus, 1758) - photo by A.S. Vlasenko
ZooBank: EB267680-BD33-45EA-8169-8D8B66AEB696

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Blaubock
lietuvių: Raudonpilvis medkirtis
norsk: Gaurotes virginea
русский: Черногрудый усач
svenska: Blåbock
українська: Вусачик-карілія дівочий

Gaurotes virginea is a species of the Lepturinae subfamily in the long-horned beetle family.[1]

Subtaxa

There are four varietets in species, and four varietets in nominative subspecies:[1]

Gaurotes virginea aemula Mannerheim, 1852
Gaurotes virginea kozhevnikovi Plavilstshikov, 1915
Gaurotes virginea thalassina (Schrank, 1781)
Gaurotes virginea virginea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Gaurotes virginea virginea var. notaticollis (Pic)
Gaurotes virginea virginea var. sanguinaria (Pic)
Gaurotes virginea virginea var. vidua (Mulsant, 1839)
Gaurotes virginea virginea var. violacea (DeGeer)

Distribution and habitat

This beetle is distributed in most of Europe (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland) and in the eastern Palearctic realm (Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and Korea).[1][2] They inhabit spruce forests. They are very common and frequent along the alpine arc.[3]
Description

Gaurotes virginea has a body length of 7–13 millimetres (0.28–0.51 in).[4][3] These beetles are quite robust, elytra are bright blue with a metallic sheen. Pronotum is black, reddish or black with rusty spots. The abdomen is usually reddish, but some subspecies are characterized by a totally black prothorax and black abdomen.[5]

This species is rather similar to Dinoptera collaris, but G. virginea is bright blue with strong metallic reflections while D. collaris is bright black without metallic reflections. Moreover, the first species shows an obtuse tooth on the sides of the prothorax, while in the second the sides of the prothorax are rounded.
Biology

The life cycle of these beetles lasts two years. Larvae are oligophagous wood borers in coniferous trees, they live under the bark and mainly feed on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies), Abies and Larix species. Adult beetles can be found from May to August. Adult beetles feed on pollen of various flowers, especially on Heracleum sphondylium.[4][3][6]

References

BioLib Taxon profile — species Gaurotes virginea (Linnaeus, 1758)
Fauna europaea
Commanster
Longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) of the West Palearctic region
Mikhil Leonyyevich Danilevsky & Seung Hwan Oh Carilia virginea komensis (Tamanuki, 1938), stat. nov. from Korea (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lepturinae)
A. Szujecki Ecology Of Forest Insects