The Cerambycidae are one of species rich family of Chrysomeloidea (Insecta: Coleoptera), and all members are commonly called as longhorn beetles, long-horned beetles or longicorn beetles.

The family are comprised of approximately 25,000 described species in nine subfamilies worldwide (Sama et al., 2010; Bouchard et al., 2011) and 318 species are known from the Korean fauna (Lee, 1987; Danilevsky, 1992; Paek et al., 2010; Danilevsky, 2013; Lim et al., 2012, 2013a, b; Oh, 2013; Oh and Lee, 2013) since Kolbe (1886) recorded first Korean cerambycids.

Cerambycids inhabit deciduous and coniferous forests, large open meadows, steppes and semi-deserts. Most species are associated with woods and shrubs, live on herbaceous vegetation in open areas (Cherepanov, 1988). The larvae cause damages of host plants by boring into heart wood and making galleries. In many cases, it is not easy to recognize damage on plants when larvae are at early stages of development.

Adults of many species of the subfamily Lepturinae are well known pollinators (Fig. 1A). On the other hand, several cerambycids have been categorized as economic pests because they can seriously debilitate or kill commercial and ornamental plants as well as cause severe damage to timber already in service (Webb, 1987).

For instance, Monochamus species (Fig. 1B) are known as vectors of the pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner & Buhrer)) which causes devastating damage on pine forests in North America, East Asia and Europe. Another example is the Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora grabripennis (Motschulsky) (Fig. 3), that is considered to be one of the most damaging exotic forest insects that have established in the United States during recent years (the established populations of the beetle were first reported in 1996) (Haack et al., 1997; 2006) and it has been causing serious economic damage on a wide range of hardwood trees, including maple (Fig. 1C).

In Korea, more than 130 cerambycids were listed as insect pests of woody plants and shrubs, and 11 species of them, such as Batocera lineolata Chevrolat, are regarded as major wood-boring insect pests in the forest (Ko, 1969; Chung et al., 1995).

Up to now, many studies on host plants of cerambycid beetles have been carried out at national or biogeographic level (Halperin and Holzschuh, 1993; Di lorio, 1997; Linsley and Chemsak, 1997; Hua, 2002; Sama, 2002; Kojima and Nakamura, 2011; MacRae et al., 2012).

In Korea, the first extensive study on host plants of cerambycids (125 species) was made by Cho (1959) and a summarized list of cerambycid pests and their hosts were provided by Ko (1969) and Chung et al. (1995). Later, Kang et al. (2002) also listed up the host plants of 85 cerambycid species. However, scientific names and Korean names in those works were mostly outdated so that they need to be updated with names currently in use.

The aims of the present paper are 1) to provide the valid scientific names and Korea names of previously recorded species of cerambycids and hosts, 2) to clarify a checklist of the Korean cerambycids-host associations by review the previous literatures and direct investigations.

Materials and Methods

We selectively collected immature stages of Cerambycidae in determined host plants or gathered all of stems and twigs which were infested and damaged by cerambycid larvae from 2010 to 2013. We brought the collected samples of immature stages of cerambycids and host plants to laboratory.

We stored the gathered host plants in plastic cages. Some of collected larvae were reared within their host plants in plastic cages (56 cm ×39 cm ×30 cm) or in a small petri dish (5.3 cm ×1.9 cm) in laboratory condition. Also, we labeled the information on host plant, collection date, collection locality and GPS (longitude, latitude, altitude) data on the outside of the plastic cages.

We checked the emergence of adults from each host plant every day. The specimens were determined to species level by the first author and deposited in the Insect Collection of Korea National Arboretum (Pocheon, Korea), Korea Forest Service.

For the literature review, we selected nine representative papers and books (Cho, 1959; Ko, 1969; Lee, 1987; Chung et al., 1995; Kang et al., 2002; Williams et al., 2004; Shin et al., 2007; Lim et al., 2013a, b), which considered the relationships between host plants and the Korean cerambycid species. The scientific name of host plants followed the “Korean Plant Names Index (http://www.nature.go.kr/kpni)”by Korea Forest Service and the Korean names of foreign plant species whose distribution in the Korean peninsula are suspicious in original literatures were cited.

The abbreviations of subfamilies in figures and appendix 1 as follow: CE, Cerambycinae; DI, Disteniinae; LA, Lamiinae; LE, Lepturinae; PR, Prioninae; SP, Spondylidinae.

All previous scientific and Korean names of cerambycids and host plants are replaced with the current name.

Results and Discussion

New Host Plants of Korean Cerambycidae with a literature review of known hosts for all Korean Cerambycidae

As a result of our direct investigation of host plants and cerambycids in Korea, we found fourteen new host-cerambycid associations as follows:

Subfamily Prioninae Latreille (Korean Name: Top-ha-neulso- a-gwa)

1) Eight adults of Megopis sinica (White, 1853) (K.N.: Beo-deul-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2B)

– Carpinus laxiflora (Siebold & Zucc.) Blume (Betulaceae).

Subfamily Lepturinae Latreille (K.N.: Ggot-ha-neul-so-a-gwa)

2) One adult of Corymbia rubra (Linnaeus, 1758) (K.N.: Bul-geun-san-ggot-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2C)

– Pinus japonica (Thunb.) Steud. (Pinaceae).

3) Three adults of Leptura duodecimguttata Fabricius, 1801 (K.N.: Yeol-du-jeom-bak-i-ggot-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2D) – Malus pumila Mill. (Rosaceae).

Subfamily Cerambycinae Latreille (K.N.: Ha-neul-so-a-gwa)

4) One adult of Ceresium longicorne Pic, 1926 (K.N.: Seom-ha-neul-so) – Quercus acuta Thunb. (Fagaceae).

5) Two adults of Chlorophorus simillimus (Kraatz, 1879) (K.N.: Yeuk-jeom-bak-i-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2E) – Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae).

6) One adult of Margites fulvidus (Pascoe, 1858) (K.N.: Jak-eun-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2F) – Quercus acuta Thunb. (Fagaceae).

Subfamily Lamiinae Latreille (K.N.: Mok-ha-neul-so-a-gwa)

7) Two adults of Olenecamptus formosanus Pic, 1914 (K.N.: Gul-pi-yeom-so-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2A) – Morus alba L. (Moraceae).

8) Four adults of Mesosa myops (Dalman, 1817) (Fig. 2G) (K.N.: Ggae-da-si-ha-neul-so) – Juglans mandshurica Maxim. (Juglandaceae).

9) One adult of Eumecocera impustulata (Motschulsky, 1943) (K.N.: Dang-na-gui-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2H) – Carpinus laxifolora (Siebold & Zucc.) Blume.

10) Seven adults of Rhopaloscelis unifasciatus Blessig, 1873 (K.N.: Mu-nui-gon-bong-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2I) – Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae).

11) Fourteen adults of Monochamus saltuarius (Gebler, 1830) (K.N.: Buk-bang-su-yeom-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2J) – Picea abies (L.) H.Karst. (Pinaceae).

12) Twenty-eight adults of Moechotypa diphysis (Pascoe, 1871) (K.N.: Teol-du-ggeo-bi-ha-neul-so) – Juglans mandshurica Maxim. (Juglandaceae), Quercus acuta Thunb. (Fagaceae).

13) Eight adults of Glenea relicta Pascoe, 1858 (K.N.: Huin-jeom-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 2K) – Quercus acuta Thunb. (Fagaceae).

14) More than twenty adults of Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky, 1853) (K.N.: Yu-ri-al-rak-ha-neul-so) (Fig. 3) – Acer tegmentosum Maxim. (Aceraceae).

There are some advantages of rearing of immature stages of Cerambycidae in laboratory conditions. For example, many new species and new records have been found by rearing the immature samples from their hosts (Georgiev et al., 2005; Friedman et al., 2008; Lim et al., 2006, 2013a, b; Berkov and Monné, 2010), as well as useful natural enemies of cerambycids can be found by rearing (Tozlu and Kara, 2007; Sheng et al., 2012; Tindall and Fothergill, 2012).

To understand and update a checklist of the host plants of phytophagous insects are essential, fundamental and very important process. We can know the host diversity itself in nature and relationships among human, insects and hosts. Furthermore, we can apply our knowledements on host plants to applied areas such as plant quarantine services, making policies, conservation of biodiversity and ecological researches on the phytophagous insects.

Up to now, although around 318 species of cerambycids have been recorded from Korea, most studies on host plants of them have focused on the pests of agricultural or forestry products, and there are not enough fundamental data of Korean Cerambycidae, due to the insufficiency of specialists of taxonomy and ecology on cerambycids.

In China, A. glabripennis (Mot.) is a pest of man-made landscapes, including windbreaks, greenbelts, ornamental plantings in urban areas, and plantations or shelter-forests, where they undergo cyclical outbreaks (Hsiao, 1982). These landscapes are typically mono-cultures or of very limited species diversity, often composed of fast growing non-native tree species introduced from Europe and other countries (Smith et al., 2009). In the present study, the Manchurian striped maple, Acer tegmentosum Maxim., is newly confirmed as a host plant in South Korea. The habitat consists of more than fifty A. tegmentosum trees (Fig. 3A) and we could find copulation of many adults, oviposition of females (Fig. 3C), frasses (Fig. 3E) and emergence holes (Fig. 3F).

In the present paper, 44 families of host plants for Korean Cerambycidae are summarized. And among them, four families (Ulmaceae, Pinaeceae, Fagaceae and Betulaceae) are confirmed as main host families of known cerambycids by about 30% and more than 23% of species, respectively (Table 1). It is also confirmed that two families, Pinaceae and Betulaceae are attacked by all known subfamilies of Cerambycidae while most families except for nine families of host plants are attacked by only a few species of Cerambycidae (< 10 spp.). These data can be used to construct a forest or a garden for attracting various species of Cerambycidae in the area.

In Korea, the host plants of three small subfamilies, Disteniinae, Prioninae and Spondylidinae, are mostly known (100%) (Fig. 4). On the other hands, we made effort to discover more hosts of genera and species of remained subfamilies, Cerambycinae, Lamiinae and Lepturinae, which most beneficial species or pests are belonging in. As a result, the host plants of 70% of recorded genera and species in Cerambycinae were known (Fig. 4) and less than 60% and less than 50% compare to the number of recorded genera and species were are known in Lamiinae and Lepturinae, respectively (Fig. 4).

Additionally, in the present paper, we summarized all recorded host plants of Korean cerambycids based on the direct investigations and previously published data.

A revised and updated checklist of host plants of Korean Cerambycidae is presented (Appendix 1).