Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

North American Tetraopes spp.

Milkweed Longhorn Beetles

Family Cerambycidae, Subfamily Lamiinae, Tribe Tetraopini

The cerambycid genus Tetraopes is the most diverse of the new world milkweed herbivores and the species are generally host specific,
being restricted to single, different species of Asclepias, more often so than most other milkweed insects (Farrell 2001).

Twenty-four species of Tetraopes range from Guatemala to Canada
Thirteen species occur in The United States (9 spp. shown here)
Nine species occur in Texas (7 spp. shown here)
(Farrell & Mitter 1998, Monné & Hovore 2005, Yanega 1996)

Photos from Tetraopes specimens curated in the TAMUIC

Tetraopes annulatus LeConte

Host: A. subverticillata (A. sullivantii (MO) and A. speciosa (AZ))

Range: Alberta, Canada south to Texas and Arizona

Tetraopes basalis LeConte

Host: Asclepias eriocarpa

Range: California, Oregon

Tetraopes discoideus LeConte

Host: Asclepias subverticillata, A. verticillata

Range: Colorado to e. Kansas, Arizona to Texas, Mexico, south to Honduras

Tetraopes femoratus LeConte

Link

Host: Asclepias speciosa

Range: Widespread, sw. to Califonia, ne to Ohio

Tetraopes huetheri Skillman 2007

Link

Host: Whorled milkweed, Asclepias verticillata L.

Range: South Dakota

Tetraopes linsleyi Chemsak

Host: Asclepias linaria

Range: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas

Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak

Link

Host: Asclepias latifolia

Range: Oklahoma and Texas

Tetraopes melanurus Schoenherr

Link

Host: Asclepias tuberosa

Range: Eastern United States

Tetraopes paracomes Chemsak

Host: Matelea quirosii

Range: Tamaulipas, Mexico / south to Costa Rica

Tetraopes pilosus Chemsak

Host: Asclepias arenaria, A. tuberosa

Range: Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas

Tetraopes quinquemaculatus Haldeman

Host: Asclepias amplexicaulis, A. hirtella

Range: Eastern North America - Texas

Tetraopes skillmani Chemsak & Noguera, 2003

Link

Host: ?

Range: Arizona

Tetraopes sublaevis Casey

Host: Asclepias erosa

Range: California, Arizona

Tetraopes tetrophthalmus (Forster)

Link

Host: Asclepias syriaca

Range: Common and widespread east of the Rocky Mountains

Tetraopes texanus Horn

Host: A. viridiflora

Range: Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and northern Mexico

Tetraopes thermophilus Chevrolat

Host: Unknown

Range: Southeast Texas, south to El Salvador

Texas Taxa:

Milkweed Beetle Species - Asclepias Host Plant Species (per: Farrell & Mitter, 1998)

Tetraopes annulatus LeConte - A. subverticillata (A. sullivantii (MO) and A. speciosa (AZ))
Tetraopes discoideus LeConte - A. subverticillata (A. curassavica in Mexico to El Salvador)
Tetraopes femoratus LeConte - A. speciosa
Tetraopes linsleyi Chemsak - A. linaria
Tetraopes mandibularis Chemsak - A. latifolia
Tetraopes pilosus Chemsak - A. arenaria
Tetraopes quinquemaculatus Haldeman - A. amplexicaulis
Tetraopes texanus Horn - ?
Tetraopes thermophilus Chevrolat - ?

Type Specimens:

The Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) Type Database at Harvard University

Beetle Species - Range (per: Monné & Hovore, 2002)

Tetraopes annulatus - Canada (Alberta)-sw USA (TX, AZ)

Tetraopes basalis - California

Tetraopes discoideus - Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Mexico, south to Honduras

Tetraopes femoratus - Widely distributed throughout eastern United States and Canada

Tetraopes quinquimaculatus (sic) - Eastern North America-Texas

Tetraopes texana - Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, n Mexico

Cerambycidae Holotypes of the Smithsonian Institution

Tetraopes mandibularis - Oklahoma, Texas

References:

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P.E. Skelley & J.H. Frank. (editors). 2002. American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press. 861 pp.

Chemsak, J.A. 1963. Taxonomy and bionomics of the genus Tetraopes (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera). University of California Publications in Entomology 30(1): 1-90.

Chemsak, J.A., & F.A. Noguera. 2003. New Species of the Genus Tetraopes Schoenherr (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 79: 237-244. (Abstract)

Farrell, B.D., 2001. Evolutionary Assembly of the Milkweed Fauna: Cytochrome Oxidase I and the Age of Tetraopes Beetles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 18(3): 467–478.

Farrell, B.D., & C. Mitter. 1998. The timing of insect/plant diversification: might Tetraopes (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and Asclepias (Asclepiadaceae) have co-evolved? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 63: 553–577. With 6 figures

Hovore, F.T., R.L. Penrose & R.W. Neck. 1987. The Cerambycidae, or longhorned beetles, of southern Texas: a faunal survey (Coleoptera). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 44(13): 283-334, 20 figs.

Lingafelter, S.W. & N.V. Horner. 1993. The Cerambycidae of north-central Texas. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 47(2): 159-191.

Linsley E.G. & Chemsak J.A. 1995. Cerambycidae of North America. Part VII, No. 2. Taxonomy and Classification of the Subfamily Lamiinae, Tribes Acanthocinini through Hemilophini. University of California publications in Entomology, 114: 1-292.

Monné, M.A. & F.T. Hovore. 2005. Electronic Checklist of the Cerambycidae of the Western Hemisphere. 393 pp.

Nishio, S., Blum, M.S., Takahashi, S. 1983. Intraplant distribution of cardenolides in Asclepias humistrata (Asclepiadaceae), with additional notes on their fates in Tetraopes melanurus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and Rhyssomatus lineaticollis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Memoirs of the College of Agriculture, Kyoto University 122: 43-52.

Rice, M.E., R.H. Turnbow, & R.T. Hovore. 1985. Biological and distributional observations on Cerambycidae from the southwestern United States (Coleoptera). Coleopterists Bulletin 39: 18-24.

Skillman, F.W., Jr. 2007. A new species of Tetraopes Schoenherr (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Insecta Mundi 0008: 1-3. (PDF)

Yanega, D. 1996. Field guide to northeastern longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, 6:1-184.