Phytoecia cylindrica (Linnaeus, 1758)

This is a widespread and generally common species throughout Europe, with the exception of the western Mediterranean islands, extending east into Asia Minor, Kazakhstan and Russia to Siberia and China, to the north it extends to the south of the UK and the northern provinces of Fennoscandia. In the UK it is locally common but mostly confined to England below the level of the Wash although there are a few scattered records further north, the typical habitat is grassland, parkland, wooded borders and hedgerows where the adults are active in bright sun. They occur on the flowers of various herbaceous plants where they consume pollen and nectar but otherwise spend much of their time on the stems of host plants, mating and running up and down looking for oviposition sites. Hosts include various umbels but more particularly cow parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris, chervil, Chaerophyllum tenulentum, hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium, and wild carrot, Daucus carota. Adults are active from March until July, they mate in the spring and oviposit from April or May; females cut into suitable stems, generally of 5-6 mm in diameter and just below an inflorescence, and insert a single egg before walking or flying off to find more sites. Larvae emerge quickly and begin to bore into the pith, they will consume the entire contents of the stem before moving down to continue feeding, eventually ending up at the base near ground level, as the larva feeds the stem wilts from the top downwards and this can be a good indication of its presence, fully grown larvae pupate from August in a cell within the roots near the ground and adults eclose in late summer or autumn although they will remain in the cell until the following spring, larvae from late eggs or those that have developed slowly occasionally overwinter and pupate in the spring.