Spondylidinae (often misspelled "Spondylinae") are a small subfamily of Cerambycidae including slightly over 100 species, primarily in the coniferous forests of the Boreal hemisphere. A few species occur in coniferous forests in tropical and subtropical areas (Mexico, Cuba), while very few genera (e.g., Zamium) are present in Austral Africa and Madagascar (e.g., Masatopus).
Description
Spondylidinae are
insects characterised by
Cerambycinae aspect, generally with a more or less flattened, dark body, oblique head and scarcely elongated antennae. Their sexual dimorphism is scarcely evident; males and females are extremely similar. Unlike
Cerambycinae, their
stridulitrum is divided.
The are completely different from those of Cerambycinae and similar to those of Lepturinae in several respects, being characterised by a rounded head and large labrum. They also typically possess two closely spaced small spines on the last abdomen segment.
Adult
Spondylidinae are nearly all
nocturnal or
crepuscular. Only the genus
Tetropium, characterised by finely faceted eyes, has
Diurnality activity. The adults live on the host plants, taking refuge under barks or trunks during inactive periods.
Larva
Except for some
Saphanini (
Saphanus,
Drymochares) and
Anisarthrini, the
of most of species attack
.
History
Spondylidinae have a complicated systematic history, and details of the relationships are still uncertain. In 1897
Xambeu[Xambeu F., 1897-1902. Moeurs et métamorphoses des insectes, 8e Mémoire, Longicornes . L'echange (pagination spéciale) 151-209: 220 pp. + 1 Tab.] united the genera
Spondylis,
Asemum,
Chriocephalus (now
Arhopalus) and
Tetropium in Spondyliens, on the basis of the larval morphology. Nevertheless, this classification was rejected by contemporaneous authors since
Spondylis was believed to be related to
Prioninae and
Parandra.
[Lameere A., 1913. Cerambycidae: Prioninae. Coleopterorum Catalogus 52, S. Schenkling, Berlin, 108 pp.] At that time most spondylidine genera were placed within the subfamily Aseminae. A later study of the
wing morphology
[Saalas U., 1936. Über das Flügelgeäder und die phylogenetische Entwicklung der Cerambyciden. Annales Zoologici Societatis Zoologicae-Botanicae Fennicae Vanamo 4 (1): 1-193.] confirmed Xambeu's grouping, but by the end of the 20th Century (and in some contemporaneous faunas) Spondylidini were treated as a separate subfamily. Only after 1987,
[Švácha P. & Danilevsky M. L., 1987. Cerambycoid larvae of Europe and Soviet Union (Coleoptera Cerambycoidea). Part Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Biologica 30: 1-176.] after further studies on the larval morphology, was it recognized that spondylidines and asemines were indeed part of the same group, rather than separate lineages. Spondylidini - whose larvae are indistinguishable from that of all other traditional Aseminae - appear to be simply highly derived Asemini, with adult morphology convergent with
Lucanidae Prioninae and the
Vesperidae of the Amazon rainforest genus
Migdolus. It has further complicated matters that various authors have misspelled the name of the group as "Spondylini" or "Spondylinae", but these are junior homonyms of
Spondylidae Gray, 1826, a mollusc name.
Current systematics
Spondylidinae (this name has priority over Aseminae) includes seven tribes.
[ The number of species below is approximate and changes over time.
]
-
Anisarthrini Mamaev & Danilevsky, 1973 - (Africa, Europe, Asia), 9 species
-
Asemini Thomson, 1860 - (Palearctic realm, North, Central, and South America, New Zealand, Australia), 43 species
-
Atimiini LeConte, 1873 - (North America, Asia), 18 species
-
Nothorhinini Zagajkevich, 1991 - (Europe, Asia, North America), 2 species in one genus (often placed within Asemini)
-
Saphanini Gistel, 1856 - (Europe, western Asia, Africa, Madagascar, eastern U.S.), 45 species
-
Spondylidini Audinet-Serville, 1832 - (Europe, Asia, North America, Mexico), 4 species
-
Tetropiini Seidlitz, 1891 - (Europe, Asia, North America, Central America), 146 species in one genus (often placed within Asemini)
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