Strophosoma melanogrammum (Forster, 1771)

This is a generally common species throughout Europe from the Mediterranean, including Morocco as the only African country, to southern Scandinavia and east to Asia Minor, Turkey and western Russia; here it is locally common throughout mainland UK and extending to most of the islands including Orkney but not Shetland. Beyond this native distribution it is an established adventive in the northern United States and Japan. Typical habitats are broadleaf woodland, wooded parkland and scrub etc. although in Scandinavia it also occurs in conifer plantations where large populations may cause serious damage to pine (etc.) seedlings and young trees. Adults occur year-round, peaking in late summer or early autumn, and are active over a long season from spring into late autumn, they are widely polyphagous and have been observed feeding on the foliage of various grasses e.g. Agrostis capillaris L., Carex hirta L. and Festuca rubra (L.), herbaceous plants e.g. Geranium pusillum L. and Erodium cicutarium (L.) and a diverse range of trees and shrubs e.g. Cytissus scoparius L. and Prunus laurocerasus L. and many broadleaf trees but Quercus and Corylus seem to be preferred, the common name refers to its status as a pest of Corylus plantations on the continent. In the UK it appears to be parthenogenetic as males have not been found but both sexes occur on the continent where mating begins in the spring following a period of maturation feeding; here overwintered adults emerge in early spring and feed on buds and young foliage for a while before oviposition begins. Eggs are laid in small batches which the adult covers in a layer of mucus, they are often laid in soil crevices around host plants but also in crevices in stems, among leaf litter or in leaf or flower axils, oviposition continues over a long season but larvae appear from mid or late spring. Freshly emerged larvae enter the soil and feed upon fine roots until the third or fourth (final) instar when they will either pupate or overwinter to continue feeding and pupate in the spring. Larvae from early laid eggs pupate from August and produce new generation adults from September; these will leave the soil and ascend stems to feed before returning to overwinter. Adults will be found by general sweeping or beating of trees and shrubs but they are also nocturnal and will be found active on tree trunks through the summer, they will also occasionally occur among extraction samples of moss and bark etc.