Saperda populnea
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Saperda populnea, the small poplar borer, is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae which forms woody galls on twigs of poplars and willows. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is a medium-sized (9–15 mm), slender, dark longhorn beetle.The body is cylindrical with dark, protruding hairs. The antennae are shorter than the body, each segment two-toned with a grayish inner part and a black outer part. The head has a grey-yellow marking on the forehead shaped like an upside-down V. The pronotum is rectangular from above, slightly wider than long, with grey-yellow stripes on the sides. The elytra are parallel-sided, only slightly wider than the pronotum, grey-yellow, densely covered with dark spots except for some areas left as light spots, usually four on each wing. The legs are grey-brown.It resembles Agapanthia villosoviridescens
but is much more robust and also lives in a different habitat. The beetles can be found from May to July, when the female makes a horseshoe shaped cut and laying an egg in the incision. The gall develops in an internode as a symmetrical swelling, which can be 20 mm long, and contains a yellowish larva or pupa in a single elongate... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Small Poplar Borer sighting in London on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 1300th most-seen of the 1504 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Small Poplar Borer in London on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Only London, in our data
London is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Small Poplar Borer sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Cerambycidae
The closest relatives of the Small Poplar Borer that you can see in London (family Cerambycidae, Longhorn Beetles) are Spotted Longhorn Beetle (about 10%), Common Grammoptera (about 10%) and Fairy-Ring Longhorn Beetle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Small Poplar Borer is recorded against all the insects logged in London (13 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
