Paradeucalion maderense, recently described by Jiří Krátký and António Aguiar [❖], is one of two species of genus Paradeucalion Breuning, 1950.
Paradeucalion is one of three Parmenini tribe genera endemic to the Macaronesian region (Paradeucalion, Deucalion and Lepromoris).
The first species of genus Paradeucalion, was found by entomologist Thomas Vernon Wollaston in 1849 at the top of Deserta Grande, the larger of the Desertas Islands and originally
named Deucalion desertarum (Wollaston 1854) [✧]. Unexpectedly, 167 years later a new species of the genus Paradeucalion was found by Czech and Portugese entomologists, this time
on Madeira proper; an island that had been frequently visited by entomologists and subject to their close attention. Currently the species is only known from one location in the northwest
of Madeira Island (Ribeira da Janela environs). All specimens of this interesting beetle were found during wintertime in degraded Laurus-forest in wet northwest of the island [❖][✩].
According to the our last observations (exit holes, larval galleries), the host plant of this unique species is with high probability Rubus vahlii, one of endemic blackberry species growing in Madeira.
Body length: | 9.1-11.5 mm |
Life cycle: | unknown |
Adults in: | October-February |
Host plant: | Rubus vahlii |
Distribution: | species endemic to Madeira Island (Portugal) |
The depicted mounted beetle (paratype) was found 1 km S of Ribeira da Janela (530 m; NW Madeira Island, Portugal) on November 16, 2016. The living beetles were photographed on the presumed host plant (Rubus sp.)
in the same locality on January 22-24, 2023.
Collected by Pavel Krásenský and Petr Jelínek
[❖]
Krátký J. and Aguiar A.:
A new Lamiine longhorn-beetle from Madeira and the key to the Macaronesian Parmenini (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Bocagiana (Museu de História Natural do Funchal) 246: 1-9, 2019.
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[✧]
Wollaston T.V.:
Insecta Maderensia; being an account of the Insects of the Islands of the Madeiran group.
London, van Voorst, 634pp [pages 430-435 and Table IX], 1854.
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[✩]
Vives E. and Trócoli S:
Cerambycidae de la Macaronesia (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae).
Faunitaxys 9 (44): 1–50, 2021.
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