Dorcadion arietinum arietinum Jakovlev, 1898 *

Karpinski, Lech, Szczepanski, Wojciech T., lewa, Radoslaw, Walczak, Marcin, Hilszczanski, Jacek, Kruszelnicki, Lech, Los, Krzysztof, Jaworski, Tomasz, Marek Bidas, & Tarwacki, Grzegorz, 2018, New data on the distribution, biology and ecology of the longhorn beetles from the area of South and East Kazakhstan (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae), ZooKeys 805, pp. 59-126 : 86

Dorcadion arietinum arietinum Jakovlev, 1898 * Figs 6L, 13C

Material examined.

Almaty Region: 2 km N of Kegen [ Қеғен] (43°02'N, 79°13'E), 1809 m a.s.l., 12 VI 2017, 7♂♂, leg. WTS; 3♂♂, leg. LK; 4♂♂, leg. MW.

Remarks.

Dorcadion arietinum includes seven described subspecies that are distributed in southern and southeastern Kazakhstan and northwestern China. The nominotypical subspecies is known to occur only in the area of SE Kazakhstan ( Danilevsky 2018a). It inhabits mountain valleys and semi-arid areas at altitudes of approx. 600-2000 m a.s.l. The larvae feed on the roots of various grass Poaceae (e.g. Stipa spp.) and sedges of the Cyperaceae species. The adults feed on the aboveground parts of their host plants ( Toropov and Milko 2013).

The males (Fig. 13C) were collected in a mountain steppe habitat sympatrically with Dorcadion crassipes crassipes Ballion, 1878 and Dorcadion semenovi semenovi Ganglbauer, 1884. Although the plot (Fig. 13D) was mainly covered with high tufts of grass, there were also large, bare sandy spots where reddish and rather active beetles were clearly visible.