Adults are roughly 18–28 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Mastododera lateralis
A Madagascan longhorn with a built-in rasping instrument hidden beneath the thorax.
About this species
Mastododera lateralis(Guérin-Méneville, 1844)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Mastododera lateralis is an endemic Madagascan longhorn in the unusual Dorcasominae. Its thorax contains a stridulatory file used to produce sound by friction between body parts.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Cerambycidae · Mastododera
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
MadagascarBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Madagascar
Forest and woodland with dead woody stems.
Adults occur on trunks, branches and flowers.
Larvae develop in dead or dying wood.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
Inside the thorax is an undivided stridulatory file: a microscopic ridged plate that can be rubbed by another body part, converting movement into an audible defensive or communicative rasp.
Comparative anatomy shows that its internal carina stops at the anterior phragma instead of splitting the file, a hidden structural detail distinctive enough to illustrate the entire Dorcasominae in a zoological handbook.
The species has been shifted between Toxotus, Mastodontera and Mastododera, showing how its unusual mixture of longhorn characters repeatedly challenged attempts to place it.
Sources and scientific references
- GBIF — taxon record/search for Mastododera lateralis
- Catalogue of Life — taxon search for Mastododera lateralis
- Handbook of Zoology — illustrated undivided stridulatory file of Mastododera lateralis
- Dorcasominae monograph — Madagascar species treatment
- Taxonomic history and synonyms of Mastododera lateralis