Hylecoetus dermestoides

This beetle is a slender red-brown species, similar to a soldier beetle in appearance but distinguished from this family by its short antennae. The male has a black head and thorax.

Well-wooded lanes, woodland margins and clearings.

Between early April and early July.

Breeds in stumps, harvested timber and weakened trees, including Oak and Beech. Adults do not feed and live for only 3 to 4 days. The larvae bore into the wood and feed on the Ambrosia fungus that line the tunnels and overwinter in the tunnels.

This is not a common species, and most records seem to fall into a band with a southern border from south Wales and the Severn estuary across to the Humber and the northern border from north Wales across into Yorkshire.

Infrequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. There were only 9 VC55 records for this species up to March 2015.