This is my second recent new longhorn beetle find, Leptura quadrifasciata, also known as the Four-banded longhorn – the reason for that name will be immediately obvious, I’m sure.

Interestingly, these beetles are associated with old woodland, though I found this one feeding on a Wild carrot flower (they feed on umbellifers) on the edge of Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park, a former landfill site. The nearest old woodland would probably be about a mile away in a direct line, quite a long flight for a beetle.

At first glance, Leptura quadrifasciata looks quite similar to the other yellow-and-black longhorn beetle, the Spotted longhorn Rutpela maculata, but the four bands on the former’s abdomen are quite regular and precise whereas the markings on the latter are more random and splotchy. My immediate impression of Leptura quadrifasciata was of a darker-looking beetle than Rutpela maculata, which always looks quite bright to my eye, and that’s actually what made me look closer; one of my ‘Oh, what are you?’ moments!