Prosopocera lactator

Prosopocera lactator
Prosopocera lactator dorsal and ventral views
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Cerambycidae
Genus:	Prosopocera
Species:	P. lactator
Binomial name
Prosopocera lactator (Fabricius, 1801)
Synonyms
Anoplostheta lactator (Fabricius) Dejean, 1835 Lamia lactator Fabricius, 1801 Lamia radiata Gory, 1835

Prosopocera lactator, the Turquoise Longhorn, is a species of flat-faced longhorn beetles in the subfamily Lamiinae.

Subspecies

• Prosopocera lactator lactator (Fabricius, 1801)
• Prosopocera lactator meridionalis Jordan, 1903
• Prosopocera lactator poggei Harold, 1878

Description

Prosopocera lactator can reach a length of about 23–37 millimetres (0.91–1.46 in). The colors and markings of these longhorn beetles are quite variable. Usually they are brown-colored, with large light greenish or whitish patches on the elytra and pronotum and turquoise leg markings. The coloration of said greenish-white patches derives from the orientation of three-dimensional photonic-crystal grains present in the scales. These beetles feed exclusively on Cashew (Anacardium occidentale). Females lay their eggs in the stems and branches of the Buffalo Thorn (Ziziphus mucronata).

Distribution

This species can be found in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

References

• Biolib
• Worldwide Cerambycoidea Photo Gallery
• Photographs from South Africa
• Jean-Franc¸ois Colomer, Priscilla Simonis, Annick Bay, Peter Cloetens, Heikki Suhonen, Marie Rassart, Cedric Vandenbem and Jean Pol Vigneron Photonic polycrystal in the greenish-white scales of the African longhorn beetle Prosopocera lactator
• Living Space