OPOLE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY NATURE JOURNAL No 44 – 2011: 145-171 LONGHORN BEETLES (C OLEOPTERA : CERAMBYCIDAE ) OF ROMINCKA FOREST 1 2 3 JERZY M. GUTOWSKI , SŁAWOMIR ZIELI ŃSKI , TOMASZ BIWO 1Forest Research Institute, European Centre for Natural Forests, 17-230 Białowie Ŝa; 1Bialystok University of Technology, Faculty of Forestry in Hajnówka, Piłsudskiego 8, 17-200 Hajnówka, Poland; e-mail:
[email protected] 2Natural History Laboratory MIKROBIOTOP, Jarz ębinowa 8, 83-010 Rotmanka, Poland; e-mail:
[email protected] 3Regional Office of Environment Protection in Opole, Obro ńców Stalingradu 66, 45-512 Opole, Poland; e-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT : The paper presents the results of study of longhorn beetles in Romincka Forest (NE Poland); the observations were done irregularly by the authors during the last 30 years. The cerambycid fauna of the area, according to our data and literature informations, contains 71 species including such – important from both faunistic and nature conservation perspective – as e.g. Saperda similis , S. punctata, Phytoecia nigricornis or Stenostola dubia . We provide also remarks on the trophic relations of most taxa, discuss problems of their protection, and analyse the usability of particular species in natural history education. KEY WORDS : Cerambycidae , faunistics, environmental and species protection, entomology education, Romincka Forest. Introduction The family of longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is represented in Poland by 192 species. These insects, popular among entomologists, are nevertheless insufficiently known because, among others, of secretive (especially in the larval stage) way of life, short period of flight of imagines, and/or rarity of many taxa. The knowledge of the distribution of Cerambycidae in various parts of Poland is unequal: the least explored are the maritime and lake regions of northern part of the country, including the area of this study: longhorns of the Romincka Forest (RF) have never been the object of detailed research.