Stenodema sericans (Fieber 1861)

Kras, 15 Aug 2007, 1 ♀. Kotłowy Stream, 14 Aug 2006, 1 ♂.

Remarks: The species inhabits the mountains in southern Europe from the Pyrenees over the Alps to the Carpathians and the Balkans. S. sericans lives in the valleys, alpine dwarf shrubs and alpine grasslands (Wachmann et al. 2004). Occurs on Poaceae, but trophic relationships are poorly known. In Poland extremely rare (Fig. 3), known only from Pieniny and Tatra Mountains (Gorczyca & Wolski 2011). Overwinters as an adult on conifers and plant of the family Ericaceae, a new generation adults appear in July (Wachmann et al. 2004).

Among the Polish species of the genus, S. sericans is most similar to S. holsata . The easiest way to distinguish them is based on the length of the first segments of the antennae, which are distinctly longer in S. sericans than in S. holsata (Fig. 4).