Mesosa

Mesosa

*Mesosa* Dejean, 1835 — the "Mottled Longhorn" — is a medium-sized, robustly built longhorn beetle whose dense, mottled grey-brown pubescence renders it almost invisible against bark, a camouflage so effective that resting adults are routinely overlooked in broadleaf forests, parks, and avenue plantings across the Palaearctic. Three species occur in Europe, with *M. nebulosa* (Fabricius, 1781) the commonest, found widely in lowland to submontane woodlands wherever suitable dead or dying hardwood accumulates. Females seek out standing dying trees or freshly cut timber of Fagus, Quercus, Carpinus, Tilia, Ulmus and numerous other broadleaved genera to deposit their eggs. Larvae develop subcorti…

Seasonal activity

Flight season: Summer–Autumn

Green = active months · Orange = peak

Host plants

Primary hosts: oak pine beech

External resources

GBIF · Wikidata · Käfer der Welt

Field tip: In dead branches of deciduous trees. Hosts: Carpinus.