354 



FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



Caloclytus. 

 A member of this genus is one of the common dry-bamboo beetle-borers. 



Caloclytus annularis, Fabr. 



References. — Fabr. {Callidium), Mant. Ins. i, p. 156 (1787) ; id. {Clytus), Syst. Eleuth. ii, p. 352 (1801) ; 

 Lap. et Gory [Clytus), Hist. Nat. et Iconogr. des Ins. Coleopt. [Mon. du genre Clytus), p. 102, pi. 19, 

 fig. 121 (1841); Chevr. [Chlorophorus), Mem. Soc. R. Sci. de Liege, xviii, p. 290 (1863); Gahan, 

 F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 299, p. 261 (1906) ; Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Pests, p. 375 (1909). 



Habitat. — Backerganj ; Calcutta ; Pusa ; Dehra Dun. Gahan gives 

 Northern India, from the North-West to Assam; Burma; Siam ; thence 

 extending northwards to China and Japan, and southwards through the 

 Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to New Guinea. 



Trees Attacked. — Dry bamboos {Bambnsa spp.). Backerganj (Sen 

 Gupta), Calcutta; Pusa (H. M. Lefroy) ; Dehra Dun. 



Beetle. — Rather densely covered above with yellow pubescence^ 

 varied with dark brown or almost black markings (usually brown 

 when alive) arranged as follows : three 

 Description. spots on the prothorax, one median bifur- 



cated posteriorly, and one obliquely oval on 

 each side before the middle ; two bands and a rounded spot on 

 each elytron, the tirst band somewhat eUiptical in form, with its 

 longer axis extending from near the shoulder to the middle third ; 

 the second band transverse, sulj-median, curved forwards along the 

 suture about half-way to base, expanded at its outer end into an 

 oblique spot which reaches to the elliptical band in front and is 

 united to it by a narrow point ; the rounded spot lies about midway 

 between the sub-median band and the apex, and approaches more 

 closely to the outer margin than to the suture. Body beneath with 

 a dense whitish pubescence that covers almost the whole surface 

 in the $, and forms more or less extensive spots at the sides in 

 the $. Prothorax marked with a fuscous spot on each side near the base, in addition to the 

 black spots on the disk. Elytra truncate and quadridentate at apex. Length, 10 mm. to 

 5 mm. ; breadth, 2h mm. to 4 mm. {Dcscr. after Gahan.) 



The life history of this common longicorn is very simple. The 

 beetles appear on the wing in May or June, and on 



Life History. into the commencement of July in the more northern 



limits of its habitat. The eggs are laid in cut bamboos 

 which have already lost a portion of their sap, i.e. bamboos which were felled 

 in the forest in the preceding cold-weather months, the beetles ovipositing in 

 them in the following May or June. The larvae, on hatching out, bore 

 into the tissues of the walls of the bamboo, and eat out tunnels which 

 have little definite direction, and often appear more or less to intersect or 

 cross the one with the other. These tunnels are packed with wood excreta 

 and dust. When full-fed the larva eats out a slightly wider chamber in 

 the wood, and changes into a pupa in it. The grub feeds in the bamboo 

 from June till March, resting for a month or two during the winter 

 months. The pupa and resting stage of the beetle lasts about two months. 



Fig. 240. 

 Caloclytus amii/laris, 

 Fabr. Bengal, United 



Provinces. 



