Red Pine Longhorn Beetle

Stictoleptura rubra · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Cerambycidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Red Pine Longhorn Beetle
Photo: Annika Lindqvist, CC BY

The Red Pine Longhorn Beetle is 10 to 20 mm long and shows sexual colour differences, with females reddish-brown and males darker with lighter elytra. Larvae live in dead conifer wood, while adults visit flowers for nectar and pollen; the whole life cycle takes two to three years and adults appear from May to September, especially July-August. The species occurs across mainland Europe, Russia, North Africa, Turkey and Great Britain.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Females have uniformly reddish-brown or orange elytra and pronotum, while males have black heads and pronotum with brown or pale ochre elytra. Males are generally smaller and narrower than females.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Adults measure between 10 and 20 mm in length.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Larvae develop inside dead wood and stumps of coniferous trees such as spruce, pine, fir and larch.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Adults feed on nectar and pollen from flowering plants. Larvae feed on dead conifer wood.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

The species’ life cycle lasts two to three years.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Adults are active from May through September, with a peak in July and August.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Found throughout mainland Europe, Russia, and North Africa. Also recorded in Turkey and Great Britain.

Source: Wikipedia

Questions people ask

Can they harm living trees or gardens?

They feed on dead wood, not on living trees or garden plants.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Cerambycidae)

House LonghornHouse LonghornHylotrupes bajulusCan damage your homeAsian Longhorned BeetleAsian Longhorned BeetleAnoplophora glabripennisDamages trees, gardens or cropsRed Milkweed BeetleRed Milkweed BeetleTetraopes tetrophthalmusWhite-spotted SawyerWhite-spotted SawyerMonochamus scutellatusCan damage your homeSpotted Longhorn BeetleSpotted Longhorn BeetleRutpela maculataDamages trees, gardens or cropsLocust BorerLocust BorerMegacyllene robiniae

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stictoleptura_rubra

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

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