In Europe, this species is boreal-mountainous, reaching south to the Italian and French Alps, and north to the Arctic Circle. In the Alps, these beetles can be found at elevations up to 2700 meters above sea level.
Description
Brachyta interrogationis can reach approximately a body length of 9–19 millimetres (0.35–0.75 in).[4] They have a black body. Pronotum is convex, with dense punctuation. Also head, thorax and legs are black. Legs are relatively long and slender. The elytra are characterized by a very high variability[7] and more than 150 varietas have been described.[8] Sometimes the elitra are completely black or completely yellow, but usually they are brownish-yellow, with black spots on scutellum, two longitudinal black arcuate bands, and black spots on the sides and on the apex. Antennae are composed by 5-11 segments.[9]
The larva develop in the soil, feeding on roots of grasses and other perennial plants. in which they dig longitudinal galleries. The development time from larva to imago takes one to two years.[4] Then they form a pupation chamber, from which the imago leaves in May and June.
^ abcBioLib Taxon profile — species Brachyta interrogationis (Linnaeus, 1758)
^Carl Linnaeus: Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, regnum animale, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus differentiis synonymis, locis. Ed. X. Stockholm: Holmiae, 1758, s. 398