Hello everyone this is our first post so hope it gets through!
hopefully I've attached a photo of a beetle we saw in the garden
Could anyone tell me what it is ?
My Daughter took the photo and on looking up in our not very comprehensive garden wildlife book came up with a wasp beetle but it does seem to be different in its markings.
ok so i have set up a flickr account and hopefully (fingers crossed and not entirely confident) the photo can be viewed at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27614977@N06/
as you can see it has the same body shape as a wasp beetle but different markings, is this just a regional variation (we live just south of Dartmoor) or do we have something rare in our squash patch?
many thanks
simon and freya
What you have there is one of the 'Longhorn Beetles' possible Strangalia maculata, the pattern does vary a lot on this species but the tapered shape and the yellow dotds on the antennae are good ID points.
PS Welcome tthe group.
Nice shot.
I'd agree with Strangalia maculata too.
thank you very much for that guys, at one point we thought we might have some rare species as we couldn't find any pics that looked remotely like it on the internet. just came across this forum as a result of tryng to find the beetle so looks as though we got a double bonus
cheers Simon and Freya