Adults are about 9–16 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Phytoecia affinis
A longhorn whose larva abandoned wood and moved into the hollow living stems of aromatic carrot-family plants.
About this species
Phytoecia affinis(Harrer, 1784)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Phytoecia affinis is a European and western Asian longhorn beetle. Its larvae develop in herbaceous Apiaceae rather than tree trunks, while adults appear for a short spring flight period on the same plants.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Cerambycidae · Phytoecia
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Central, southern and eastern Europe into western AsiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Central, southern and eastern Europe into western Asia
Sunny meadows, steppe slopes and woodland edges rich in Apiaceae.
Adults occur mainly in May and June.
Larvae feed within stems and roots of Apiaceae; adults browse foliage and flowers.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
Unlike the familiar timber-boring longhorn plan, this species fits its entire larval tunnel and pupal chamber inside living herb stems such as parsnip, chervil and laserwort.
The life cycle can take one or two years even though the host stem is seasonal, requiring the larva to synchronise development with a plant that dies back above ground.
Adults emerge during a narrow late-spring window and remain closely tied to the same plant family used by the larvae, linking courtship, feeding and reproduction to one botanical niche.