Mordellochroa abdominalis

A rather smart beetle. I neglected to record how I found this one.

female Mordellochroa abdominalis, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 20th June 2020

This one was just a week later at the same location, this time swept from Wild Cherry. I hadn't realised until I used Duff to key one in 2026 that the blackish pronotum means it's a male, with females having red pronotums. Judging from the range of photos online it seems that females are much commoner than males, but I guess that might be to do with recorder bias, selecting the more "distinctive" examples.

male Mordellochroa abdominalis, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 27th June 2020

This found on Cow Parsley. I'm not sure if any other members of the family are really contenders for confusion with this species (maybe some of the Moredellistena might be?) but in case it helps to see the characters used in keying it to genus I've included photos of the hind tibia and maxillary palps.

female Mordellochroa abdominalis showing hind tibia and maxillary palps, Wendling Beck Project (Norfolk, UK), 26th May 2026