Longhorn Beetle from China: Batocera rubus

bugman

November 11th, 2009 at 10:47 am

Tags

Chinese beetle
November 10, 2009
Hello,
I saw these on a (low) hill path in Zhongshan in China yesterday and wondered what they are? Is it mother and child or a male/female couple? Thanks
Neil
Zhongshan city, GuangDong, CHina

chinese longhorns neil 300x232 Longhorn Beetle from China: Batocera rubus

Chinese Longhorn Beetles

Hi Neil,
The markings on your beetles are different than those on examples of Mango Stem Borers, Batocera rufomaculata, that we have posted previously, but there are enough similarities for us to question if this is perhaps a regional variation. Your beetles might be a closely related species in the genus Batocera, like perhaps Batocera davidis, or perhaps a member of another genus in the Long Horned Borer family Cerambycidae. In our opinion, this is a couple. Perhaps one of our readers can assist in this identification.

Update from Karl
Hi Daniel:
They are definitely a Batocera species (Cerambycidae: Lamiinae: Batocerini) but not B. rufomaculata. There are several similar looking species in Asia, but as far as I can tell only B. davidis and B. rubus occur in China. The B. davidis photo that you linked to does look very much like the ones in Neil’s photo, but most images of B. davidis do not show the prominent white spots on the elytra. This could be an example of regional variation, or it could be another case of misidentified photos on the web. On the other hand, there are numerous postings of B. rubus and they all appear very similar. For comparison, the ‘Siam Insect-Zoo & Museum’ site has excellent photos and descriptions of all the species mentioned here. I think I have to go with B. rubus. Coincidentally, I also came across a photo of mating B. rubus (subspecies mniszechi) from the Philippines that is remarkably similar to the one posted by Neil. Regards.
Karl

add Longhorn Beetle from China: Batocera rubus

I like This

Comments 2

tan2 wrote:
This specie is likely Batocera rubus, or rubber root borer in English.
http://www.zin.ru/ANIMALIA/COLEOPTERA/eng/ziarko2.htm
Posted 11 Nov 2009 at 2:36 pm ¶
Dave wrote:
These are edible as adults [probably as larvae also.] I had one at a banquet in Chiang Mai, Thailand, though it might not have been B.rubus but another member of the genus.
This touches on the intriguing subject of “ethno-names,” meaning the identification system by which traditional practitioners of entomophagy identify which species or individual insects (or other foods, of course) are good to eat.
Best,
Dave
http://www.smallstockfoods.com
Posted 11 Nov 2009 at 7:44 pm ¶

Trackbacks & Pingbacks 1

From Longicorn from China: Batocera species | What's That Bug? on 20 Jul 2010 at 1:55 pm ¶
[...] of Batocera, however, when we posted an image of mating beetles in the genus Batocera from China back in 2009, our frequent contributor Karl provided information on the two species that range in China: [...]

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.