Adults are commonly about 11–20 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Leptura quadrifasciata
A short-lived flower visitor whose hidden childhood can last three years inside damp dead wood.
About this species
Four-banded Longhorn Beetle
Leptura quadrifasciataLinnaeus, 1758
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Leptura quadrifasciata is a yellow-and-black longhorn beetle of woodland and wet deadwood habitats. Its larvae develop slowly in decaying broadleaf timber, while the adults emerge in summer and feed openly on flowers.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Cerambycidae · Leptura
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Europe and northern Asia east to JapanBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Europe and northern Asia east to Japan
Woodland, river margins and old trees with damp decaying birch, willow, alder or other broadleaf wood.
Adults fly in summer and are often seen on umbels and other open flowers.
Larvae consume decaying wood; adults feed on pollen and nectar.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
The larva may spend two or three years tunnelling invisibly through damp deadwood before the adult appears for a brief summer above ground.
After years as a wood-feeder, the adult switches completely to pollen and nectar and often becomes conspicuous on white umbellifer flowers.
Adults have occasionally emerged from seasoned or treated timber, revealing how long a concealed larva can survive inside a piece of wood.