Wasp beetle (Clytus arietis)

A wasp beetle sitting in a buttercup in Worcestershire, England, in June 2015. It is a small, narrow longhorn beetle, harmless to everything except dead wood, dressed in the black and yellow bands of a common wasp. What sells the act is movement. Instead of plodding like most beetles, it scurries in quick, jerky bursts over flowers and fence posts, the way a foraging wasp does, and when threatened it makes a buzzing noise. Proof that the mimicry trade is not only for flies and moths: beetles have joined in too. It is a familiar sight in European gardens and hedgerows in late spring and summer.