During a recent check of which critters might be lurking on the railings of a local park, I found this, a new beetle for me, a Black-clouded longhorn beetle. That reads like a decisive statement of identification but I’m sure you know now how these things work – when I got home and looked up my new find I found it has quite recently been determined that there are two extremely similar species and they can only be separated when, as the Naturespot website states, ‘the necessary genitalia examination has been carried out by someone with suitable expertise’. The two species are Leiopus nebulosus and Leiopus linnei; Naturespot advises finders to record these as Leiopus nebulosus agg., but, when I recorded my find, I discovered that the only option was Leiopus linnei/nebulosus.

As you can see, this little longhorn beetle (‘longhorn’ refers to the length of the antennae) has dark grey/black markings on a paler background, hence the name ‘black-clouded’. Longhorn beetles are wood eaters, and this one is most often recorded in the proximity of Alder, Lime and Oak trees. And, as I think the photo below shows, it can move quite quickly; this lovely little beetle was not a willing subject for my camera.