Yellow-legged thick-legged flower beetle
Males of this small flower beetle grow noticeably swollen hind thighs, a trait shared with a brighter green relative that reaches further north.
| Where | Meadows, hedgerows and garden flowers |
|---|---|
| Size | 9 to 11 mm body length |
| When | April to August |
This small beetle has a slender, dark grey-green to coppery body with elytra that gape slightly at the tips, and forelegs tinted yellow to reddish. Males carry swollen hind thighs, while females keep slender legs throughout.
Adults visit open, flat flowers such as daisies, umbellifers and roses to feed on pollen and nectar, moving quickly between blooms. Larvae develop hidden inside the stems of herbaceous plants or in decaying branches.
Traits
Habitat
Grassland
Colour
Green, Metallic, Yellow
Active
Day
To people
Feeds only on pollen and nectar at flowers; harmless to people.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Brighter and more uniformly shining green, often with a golden sheen, compared with the darker grey-green body of the Yellow-legged thick-legged flower beetle, and found further north.
Questions
Is the Yellow-legged thick-legged flower beetle dangerous to people?
Feeds only on pollen and nectar at flowers; harmless to people.
When can you see the Yellow-legged thick-legged flower beetle?
The Yellow-legged thick-legged flower beetle can be seen from April to August, by day.
Plate retouched from a photo by Francisco Welter-Schultes, CC0, Wikimedia Commons Licence
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Beetles›False blister beetles›Oedemera
Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.