Cionus longicollis Brisout de Barneville, 1863

This Western Palaearctic species is represented in Europe by two subspecies; the nominate subspecies is restricted to south-western Europe, mostly across southern and central France and Spain, while ssp. montanus Wingelmüller, 1914 is much more widespread, occurring from the Pyrenees to the Black Sea and north to the UK and southern provinces of Fennoscandia although it is absent from much of eastern Europe and in the south is generally restricted to mountainous areas. This subspecific classification may be optimistic as the differences between them are mostly to do with colour and in many works they are considered to be only different colour forms of the same species. With the exception of parts of southern Norway and Sweden, where it is locally common, the species is generally scarce throughout its European range and is represented in many countries by only a few records. In the UK it is restricted to the Breckland of West Norfolk, West Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, where it common but very local, but it was no doubt more widespread as there are early 20th Century records from Hampshire. Typical habitats are open grassland, road verges, woodland margins and waste ground, usually in warm situations exposed to the sun, Adults are present year-round; they overwinter among litter and moss etc. and are active from May until October, peaking in abundance during June and July. Host plants include Greater Mullein (Verbascum thapsus L.) and White Mullein (V. lychnitis L.) and while the biology is no doubt similar to other members of the genus, with summer breeding and larvae feeding externally on foliage and pupating in the soil or among flower buds, the details remain unknown. Adults may be sampled by sweeping or beating host plants, they usually occur in numbers but sometimes along with other members of the genus.