About Gaurotes virginea (Linnaeus, 1758)
Gaurotes virginea (Linnaeus, 1758) has a body length ranging from 7 to 13 millimetres, or 0.28 to 0.51 inches. These beetles have a quite robust build. Their elytra are bright blue with a metallic sheen. Their pronotum may be black, reddish, or black with rusty spots. The abdomen is usually reddish, though some subspecies are defined by having a completely black prothorax and a completely black abdomen. This species is rather similar to Dinoptera collaris, but G. virginea is bright blue with strong metallic reflections, while D. collaris is bright black with no metallic reflections. In addition, G. virginea has an obtuse tooth on the sides of the prothorax, while D. collaris has rounded sides of the prothorax. This beetle is distributed across most of Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland. It is also found in the eastern Palearctic realm, in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and Korea. These beetles live in spruce forests, and they are very common and frequent along the alpine arc.
