Pseudeuparius sepicola (Fabricius, 1792)
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POLYPHAGA Emery, 1886
CURCULIONOIDEA Latreille, 1802
ANTHRIBINAE Billberg, 1820
DISCOTENINI Lacordaire, 1865
Pseudeuparius Jordan, 1914
A Europe-wide species which extends east to Turkey and north to the UK, Denmark and southern provinces of Sweden and Norway; it is locally common in central regions from the Pyrenees to Germany and Western Ukraine but otherwise very local and generally rare, there are very few records from the Iberian Peninsula and it is absent from many of the Baltic countries. In the UK it is very local and rare with only a few records widely scattered across central and south-eastern England including the Isle of Wight. The typical habitat is old-established broadleaf woodland and woodland margins but adults may also occur on individual mature trees in fields and hedgerows. Adults occur year-round; they overwinter among fungus infested bark or among litter and are active from March until September (although in the UK they have been recorded from May until September), peaking in abundance from May until July. They are generally active at night but may also sit exposed (but very cryptic) on dead twigs or bark during the day, often close to various sporocarps. Little is known of the biology but adults have been observed feeding on foliage and the larvae, which are thought to be mycophagous or xylophagous, have been recorded from decaying fungoid branches on a range of broadleaf trees, mostly oaks (Quercus L.) but also beech (Fagus L.), hornbeam (Carpinus L.), Aspen (Populus tremula L.) and Chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) The best way to sample adults is by beating dry twigs on low-hanging dead or partially decayed branches on large and otherwise healthy oaks, but they are very cryptic and, when disturbed, will initially remain still for a while before suddenly becoming very active and running surprisingly quickly, they also rarely occur in numbers or even pairs.
2.5-5.0 mm. Elongate and discontinuous in outline, body colour variable; usually with a mix of dark grey, brownish and pale scales, specimens tend to be predominantly dark or pale but there is usually at least some tessellated pattern to the elytra and there is always a large and transverse, sometimes almost semi-circular, patch across apical half of the elytra. Antennae entirely pale or pale with darker clubs, legs brown with dark bands on the femora and tibiae. Head flat and densely punctured between large and convex eyes, rostrum quadrate or nearly so, gradually expanded from the base and almost straight across the apex. Antennae inserted laterally on the rostrum, the insertions not visible from above, 11-segmented with a loose 3-segmented club, segments 3-8 elongate. Pronotum transverse, broadest in front of the base smoothly narrowed to an almost straight apical margin, and strongly narrowed to a sinuate basal margin, surface densely punctured throughout, with a transverse ridge in front of the base and a tuft of erect setae either side on the disc. Scutellum small but obvious and usually covered with dense whitish setae. Elytra slightly elongate, almost parallel-sided from rounded shoulders to a continuous apical margin, surface densely punctured and with strongly punctured striae. Legs long and slender; femora unarmed except in males with a small tooth under the middle femora, tibiae hardly expanded from the base and without obvious apical spurs. Tarsi pseudotetramerous, the small fourth segment covered by the lobes of the third, claws with a fine basal tooth. The tufts of setae on the pronotum and dark transverse mark to the elytra are distinctive among our fauna.