Size – 14-17mm.
Description – Large, unicolourous green metallic insect with very distinctive ridges running down the elytra and a sparse covering of hairs. A dipped line down the centre of the pronotum is present. Males have strongly pectinate antennae that are longer then the head and pronotum, whilst females have simpler, shorter, segmented antennae.
British and Irish distribution of Ctenicera pectinicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) based on records held by the National Biodiversity Network.
Distribution data supplied by:
- Countryside Council for Wales
- Tullie House Museum
- Natural England
- Leicestershire and Rutland Environmental Records Centre
- Staffordshire Ecological Record
- Worcestershire Biological Records Centre
- Staffordshire Ecological Record
Distribution – A fairly wide distribution from northern England, down to Wales and Wiltshire in the south-west and Bedfordshire in the south-east. Most common in northern and western areas. Very scattered records in Scotland.
Biology - Male imagos emerge before females in May and can be found resting on the stems of various grass species and on the flowers of Umbellifers. Both sexes can also be found on the ground, resting under stones.
Habitat – Upland hay meadows.
Photo by K.V. Makarov courtesy of www.zin.ru/Animalia/Coleoptera