Clytus arietis, Wasp Beetle

Common Name: Wasp Beetle

Clytus arietis, as its common name suggests, is a wasp-mimicking longhorn beetle, displaying a combination of yellow stripes on a dark background and a habit of scuttling across foliage in stops and starts like a wasp. To us humans it doesn't look that good an impression, but it is sufficient to discourage many predators in the invertebrate world.

In summer the adults can often be seen feeding on the open flowers of cow parsley and hogweed, or running over dead wood in search of a mate or site to lay eggs. The larvae live within freshly dead deciduous trees, feeding on the wood for at least two years.

Measuring between 10 - 18mm in length, it is common throughout most of the UK and can be a frequent garden visitor in the south, especially if there are good resources of deadwood nearby. It is less frequent and more local in the north.

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