If I told you how many photos I took of these soldier beetles on the riverbank in Stratford today, in order to achieve precisely one that was in focus, you’d probably laugh. I’d have to admit that it wasn’t one of my most productive sessions, but the wind was gusting and the nettle was blowing around quite wildly, so the low growling noise I was making (to the slight concern of several innocent civilians who happened upon the mad woman with the camera) had more to do with frustration at the elements than self-reproach.
Soldier beetles can be tricky to identify to species – there’s quite a good guide here if you want to give it a go – and generally relies on balancing an equation involving all the colours of head, wing case, and pronotum, and all the various elements of all the various legs. Luckily though, this is one of the easier species, provided you happen to see it from this angle. The clue to which is in its name, or at least that’s my assumption: ‘cantharis’ simply means ‘beetle’, and ‘lateralis’ means ‘side’, and I can’t think of any other reason for it to be called the ‘side beetle’ than that the yellowish lateral edge of the wing cases is diagnostic.
Cantharis lateralis is common in England and Wales, though becoming less so as you progress northwards, and is rare in Scotland. It likes a damp environment, so the bankside vegetation of a river is perfect territory, and adults can usually be found from mid-May through to late July. It’s quite small though – the female here is maybe 7mm long, and the male about 5mm – so it would be easy to overlook. I was lucky that this pair were clinging to the very edge of a nettle leaf, and stood out enough to catch my eye as I walked past.
R: C1 D13.
