STUDY OF THE COLEOPTERA (CERAMBYCIDAE AND LUCANIDAE) FOUND IN THE AMARADIA RIVER BASIN

Abstract

The territory under study is located in the Amaradia river basin, between the localities of Roșia de Amaradia and Craiova. The Amaradia River is a watercourse that rises from Seciurile Hills in the territory of the Roșia de Amaradia locality in Gorj County. It flows into the Jiu River upstream of the municipality of Craiova. This area has been of particular interest for research over time, due to the characteristics listed previously. The vegetation in the Amaradia basin is characteristic of the Oltenia Plain and Getic Piedmont, respectively the main unit it crosses called the Jiu Hills, with some particularities conferred by relief, altitude, climate, nature of rocks and soil. So, the researched area totals 300 km², is individualized both by the presence of zonal and azonal soils, but also by the high temperatures and the low amount of precipitation recorded during the warm period of the year Cerambycidae Latreille, 1802, is an important family of Coleoptera consisting of about 36,300 species in more than 5,300 genera and eight subfamilies (Tavakilian, 2015; Monne et al., 2017), spread over all continents except Antarctica (Linsley, 1959). The long antennae present in most species, has generated the common name longicorns, longhorns, longicorn beetles (Monne et al., 2017). In Romania, the first mentions of Cerambycidae species date from the end of the 19th century in Transylvania, when Seidlitz published in 1891 Fauna Transsylvanica with identification keys for the 173 species known at that time (Panin & Săvulescu, 1961). The aim of this study is to contribute to the knowledge of cerambycid biodiversity in the Amaradia river basin area and to highlight their taxonomic and biogeographical aspects. Following research in the forest habitats of the Amaradia river basin, we have identified a large number of species of the Coleoptera (Cerambycidae and Lucanidae). In the research area of ​​this forest the most common species are: Lucanus cervus (Linnaeus, 1758), Dorcus parallelipipedus (Linnaeus, 1758), Morimus asper funereus (Mulsant, 1863), Plagionotus arcuatus (Linnaeus, 1758), Chlorophorus varius  (Müller, 1766), Plagionotus floralis (Pallas, 1773), Cerambyx cerdo (Linnaeus 1758), Stenopterus rufus (Linnaeus, 1767), Saperda (Lopezcolonia) scalaris (Linnaeus, 1758), Stenurella (Nigrostenurella) nigra (Linnaeus, 1758), Stenurella bifasciata (Müller, 1776). From a taxonomic point of view, they consist of 8 genera, included in 6 tribes and 3 subfamilies.