Golden Bloomed Grey Longhorn - Agapanthia villosoviridescens



Scientific Name: Agapanthia villosoviridescens.

English Name: Golden Bloomed Grey Longhorn.

French Name: L'Agapanthie à pilosité verdâtre or saperde à pilosité verdâtre

5 Key Characters:
  • usually on thistles Cirsium or Carduus spp or hogweed Heracleum spp.
  • antennae black but dusted pale blue grey except for the tips of each segment, giving a distinctive 'black and white' striped effect.
  • the short greeny golden hairs on the wing cases (elytra) are arranged in wavy rows.
  • a medium sized longhorn (10 - 22 mm) with the very long antennae typical of this family of beetles (Cerambycidae).
  • females are bigger than males.
Lookalikes: A. dahli, which has slightly pinkish dusting on the antennae and a definite tuft of hairs at the top of the third antennal segment. A. villosoviridescens has a few hairs in this position, but not a real tuft.

Habitat: Damp places where the host plants are present (thistles Cirsium and Carduus spp and hogweeds Heracleum spp). Females bite a hole in the stem of the host plant and deposit an egg. The larvae live inside the stems.

Adult Active Period: May-June-July.

Status: Probably reasonably common but under recorded. The INPN map shows a very patchy distribution, with no records for this area, however we have recorded it in the Aigronne Valley.

Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

Photographs are numbered from left to right and top to bottom. All photos will enlarge in a new window if you click on them. 1 detail of the antennae. Note that the first antennal segment is fat and black with some black hairs, the second is tiny and black, the third is long and dusted pale grey on the bottom three quarters. There are a few black hairs on the black tip of segment three, but not a real brush like tuft. 2 on Marsh Thistle Cirsium palustre by a bief (millstream), Aigronne Valley, May.












On Common Nettle Urtica dioica near the Maison de Nature in the Brenne.

xxx

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