Dorcadion

Dorcadion

Among the most species-rich longhorn genera in the Palearctic, *Dorcadion* Dalman, 1817 comprises over 400 described species of robust, flightless beetles clothed in dense, patterned pubescence of grey and brown tones with distinctive longitudinal vittae. Completely apterous with fused elytra, these ground-dwelling beetles never fly, instead walking actively across steppe, dry grassland, and meadows in full sunlight from March to June. In Moravia and Slovakia they are found most abundantly on sufficiently moist meadows and green pastures, occurring singly only on drier sites, vineyards, and fields. Larvae develop in soil, feeding on the roots of grasses; every isolated mountain population te…

Seasonal activity

Flight season: Spring–Summer

Green = active months · Orange = peak

Host plants

Primary hosts: herb

External resources

GBIF · Wikidata · Käfer der Welt

Field tip: Diurnal — walks on ground in steppe/dry meadows (Mar–Jun). Flightless — hand-collected. Each mountain has its own species.