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Species Tetraopes mandibularis

Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - Tetraopes mandibularis Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - Tetraopes mandibularis Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - Tetraopes mandibularis Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - Tetraopes mandibularis Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - Tetraopes mandibularis Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - Tetraopes mandibularis Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - Tetraopes mandibularis Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - Tetraopes mandibularis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Longhorn and Leaf Beetles)
Family Cerambycidae (Longhorn Beetles)
Subfamily Lamiinae (Flat-faced Longhorn Beetles)
Tribe Tetraopini
Genus Tetraopes (Milkweed Longhorn Beetles)
Species mandibularis (Tetraopes mandibularis)
Explanation of Names
Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak 1963
Size
12-15 mm (1)
Identification
final key couplets in Linsley & Chemsak (1995) leading to T. mandibularis:
last antennal segment gradually tapering apically, antennal segments without fringes of very long hairs at apices,
mandibles of male with very large, prominent dorsal tubercle extending for about half their lengths,
elytra with sutural spot always present and occasionally a post-humeral spot. (1)
Range
TX-OK (w. OK and panhandle region of TX) (1)(2)(3)(4)
Type Locality: Childress, Childress Co., Texas; Collected by J. Mitchell, 1906
Habitat
asso. w/ Asclepias latifolia in the Llano Estacado region of northwestern Texas and adjacent Oklahoma (2)(3)
Season
Jun-Aug (1)(2)(Chemsak 1963)
Food
Host: Broadleaf Milkweed - Asclepias latifolia (1)(2)(3)(5)
Remarks
This uncommonly encountered milkweed beetle is found in western Oklahoma and the panhandle region of Texas.
Forty-nine individuals were found in association with T. femoratus LeConte on Asclepias latifolia in Texas: Dickens Co., Double Rafter Ranch, 30-VII/29-VIII-79, 2/8-VII-80, [Marlin E. Rice]. Chemsak (1963) indicated that when a single host is utilized among two sympatric milkweed beetle species, one species is usually much less numerous than the other, and during a two year period, ca. 200 A. latifolia growing in a fallow field, yielded fewer T. mandibularis than T. femoratus, with the ratio being 1:3.2. (2)
See Also
Tetraopes texanus, Tetraopes quinquemaculatus (1)
Print References
Chemsak, J.A. 1963. Taxonomy and bionomics of the genus Tetraopes (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera). University of California Publications in Entomology 30(1): 1-90.
Internet References
Type Info - Smithsonian
Works Cited
1.The Cerambycidae of North America, Part VII, No. 2: ... subfamily Lamiinae, tribes Acanthocinini through Hemilophini.
E. Gorton Linsley & John A. Chemsak. 1995. University of California Publications in Entomology 114: 1-292.
2.Biological and distributional observations on Cerambycidae from the southwestern United States.
Rice, M.E., R.H. Turnbow, Jr. & F.T. Hovore. 1985. The Coleopterists Bulletin 39(1): 18-24.
3.The timing of insect/plant diversification: might Tetraopes (Col.: Cerambycidae) and Asclepias (Asclepiadaceae) have co-evolved?
Farrell B.D., Mitter C. 1998. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 63: 553–577.
4.Texas A&M University Insect Collection (TAMUIC)
5.The Cerambycidae of north-central Texas.
Lingafelter, S.W. & N.V. Horner. 1993. Coleopterists Bulletin, 47(2): 159-191.