Anastrangalia laetifica (LeConte, 1859)

laetifica (LeConte, 1859:89)
     lugens LeConte, 1859:89

A. laetifica is very common on the west coast, and Linsley and Chemsak (1976, p. 148) note that it is probably the most common Lepturinae in California. The species seems to appreciate relatively moist and cool habitats. The author has collected laetifica foraging on Cow Parsnip, Heracleum maximum Bartram, and other white umbelliferous flowers growing along the Metolius River in central Oregon. 

Diagnosis. The females of this species are easily recognizable by their red elytra marked with black spots. The males can be differentiated from sanguinea in having the basal punctures of the elytra equal in size to those of the pronotum. The males are sometimes marked with a brown pattern on their black elytra, and Linsley and Chemsak found that the proportion of males with these markings in local populations varied along a geographical gradient.

      
Above. (left) Anastrangalia laetifica - male, (right) A. laetifica - female.

Habits
According to L&C (p. 148), "The larvae bore in dead, decaying wood of Pinaceae. The wood utilized is usually rather soft and quite moist. After feeding, the larvae construct pupal chambers parallel with the grain of the wood fairly close to the surface."  Habits were reported in Schoening and Tilden (1959) and Tyson (1966), however these authors used the name Anoplodera sanguinea when referring to laetifica.  (The same mistake was made in Swain and Hopping (1928), Canova (1936) Doane et al., (1936) and Hatch (1971).

A parasite, possibly Orussus sp., infects A. laetifica ​(see Burke, 1917). Flower records are numerous, and include Achillea, Adenostoma, Asclepias, Brassica, Brodiaea, Calyptridium, Calochortus, Ceanothus, Chaemabatia, Chrysanthemum, Chrysothamnus, Cirsium, Clarkia, Conium, Cornus, Cryptantha, Daucus, Erigeron, Eriodictyon, Eriogonum, Eriophyllum, Erysimum, Gilia, Heracleum, Iris, Lupinus, Mimulus, Oenothera, Opuntia, Phacelia, Ranunculus, Rhamnus, Rosa, Rubus, Spiraea, Symphoricarpos, Symplocarpus, Triteleia and Vaccinium.   

Diversity
After a comprehensive review of laetifica museum specimens from across western North America, Linsley and Chemsak were able to observe several geographic trends in the species' elytral coloration. The following description points to the potential for cryptic,, allopatric speciation within the range of populations now attributed to laetifica:

    The females do not vary from the common red elytral pattern but males often occur with brownish markings on the otherwise black elytra. Geographical variation in this color pattern is evident in the very large series of male specimens available for study. In the northern parts of the range, British Columbia and Idaho to southern Oregon, not a single brown marked male has been seen. Beginning in northwestern California, south along the Coast Ranges to San Diego Co. an increasing number of the brown marked individuals appear. However, the largest proportion of these paler forms appears in the central part of the range in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is a marked decrease in pale forms both north and south from this area. Overall, based on several hundred males over the entire California Coast Range, about 1/4 of these have brown markings on the elytra.
     A very similar situation occurs from north central California down the Sierra Nevada to the San Jacintos Mts. In this region the brown marked forms also seem to be more abundant in the central portion. As in the Coast Range Mountains, the brown marked individuals comprise about 1/4 of a total of almost 1,000 specimens.  (p. 148)

Taxonomy
The species laetifica has not had an incredibly stable nomenclatural history, and has been listed under a variety of genera. Several authors also failed to distinguish the species from A. sanguinea (see discussion under "Habits"). Linsley and Chemsak (1976) were the first to treat laetifica under the genus Anastranglia, and provided a complete review of the nomenclatural history of laetifica up to that point.  

LeConte originally described the male and female of A. laetifica as two separate species, taken from the same locality at Shoalwater Bay, Washington Territory. The descriptions, below, appeared on the same page of the "supplement" section at the end of LeConte's (1859) Catalogue of the Coleoptera of Fort Tejon, California. 

Above. Original description from LeConte (1959, p. 89) 

Above. Original description from LeConte (1959, p. 89)

Type specimens
Images of the type specimens for both A. laetifica (LeConte) and its junior synonym, A. lugens (LeConte), have been made available on Larry Bezark's Photographic Catalog of the Cerambycidae of the World. 

References

1. Burke, H. E. 1917. Oryssus is parasitic. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 19: 87-89. 
2. Canova, M. F. 1936. An annotated list of the Lepturini of Oregon. Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 12: 126-132.
3. Doane, R. W., E.C. Van Dyke, W. J. Chamberlin and H. E. Burke. 1936. Forest Insects. 463 pp. McGraw-Hill, New York.
4. Hatch, M. 1971. The beetles of the Pacific Northwest. Part V. Rhipiceroidea, Sternoxi, Phytophaga, Rhynchophora, and Lamellicornia. University of Washington Publications in Biology, 16.
5. LeConte, J. L. 1859. Catalogue of the Coleoptera of Fort Tejon, California. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 11:69-90. <Link to BHL> <PDF>
6. Linsley, E.G. and J.A. Chemsak. 1976. Cerambycidae of North America. Part VI, No.2. Taxonomy and Classification of the Subfamily Lepturinae. University of California Publications in Entomology 80, 186 pp.
7. Shoening, E. H. and J. W. Tilden. 1959. Anoplodera laetifica (LeConte) and Ergates spiculatus LeConte from knob-cone pine [Pinus attenuata] (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). The Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 35: 167-168. 
8. Swaine, J. M. & R. Hopping. 1928. The Lepturini of America North of Mexico. Part I. Bull. Nat. Mus. Canada, (Biol. Serv.) (14)52:1-97, 13 pls.
9. Tyson, W. H. 1966. Notes on reared Cerambycidae. The Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 42: 201-207.