Opilo mollis is a slender checkered beetle, about 0.4–0.5 in (9–13 mm) long, with three pairs of pale yellow spots on its dark chestnut wing covers. Both larvae and adults hunt wood-boring insects such as bark beetles and longhorn beetle grubs inside dead wood. It is found from Europe to northeastern China, including Korea and Japan, and has been carried with timber to many other parts of the world.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Long and narrow, covered in fine pale hairs. The head is reddish brown, the thorax dull dark brown, and the dark chestnut wing covers have yellow spots at the shoulders, middle, and tips.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Dead and decaying wood
- Under bark
- Deciduous woodland edges
- Range
- Found from Europe to northeastern China, including Korea and Japan, and now almost worldwide because it travels in shipped wood.
Behavior
- Diet
- Larvae and pupae of wood-boring insects, including bark beetles, weevils, longhorn beetles, and click beetles.
Life cycle
- Larva
- Larvae develop in the tunnels of wood-boring insects and prey on them there.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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