Slender Mallee Longhorn Beetle
S6, Eye
Wattle Longhorn Beetle
Dorsal
| Slender Mallee Longhorn Beetle S6, Eye | | Wattle Longhorn Beetle Dorsal | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Beetles (Coleoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Longhorn Beetle (Cerambycidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Slender Mallee Longhorn Beetle (Aposites sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S6, ventral🔎 | ||||
| Other names: | Longicorn Beetle, Long-horn Beetle or Long Horned Beetle | ||||
Thank you Mark Hura for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere S1 & S2 are ~26mm long. Specimen 1 has antennae length of ~26mm & S2 ~28mm S1 & S2 were found on the same night at the outside light. Thinking they were the same, didn't photograph the second specimen as rigorously. They are probably 2 different species. The antennae length suggests both are males (ie extends beyond the elytra). The body length compared with wings & their antennae joint near the base are different. They also have slightly different markings on the thorax. Mark said "Can rule out A. pubicollis as the abdomen doesn't extend past the elytra (among other obvious differences) and we can rule out A. lanaticollis as this is a small, light coloured species which is quite distinctive from the ones we have in the mallee. A. gracilis can also be ruled out - it is very similar to A. lanaticollis but even smaller. This leaves us with A. macilentis and A. niger. From the descriptions, there is not a lot separating them other than the form of the pronotum. The type of A. macilentis has the pronotum quite conical with only a slight swelling near the centre, whereas A. niger has the pronotum quite expanded about the middle, before being contracted before the base, where it again flares out fairly distinctively." "In general they seem to share more in common with A. niger, despite their size (A. niger type is only 18mm compared with A. macilentis 26mm)." | |||||
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