The flame-coloured sun worshiper
It’s summer and it’s sunny. In the garden here in Oxfordshire, as we house-sit for friends, there are insects aplenty. Many are the sort of woodland-edge species you might expect from a mixture of land-use, with a young native tree woodland nearby, neat gardens, open cattle fields and dense hedgerows with the occasional mature tree.
This one, which lands at our outdoor breakfast table, is the Red-Headed Cardinal Beetle, Pyrochroa serraticornis. The name serraticornis suits it perfectly, with its serrated ‘horns’.
The larvae of the Red-Headed Cardinal Beetle live under the bark of trees for two years before emerging. I’m glad this one has.
More Beetles
There’s a beetle-shaped hole in our lives In the UK the species Trichodes alvearius and another, the Bee-Eating Beetle, Trichodes apiarius, “Have not been seen since the 19th century and are… read more
Sexton This summer in Orkney we met up with two friends and fellow enthusiasts for a moth-trapping evening. I loved setting… read more
Boring beetles Beetles are never boring, unless they're tunnelling, of course. How fabulous are these tunnels under the bark of this tree?… read more
Spotting chafers We're walking in the heat through pungent herbs, surrounded by butterflies and day-flying moths with Lesser Kestrels overhead. We're in… read more
Mediterranean Spotted Chafer It's taken me a while to identify this beetle I saw in Italy this summer. It really shouldn't have taken… read more
The tiger with six spots We're walking along the River Potomac in Virginia, in Scott's Run Nature Preserve. It's hot and humid: Along the path… read more
Reed Beetle on the reeds Habitat. It's the key to the survival of our planet. One species isn't enough: everything depends upon everything else in… read more
Cockchafer Apparently this is a Cockchafer. I'll take whoever named its word for it. I'm not about to try it and… read moreThe Bee-Hive Beetle That's bright! It's got bright red and black striped warning colouration. It's the Bee-Hive Beetle, Trichodes alvearius, named by Johan… read more