Australian Longhorn Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Volume 3 Subfamily Prioninae of the Australo-Pacific Region

About this book

Longhorn beetles – Cerambycidae – are one of the most easily recognised groups of beetles, a cosmopolitan family that encompasses more than 33,000 species in 5,200 genera worldwide. Out of the 117 beetle families occurring in Australia, Cerambycidae is the sixth largest, comprising more than 1,400 species classified in 300 genera.

Virtually all Cerambycidae feed on living or dead plant tissue and play a significant role in all terrestrial environments. Larvae often utilise damaged or dead trees for their development, and through feeding on rotten wood, form an important element of the saproxylic fauna, speeding nutrient and energy circulation in these habitats. Longhorn beetles can cause serious damage by sometimes feeding on and eventually killing living forest or orchard trees. Many species are listed as quarantine pests because of their destructive role to the timber industry, such as the European house borer introduced into Western Australia.

This third and final volume in the series on Australian longhorn beetles extends to include the taxonomy of genera and species of the subfamily Prioninae of the Australo-Pacific Region. Seven tribes, 50 genera and 166 species are included. All genera and most species are diagnosed, described, illustrated and included in keys to their identification.

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Biography

Adam Ślipiński completed his PhD and DSc in Poland. He is currently working as a senior principal research scientist and curator at the Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO. He is the author of over 200 research publications and multiple book chapters and the author of six books on the phylogeny and classification of various beetles.

Roger de Keyzer is currently a research associate at the Australian Museum in Sydney. He is the author of a number of research publications in entomology and malacology and two books on Lucanidae.

Mengjie Jin obtained her PhD in Zoology from Sun Yat-sen University in 2020. Prior to that, she was a visiting student at the Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, from 2015 to 2020, working on the phylogeny and taxonomy of Australian longhorn beetles (Prioninae and Cerambycinae).