Species Action: Agapanthia villosoviridescens

This species is found mainly in moist meadows and hedgerows where adults feed mainly on umbellifers such as Heracleum sphondylium (Hogweed) and Anthriscus sylvestris (Cow Parsley). It is also found on nettles and thistles.

Their flight time is May to August but numbers peak in May and June. It is a stem boring species who’s larvae develop in the stalks of the host plant, working their way down while growing, eventually cutting off the stalk and creating pupal cells near to ground level. Adults emerge through a newly cut exit hole in the side of the stalk.

It is a large a very distinctive longhorn beetle, reaching a length of 10-22 millimetres. It has a golden, iridescent bloom on the elytra and thorax and the antennae are also very distinctive having dark and light bands.