Image of Rosalia Longicorn

Description:

Slo.: alpski kozliek - syn.: Cerambyx alpinus, Rosalia lingicorn - Habitat: mixed wood edge, Fagus sylvatica dominant; found on woodchips near woodshed of a cottage; slightly inclined mountain slope, southeast aspect, relatively dry and warm place; skeletal, calcareous ground, elevation 600 m (2.000 feet), average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Comment: Rosalia alpina is a rare beetle. It is not the largest European beetle (it can be up to almost 4 cm long) but it is with little doubt one of the most striking and elegant beetles. Its beautiful steel-sky-blue-grey-black colors and very long antennae are unique. Males' antennae can be twice as long as the beetle itself. Females have shorter antennae (shown on my pictures). Its population has greatly depleted in recent decades and it is a protected species in Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia and also put on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species considered a vulnerable species. Eggs of the Rosalia alpina are deposited in the crevices of bark of beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) and in the cracks of dead tree trunks. Larvae take around three years to develop while the lifespan of adult beetles is only three to six weeks. Ref.: (1) Fauna Europas, Bestimmungslexikon, George Westermann Velag, Brounschweig (1997), translated to Slovenian, Mladinaka Knjiga, Ljubljana (1981), p 390. (2) http://www.arkive.org/rosalia-longicorn/rosalia-alpina/