The Great Capricorn Beetle Cerambyx cerdo is an endangered species listed in the EU’s Habitats Directive. It is on the British list of beetles since it has been recorded as a Holocene sub-fossil in bog oak from the fens of Cambridgeshire. Occasional specimens have also been reported associated with imported timber. In June 2008, the Museums Service received a female specimen which had been found crawling along a garden path in Sherfield on Lodden, near Basingstoke. This spectacular insect had a body length of 50mm (antennae 53mm) and had most likely emerged from a nearby wooden building constructed of imported oak. The larvae of most longhorns feed on living or dead wood and may take several years to mature before they metamorphose into the adult beetle. Some species can be very destructive to their host tree usually as a result of their burrowing giving access to invasive fungi and disease. This specimen has been incorporated into the extensive natural science collections which contain over 190,000 biological and geological specimens.
