Orchesia minor Walker, F., 1837

This widespread species occurs throughout central and northern Europe, extending south into northern Italy and Romania but absent from the Iberian peninsula and most of the Balkans, it extends north into the UK and the northern provinces of Fennoscandia and to the east it reaches western Siberia through Russia and northern Kazakhstan. In Europe it is very local although more common in mountain areas and towards the east; it is widespread and locally common in England and Wales although less so in the north and most frequent in the south east below London, it is generally absent from Scotland and very local and rare in Northern Ireland. The typical habitat is damp deciduous woodland and carr but adults are very active and can fly well and so may also occur in wooded parkland or on individual trees in wooded pasture, on the continent much more rarely in conifer wood where it has been recorded from dead pine trees. Adults are mostly nocturnal and may be found on the surface of trunks and fallen branches but in hot weather they take flight during the day and visit a range of flowers including umbels and blossom, they are active from March until August or later depending on the season and usually occur as pairs or single specimens but large numbers may occasionally be found in the spring at night swarming over a particular trunk or fallen bough. Mating occurs in spring and early summer and larvae develop in wood invaded by mycelium and in fruiting bodies of various fungi including Hoof fungus (Fomes fomentarius (L.) Fr) and Alder bracket (Mensularia radiata (Sowerby) Lézaro Ibiza). Larvae pupate among dead wood during the summer and new-generation adults are fully developed by September but they remain within the wood until the following spring. The species is thought to be univoltine. Adults have been recorded from a wide range of deciduous trees including beech, hazel, alder, birch, oak, hornbeam, cherry, elm, willow, poplar, lime and rowan and, on the continent, from various conifers including pine, juniper, larch and Norway spruce. They may be sampled by sweeping or by nocturnal searching but they will need to be examined closely for certain determination and catching them can be difficult as they run and jump rapidly at the slightest disturbance.