flower longhorn beetle

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

Charisalia americana is a relatively rare, moderate sized, flower longhorn beetle. It is the only species in the genus Charisalia. It occurs in the United States east of the Great Plains.

Adults are 5 ⁄16″to 7 ⁄16″ long and cylindrical. Males and females are the same size.

The head is reddish-orange, angled forward in front, and abruptly constricted in back forming a neck that is visible when viewed from above. The compound eyes are black, small, and deeply notched. The antennae are slender, black, and long, almost as long as the body. The base of each antenna inserted in the notch in the compound eye. The third segment is shorter than the first, the fourth is shorter the third, and the fifth is longer than the third. The fifth through the last segments are moderately to densely covered with very short hairs. On females the antennae are shorter, extending only to about the third abdominal segment.

The upper thoracic shield (pronotum) is bell-shaped and wider than long. It is narrow at the front and almost as wide at the base as the base of the hardened wing covers (elytra). It is inflated (arched) on top (dorsally). It has a shallow impression in the middle near the base. The angles at the rear (posterior) corners of the pronotum are very sharp and point outward. It is sparsely covered with very fine pits. It is also covered with short, curved hairs.

The elytra are entirely black and elongated, about 2½ times as long as the base is wide. They are parallel from the base to the middle, slightly expanded beyond the middle toward the tip. The tips are distinctly cut off (truncate), and do not cover the very end of the abdomen. The elytral surface is pitted, finely and sparsely near the base and at the tip, coarsely in the middle. It is also moderately covered with short hairs.

The legs are slender, entirely black, and covered with fine hairs and pits. The fourth segment (tibia) has a spur at the tip and on males is arced. The last part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, is black. The tarsus has five segments but the fourth segment is minute and is concealed within the lobes of the heart-shaped third segment, making it appear that there are only four segments. On the hind leg, the tarsi are slender. The first segment is longer than the second and third segments together. The third segment is split beyond the middle.

Total length: 5 ⁄16″to 7 ⁄16″

April to July

There are very few recorded sightings of this beetle larvae. It was collected on a dead and decaying tulip tree (Liriodendron spp.) stump, and was reported on a tupelo tree (Nissa spp.).

There are very few recorded sightings of this beetle adult. It has been collected or recorded on dogwood flowers (Cornus spp.), rose flowers (Rosa spp.), viburnum (Viburnum spp.), and cow parsnip (Heracleum).

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30.

Relatively rare

This species has no common name. The common name of the subfamily Lepturinae is flower long-horned beetles, and it is applied here for convenience.

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota