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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Series Cucujiformia » Longhorn and Leaf Beetles (Chrysomeloidea) » Longhorn Beetles (Cerambycidae) » Prioninae » Prionini » Prionus

Genus Prionus

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Works Cited

Headed for Disaster - Prionus laticollis

Prionus spinipennis Hovore & Turnbow - Prionus spinipennis - female

Possibly a Broad-necked Root Borer? - Prionus imbricornis

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)

Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Longhorn and Leaf Beetles)

Family Cerambycidae (Longhorn Beetles)

Subfamily Prioninae

Tribe Prionini

Genus Prionus

Explanation of Names

Prionus Geoffroy 1762

Greek prion 'saw'

Numbers

16 spp. in 4 subgenera in our area (26 spp. in 5 subgenera in the New World(1), many more in Eurasia) as follows:(2)

subg. Prionus Geoffroy; 12-13 antennomeres, generally distributed

P. californicus Motschulsky (♂ 24-45mm, ♀ 38-55mm) w. NA

P. heroicus Semenov (♂ 27-51mm, ♀ 35-50mm) sw. US (AZ, NM)

P. laticollis (Drury) (♂ 22-32mm, ♀ 31-44mm) e. NA

P. lecontei Lameere (♂ 30-45mm, ♀ 52-60mm) w. NA

P. pocularis Dalman in Schoenherr (♂ 25-38mm, ♀ 28-45mm) e. NA

subg. Homaesthesis LeConte; 12-14 antennomeres, dull, not striolate, central and western US

P. arenarius Hovore (♂ 17-33mm, ♀ 20-24mm) sw. US (TX, NM)

P. emarginatus Say (♂ 17-22mm, ♀ 22-25mm) c. US (CO, WY, NM)

P. integer LeConte (♂ 24-25mm, ♀ 20-22mm) c. US (ID, NE, UT, CO, KS)

P. linsleyi Hovore (♂ 16mm, ♀ 20mm) sw. US (AZ)

P. palparis Say (♂ 24-37mm, ♀ 35-40mm) sc. US (AZ, NM, CO, KS, NE, OK)

P. rhodocerus Linsley (♂ 19-25mm, ♀ 23mm) wc. US (KS, NE, NM, AZ, CO, UT)

P. simplex (Casey) (♂ 22-25mm, ♀ ?mm) c. US (KS)

P. spinipennis Hovore & Turnbow (♂ 20-32mm, ♀ 29-30mm) sw. US (NM, TX)

subg. Neopolyarthron Semenov; 15-20 antennomeres

P. debilis Casey (♂ 20-28mm, ♀ 34-36mm) c. US (IA, IL-LA, TX)

P. imbricornis (Linnaeus) (♂ 24-39mm, ♀ 32-50mm) e. US-TX

subg. Antennalia Casey; 25-30 antennomeres

P. fissicornis Haldeman (♂ 27-36mm, ♀ 32-40mm) c. US (MT-TX)

Identification

Sexual dimorphism obvious. Twelve or more antennomeres; distinctly poriferous in males, less in females:

Key to species in Santos-Silva et al. (2016)(3)

Range

primarily holarctic; in NA, from so. Canada to Mexico + 1 sp. in the Dominican Republic(1)

Works Cited

1.	New World Cerambycidae Catalog

2.	Illustrated revision of the Cerambycidae of North America. Vol. I, Subfamilies Parandrinae, Spondylidinae, Aseminae, Prioninae Chemsak A.J. 1996. Wolfsgarden Press, Burbank, ix+150pp., 10 pls.

3.	Revision of the American species of the genus Prionus Geoffroy, 1762 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae, Prionini) Santos-Silva, A., E. H. Nearns, and I. P. Swift. 2016. Zootaxa 4134(1):1-103.

Contributed by Cotinis on 4 April, 2004 - 12:14am
Additional contributions by Phillip Harpootlian, Mike Quinn, nebbeetle, v belov, Brady Richards
Last updated 22 February, 2022 - 3:57am

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