A Longhorn beetle, Clytus arietus, found in Botley Wood, Wickham, Hampshire by C. J. Palmer in 1989.
The common name of the longhorn beetle, Clytus arietus, is the ‘wasp beetle’ – so named because it mimics wasps by its warning black-and-yellow colouration. It is an example of Batesian Mimicry (named after the naturalist H.W. Bates) which is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to copy the warning signals of a harmful species.
Longhorn beetles depend on dead or decaying trees for their life cycle: eggs are laid in crevices within the bark, and the emerging larvae feed and develop within the tree - so playing an essential part in the decomposition process of the ecosystem.
Adults are capable of flight, and feed on pollen, mainly from the dog rose and umbellifers.
This is a focus-stacked composite image.
