Stictoleptura cordigera is a small size, long-horned beetle, thus a beetle of the family Cerambycidae. It measures 16-20 mm in length without the long antennae. Stictoleptura cordigera has head, pronotum, legs and antennae in dull black colour, while the elytra are reddish brick colour with a characteristic black spot shaped as a wide strip at the rear end that narrows, goes up and finally opens as a heart or a cup. This black spot spans up to ¾ of the length of the elytra. It can vary in size and intensity of black, though the pattern remains. Stictoleptura cordigera has short black hair on the ventral and on the body sides, and white hair on the face and on the neck. The surfaces of the pronotum and elytra are engraved by fine punctation. The protruding eyes on the sides of the head are black colour as well. Males have longer antennae than females.
Adults of Stictoleptura cordigera are seen in late spring and early summer on inflorescences of plants of the Apiaceae, Dipsacaceae and Compositae families.
The larvae live in the decaying trunks of various trees, among which the bibliography names evergreen oak (Quercus ilex), kermes oak (Quercus coccifera), mastic (Pistacia lentiscus), terebinth (Pistacia terebinthus), and pines (Pinus sp.).
Stictoleptura cordigera has wide distribution in Europe; although in the Iberian Peninsula it does not cross the Ebro River, it is limited to Catalonia and the province of Huesca in Aragon.
[photo Pere Moraleja]