Green Dock Beetle (Gastrophysa viridula)
The helpful folks over at the Beetle ID forum of Natural History Museum’s Nature Plus website, have decided that this is most likely to be a male Green Dock Beetle (Gastrophysa viridula).
As the name suggests, they feed on Dock and the closely related Sorrel and are not uncommon in a variety of habitats. Even though I’m a pretty avid insect spotter, it’s the first one I’ve seen. The fact that he was tiny, only about 4-5mm in length, may be a contributary factor, as he’s undeniably extremely eye catching with his iridescent metallic carapace.
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[…] researching the last Chrysomelid the Green Dock Beetle a few posts back, I discovered that before the 20th Century, it wasn’t found in this country either, but […]