Swollen-thighed beetle
The swollen-thighed beetle is a shiny green beetle that often glows gold or copper in the sun. The males have big, fat back legs that look like they have huge muscles. You can spot them sitting on flowers in spring.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Only the males have the fat back legs. The females have thin legs.
Its wing cases get narrow at the ends, so you can see its thin flying wings peeking out.
Most are green, but some are blue or purple.
In England and Wales it has been spreading to more and more places since 1995.
Most asked questions about Swollen-thighed beetle
?Why does the swollen-thighed beetle have fat legs?
Only the males have those swollen back legs. It is how you can tell a male from a female.
?Is the swollen-thighed beetle dangerous?
No. It is a harmless flower beetle that eats pollen.
?What does the swollen-thighed beetle eat?
It eats pollen and nectar from many different flowers.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Oedemera nobilis
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Oedemeridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Oedemeridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa
- Also known as
- False oil beetle, Thick-legged flower beetle
Where the facts come from
- Oedemera nobilis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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