Isorhipis melasoides (Laporte, 1835)

This is a mostly southern and central European species; it is locally common across the south from Spain to Greece and the Near East, and more sporadic and scarce further north to Germany, Poland and, recently, from Lithuania, it is absent from the other Baltic countries but it occurs further north in parts of western Russia. It has only recently been added to the UK list, from specimens found breeding in a Berkshire woodland , but is known from bronze age fossils which might suggest it has survived here undetected ever since, but these recent specimens are more likely to be from recently introduced material. Typical habitats are broadleaved woodland and wooded parkland; this may be old-established or recent as the species is very active and noted for dispersing and colonizing new areas. Adults are active in June and July although specimens have been found much earlier and later than this, they are sometimes active in the evening or at night but are primarily diurnal, spending most of their time on fallen wood or trunks; they are generally very active, running and flying readily in bright sun, especially in the afternoon. Mating occurs through their short season and females oviposit in hard, damp wood, usually in crevices or old bark beetle emergence holes etc, and often in relatively small branches on standing dead trees or in trees that have died young. Larvae have been recorded from a wide range of trees including Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), Lime (Tilia L.), Hornbeam (Carpinus L.), Poplar (Populus L.), Elm (Ulmus L.), Alder (Alnus glutinosa L.) and, less frequently, oak (Quercus L.) and very probably other species as well. The mycophagous larvae bore into dead xylem, producing tunnels perpendicular to the grain, they develop into the autumn and overwinter deep in the wood, then resume feeding in the spring and pupate in situ during May and adults eclose after about ten days. Adults emerge over a short period; they leave the wood through round emergence holes which may be detected by the presence of accumulated fine wood pulp.