About Anthaxia quadripunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Anthaxia quadripunctata adults grow between 4.5 and 8 millimetres (0.18 to 0.31 inches) in length. Their basic body color is black or dark brown with a coppery sheen, and both the elytra and pronotum have a grainy texture. The pronotum is almost rectangular, and typically bears a row of four small dimples — this feature gives the species its Latin name quadripunctata, which means "with four points".
Adults of this species fly from April to September. They feed on pollen from multiple species in the family Asteraceae, and prefer white and yellow flowers, where multiple individuals often mate.
Larvae of Anthaxia quadripunctata are generalist wood borers that live just under the bark of unhealthy or dead coniferous trees. The main host plants for larvae belong to the genera Picea, Abies, Juniperus, Larix, and Pinus.
This beetle is distributed across most of Europe, the eastern Palearctic realm, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, the Near East, and North Africa. It inhabits mountain areas containing coniferous trees, especially forest edges.
