Oedemera flavipes
| Oedemera flavipes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Female | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Oedemeridae |
| Genus: | Oedemera |
| Species: | O. flavipes |
| Binomial name | |
| Oedemera flavipes (Fabricius, 1792) | |
 | |
Oedemera flavipes is a very common species of beetle belonging to the family Oedemeridae subfamily Oedemerinae.
These beetles are present in most of Europe and in the Near East.
Their body is gray-green, dark green or coppery, while forelegs are yellow (hence the Latin word flavipes) or reddish. The male of Oedemera flavipes, as in most Oedemera species, possesses the hind femora very swollen, whereas in female the femora are thin.
The adults grow up to 9–11 millimetres (0.35–0.43 in) long and can mostly be encountered from May through July feeding on pollen and nectar, mainly on Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Convolvulaceae and Apiaceae species. They are a common prey of the checkered beetle, Trichodes alvearius.
The larvae develop in stems of herbaceous plants or in decaying branches.
References
- Svihla, V. - 1999 - Revision of the subgenera Stenaxis and Oedemera s. str. of the genus Oedemera -Folia Heyrovskyana, supplementum 4: 1-117
- Vazquez, X. A. - 2002 - European Fauna of Oedemeridae - Argania editio, Barcelona, 179 pp.