Get to know the thick-legged flower beetle! These beautiful, green-suited insects are part of the group called beetles, or Coleoptera if you like to use scientific names. The Beatles are the most prolific band of the 60s whereas beetles are currently the most diverse animal group of all time. One In four animals known to science is a beetle.

So hypothetically, if you had a bag with one of every described animal species and put your hand in to take one out, a quarter of the time it’ll be a beetle! So, to put it another way the thick-legged flower beetle, or oedemera nobilis, is one in around 400,000 beetle species.

I think they’re fascinating, but I wish they were a bit bigger as then people (myself included) could appreciate them a lot easier. But while it’s the size it is - it’s just right to hang out where it does and, act as an important pollinator.

Well, as an adult, our thick-legged friends feed on pollen, usually from large open flowers. Crawling or flying from one bloom to the next, they give back to the floral community that they call “lunch”. The number one species to find them on is the oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), which makes for a striking combination of yellow, white and sparking green.

After hatching from their eggs, the larvae develop in the stems of herbaceous plants such as thistles.

We also know only males have thick legs and that they’re 38 time thicker than the females! Recent research has shown this does not result in a more effective leaping but is used in mating for a vice-like grip. However, there’s plenty more to learn about these beautiful beetles. We currently don't know whether it can overwinter either as a larva or pupa, though we do know that these beetles, like some others, contain a chemical called Cantharidin which has the potential to be used in the development of a powerful anti-cancer drug (Naz et al, 2020).

Previously restricted to a few sites in the UK, it is now widespread in Wales and England, though is much less common in the North of England. Like other species, it may be spreading in a northerly direction due to climate change (University of York, 2019). Whether this is a good or bad thing if it does explore the north, this beetle will still need suitable habitat.