Body length 2-3 mm. A small black beetle with a metallic brassy or blue-green sheen.
It feeds on the sexual parts of flowers of plants in the cabbage family, causing the flowers to drop.
Seen spring to late autumn. They are attracted to yellow flowers and indeed most things yellow, including clothing and tennis balls. They occur in large numbers, feeding mainly on pollen but sometimes gnawing on the flower parts. They are an important pollinator though can be a pest of Oil Seed Rape. Very common and often abundant particularly in England and Wales.
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Family Nitidulidae (Sap Beetles)
Species Meligethes aeneus (Fabricius, 1775)
Photos: Back garden, South Staffordshire. 3rd April 2020. © Peter Hillman
Nature Journeys 