Nottinghamshire Longhorn Beetles (Cerambycidae)

The Wasp Beetle Clytus arietus Sherwood Forest Nottinghamshire

One of the main intentions of this blog is to try to get people to go out and have a look for some of the beetles that I have found in Nottinghamshire.  It's aimed at those naturalists who generally know their birds, have a good idea of what butterfly they're looking at and probably take notice of most things that fly and buzz past them in the summer but can't put a species name to them.  So where to start with beetles, I'd probably say showy ones that like sitting on flowers, the majority of which can be identified using a photograph.  Therefore my first few beetle blogs have concentrated on Longhorn beetles of the family Cerambycidae. About 60 species of the worlds 20,000 odd species can be considered British. Of these I would say that approximately 20 occur in Nottinghamshire, I say approximately as species are found new to the county, some rare species may no longer be in the county.   These range in size from the conspicuous Musk Beetle (Aromia moschata) average size about 30mm to the inconspicuous Plum beetle, Tetrops praeustus at around 4-5mm.   Most have the characteristic Long antenna that give them their distinctive look and most visit flowers at some time of their brief lives. The table below lists the species I have so far encountered in Nottinghamshire together with when and where the best place in the county is to see them.  I will in the near future be adding more detailed notes on several of the species listed below. I would also be interested in receiving information on other sites for these species and if you are aware of other species being found in the county.  Apologies for lack of Common names, they don't exist for many and in all honesty, if you get into beetles you don't need them or use them.  Illustrated identification guides were published in British Wildlife Magazine August and October 2007 editions, these may still be available from the publishers.   

Latin Name	Best Months to find	Where to find	Visits Flowers
Rhagium bifasciatum	April/May	Pine Woods Sherwood Forest
Rhagium mordax	April/May	Pine woods, North Notts.
Stenocorus meridianus	June	Ash Woods Along the Trent, Treswell Wood	Yes
Grammoptera ruficornis	April/May	Almost ubiquitous - on Hawthorn blossom	Yes
Leptura quadrifasciata	June/July	Trent Valley, Holme Pierrepont, Shelford, Sherwood F.	Yes
Paracorymbia fulva	July	Toton Sidings (Notts Derbys border)	Yes
Rutpela maculata	June/July	Sherwood Forest, infrequent in trent Vally woods.	Yes
Stenurella melanura		Not sure where, found one on dog daisy in Carlton Notts.	Yes
Asemum striatum	April/May	Pine Woods Sherwood Forest, early morning on logs
Arhopalus rusticus	August/September	At Moth trap lights Sherwood Forest
Aromia moschata	July/August	Trent Valley, Holme Pierrepont, Attenborough NR.	Yes
Pyrrhidium sanguineum	April	?
Phymatodes testaceus	July	Sherwood Forest, Difficult - it's nocturnal
Poecilium alni	May	On freshly cut Oak, Sherwood Forest
Clytus arietus	May/June	Common, Easily seen at Sherwood Forest on cut Oak	Yes
Anaglyptus mysticus	May/June	Hawthorn Blossom Trent Valley	Yes
Agapanthia villosoviridescens	June	On Hogweed or thistle stems - Holme Pierrepont	Yes
Leiopus nebulosus	June/July	Sherwood Forest.
Saperda scalaris	June	On Logs Sherwood Forest. Quite Scarce so difficult to find
Stenostola dubia		Wellow Wood (I have not seen this one)
Phytoeica cylindrica	April/May	Stems Cow Parsley, Trent Valley Along River Shelford	Yes
Tetrops praeustus	May/June	Hawthorn Bloosom, Shelford, Holme Pierrepont	Yes