Beetle: Four-banded longhorn

02 Saturday Aug 2025

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British beetles, British insects, British longhorn beetles, Four-banded beetle, Leptura quadrifasciata, Longhorn beetle, yellow-and-black longhorn beetle

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!

Beetle: Grammoptera ruficornis

30 Wednesday Jul 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects

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beetle, British beetles, British insects, British longhorn beetles, Grammoptera ruficornis, Longhorn beetle

This is one of two new longhorn beetles I’ve found recently, not because I was specifically searching for them, just pure happenstance. (The second species will appear here on Saturday.)

This first is quite small for a longhorn beetle, is a dull brown and has wing cases covered in silken hairs, which, as you can see, make it look quite shiny. Adult longhorn beetles feed on the pollen and nectar of flowers, in the case of Grammoptera ruficornis, the flowers of Hogweed and Hawthorn in particular. The Naturespot website entry for this beetle warns that there are three similar-looking longhorns but, fortunately, the other two species are rarely seen and there are particular features of their antennae that can be used to separate the species.

The Spotted longhorn beetle

25 Thursday Aug 2016

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Black and Yellow longhorn beetle, Longhorn beetle, Rutpela maculata, Spotted longhorn beetle

Let me introduce you to Rutpela maculata. It’s called a longhorn beetle, but really I would say it has long antennae rather than long horns, and its common name is the Spotted longhorn, but really it has spots and stripes, so its other common name of Black and Yellow longhorn seems more appropriate. Its colours and patterns roughly mimic those of wasps which, in theory, gives it protection from predators like birds.

160825 Longhorn beetle (1)

I was a little surprised, and somewhat saddened, to learn that the adult beetles have a very short life, of just two to four weeks, but this is actually quite common amongst insects. Most spend the majority of their lives as larvae.

The adult longhorn beetles grow to between 13 and 20mm long, and can be seen any time from May to August, frequenting hedgerows and the edges of woodland trails, often enjoying a feed of pollen or nectar on umbellifers. I’ve only seen two so far, both pictured here, and you can see that the markings and colouration vary from beetle to beetle.

160825 Longhorn beetle (5)