A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the longhorn beetles of Parke – at that point we had recorded 8 different species. Longhorn beetles are interesting as they are indicators of ancient and deadwood habitats and as a result many are quite uncommon.

Yesterday a Parke we added two new species to the list! Our Ranger Fred Hutt found the following species – in fact it crashed into his face! As you can see it is a pretty sizeable insect.

It is around 30mm long excluding the antennae – it is called the Variable Longhorn Beetle (Stenocorus meridianus)

It is another species which lives as a larvae for 3 years eating the stems and roots of deadwood

An interesting gold sheen

A reasonably common species in the south but rather uncommon in Devon (map courtesy of the National Biodiversity Network)

I found the other species which is the same species as I found yesterday at Fingle Bridge – it is the Speckled Longhorn Beetle (Pachytodes (Judolia) cerambyciformes).

Wonder which species we will find next? It just goes to show that the parkland and the way we manage the deadwood habitats works and is really valuable for wildlife.