Gaurotes virginea

Gaurotes virginea has a body length of 7–13 millimetres (0.28–0.51 in). These beetles are quite robust, elytra are bright blue with a metallic sheen. Pronotum is black, reddish or black with rusty spots. The abdomen is usually reddish, but some subspecies are characterized by a totally black prothorax and black abdomen. This species is rather similar to Dinoptera collaris, but G. virginea is bright blue with strong metallic reflections while D. collaris is bright black without metallic reflections. Moreover, the first species shows an obtuse tooth on the sides of the prothorax, while in the second the sides of the prothorax are rounded.

This beetle is distributed in most of Europe (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland) and in the eastern Palearctic realm (Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and Korea). They inhabit spruce forests. They are very common and frequent along the alpine arc.