Chlorophorus diadema diadema (Motschulsky, 1854)

Karpiński, Lech, Enkhnasan, Davaadorj, Boldgiv, Bazartseren, Kruszelnicki, Lech, Iderzorig, Badamnyambuu, Gantulga, Temerlen, Dorjsuren, Altanchimeg & Szczepański, Wojciech T., 2021, Longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) of southeastern Mongolia with particular emphasis on the genus Anoplistes Audinet-Serville, 1833 (Cerambycinae: Trachyderini), Zootaxa 5081 (4), pp. 451-482 : 458

Chlorophorus diadema diadema (Motschulsky, 1854)

Literature data. Ömnögovi: eastern edge of Zöölön Uul mountains, 58 km WSW from Bayandalai [БаЯн-ДалаЯ] [43.300, 102.839], 1500 m a.s.l., 16.06.1967, 2 exx., exp. Dr. Z. Kaszab. ( Heyrovský 1970: as Ch. diadema ab. artemisiae); 15 km W of Bayandalai [БаЯн-далай] [43.487, 103.328], valley of Tsagaan Ders [ур. Цаган-дорс], 16.06.1967, 1 ex., leg. Tsendsuren ( Namhaidorzh 1976a: as Ch. motschulskyi ).

Sükhbaatar: Bayandelger soum [БаЯн-Дэлгэрэх], sands of Ongon-Els [пески Онгон-Элс] [ca. 45.705, 112.951], on Caragana bungei , 05.07.1971, 7 ♂♂, 10 ♀♀, leg. Namhaidorzh & Medvedev ( Namhaidorzh 1974) .

Remarks. Two subspecies were recognised to date: Ch. diadema diadema and Ch. diadema inhirsutus Matsushita, 1934 . The nominative one is widely distributed in northeast China, Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula, and Russian Far East, while the latter is endemic to Japan and the neighbouring Russian island—Kunashir ( Danilevsky 2020). However, Danilevsky (2021b) stated that only a single male of Chlorophorus diadema diadema with the label “ Mongolei, Staudin.” is preserved in the collection of Zoological Museum of Moscow State University and, therefore, the occurrence of this species in the territory of Mongolia needs to be confirmed. Our inspection of the material collected by Namhaidorzh clearly indicates that this taxon is rather common in the southeastern area of the country.

The host plant of this species has not been reliably identified. Namhaidorzh (1976a) collected numerous individuals on Caragana bungei Ledeb. In turn, Heyrovský (1970) informed on beating the imagines from both Caragana and Amygdalus mongolicus , which is now a revised as Prunus mongolica Maxim. (Rosaceae) . Although Cherepanov (1990b) considered this species as belonging to the group of species that form biocoenosis of broadleaved forests, it seems to be a typical element of arid regions of Mongolia and northern China, where larvae most likely develop in bushes of Caragana . Therefore, considering this discrepancy, the number of synonyms under Ch. diadema (seven), and the general taxonomic disorder of this complex genus, it is possible that this species represents in fact a group of criptic species. The taxonomic confusion seems to be confirmed by the facts that Namhaidorzh (1976a) misidentified one of the specimens of this taxon (15 km W of Bayandalai) as Chlorophorus motschulskyi (Ganglbauer, 1887) and Heyrovský (1970) described a new subspecies, Ch. diadema kaszabi (now, formally, one of the synonyms of Ch. obliteratus ), from the same locality (58 km WSW from Bayandalai) where he collected some individuals of the nominative subspecies. Similar to the situation with Ch. caragana and Ch. obliteratus , a taxonomic revision, ideally using also molecular data, seems essential here.