Alosterna tabacicolor

Alosterna tabacicolor is a species of beetle in family Cerambycidae.

Subspecies
Subspecies include:
 * Alosterna tabacicolor erythropus (Gebler, 1841)
 * Alosterna tabacicolor sachalinensis Danilevsky, 2012
 * Alosterna tabacicolor subvittata Reitter, 1885
 * Alosterna tabacicolor tabacicolor (DeGeer, 1775)
 * Alosterna tabacicolor tenebris Danilevsky, 2012
 * Alosterna tabacicolor tokatensis Pic, 1901

Distribution and habitat
This species is present in the Palearctic. In Europe in can be found in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. In Asia it can be found in Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, North Korea and Turkey. These beetles occur from the plains to the lower mountain ranges, especially in forests. In the southern Alps they also live in higher areas.

Description
Alosterna tabacicolor can reach a body length of about 6 - 10 mm. These graceful longhorn beetles are slender, the head, the pronotum and the upper part of the elytra are dark in color, while the remaining part of the elytra are brown-yellow and the sides are darkened. The pronotum is longer than it is wide, the sides are concave and curved inward. Elytra are finely haired. The legs of these beetles are brown-yellow, the ends of the thighs are rarely dark in color.

Biology
Adults of Alosterna tabacicolor feed on flowers of Apiaceae and Aruncus dioicus in well wooded areas. The flight time lasts from April to July, but adults of these beetles can be found especially in July. The life cycle lasts two years. The larvae mainly live in the bark of Quercus robur, but also in extremely decayed wood of  deciduous trees (elm, oak, maple, willow, hazel, hornbeam and birch). Exceptionally, the development also takes place in coniferous species such as spruce or pine.