Taxonomy
Arocatus longiceps © Natural History Museum, London
Arocatus longiceps is difficult to identify, and the first scientists who found it in western Europe got it wrong - they confused it with the very similar Arocatus roeselii which feeds on alder trees. Several people published that it was Arocatus roeselii which had changed its food plant.
When we found specimens in the Museum wildlife garden and compared them with specimens of Arocatus roeselii in our collections, we realised at once that it could not be Arocatus roeselii, but it still took some time and a lot of international collaboration before we found out that it was Arocatus longiceps.
