Aeolesthes (Aeolesthes) sarta (Solsky, 1871)

Kadyrov, Abdysalom Kh., Karpinski, Lech, Szczepanski, Wojciech T., Taszakowski, Artur & Walczak, Marcin, 2016, New data on distribution, biology, and ecology of longhorn beetles from the area of west Tajikistan (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae), ZooKeys 606, pp. 41-64 : 45

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Cerambycidae

Aeolesthes (Aeolesthes) sarta (Solsky, 1871) Fig. 1D

Material examined.

Dushanbe [ Душанбе], city center, at light (38°34'N, 68°44'E), 871 m, 7 VII 2014, 1♂, leg. WTS.

Region of Republican Subordination, Romit [ Ромит], river valley, at light (38°46'N, 69°16'E), 1283 m, 26 VI 2014, 1♂, 2♀♀, leg. LK.

Region of Republican Subordination, Karatag [ Каратаг], at light, (38°41'N, 68°22'E), 1108 m, 30 VI 2014, 1♀, leg. LK.

The city longhorn beetle Aeolesthes sarta is a species widely distributed throughout the Palaearctic and the Oriental region. It is believed that it originated in Pakistan and Western India from which it spread to Afghanistan, Iran, and to Central Asia ( Orlinskii et al. 1991).

The species is polyphagous with a wide range of host plants and it primarily attacks tree trunks. For this reason, the species is considered a serious pest in the countries in which it occurs. In many cities of Central Asia, poplars and willows have been destroyed as well as plane trees, acacias, and ashes in Dushanbe ( Kadyrov 2007). It takes two years for the larvae to develop. The adults overwinter in a pupal cell and emerge in the following spring. The flight period of adults begins in the second part of April and lasts more or less until mid-July. Imagines are generally active in the evening and night and very often are attracted to sources of light ( Kadyrov 2007).

It was observed that Aeolesthes sarta attacks both maximally exposed and shaded trees. The larval feeding grounds (Fig. 3D) of this species were additionally found in two other locations: Garavuti env. [37°35'N, 68°31'E] and Shahrinav env. [38°36'N, 68°19'E]. In above-mentioned Romit area, in addition to the imagines that were collected, about 20 larvae of Aeolesthes sarta (Fig. 3E) were also found on a dead trunk of Prunus sp. (Fig. 3F).