Adults are small, 5 to 6 mm, but very distinctively coloured and so with a little practice should easily be identified in the field. Head black. Pronotum pale brown or reddish brown with a variable but characteristic dark central marking which does not extend to the anterior or posterior margins. Scutellum black. Elytra with rounded shoulders. Front femora darkened at least in the basal third, middle and hind femora dark except for the apex, tibiae entirely pale, at most only obscurely darkened, tarsi mostly dark grey or black. Tarsi 5-segmented, the third expanded but not bilobed, claws split longitudinally.

Rhagonycha testacea is similar in size and colour but has all yellow legs. Cantharis decipiens is slightly larger (6-8mm) with the black mark on the pronotum shaped like a butternut squash and having a rounded base.

Please provide good close-up images.

Found in open dry grassland and scrub, they often occur on disturbed land and may be common in parkland and gardens.

Adults occur from early May until early July.

It is generally common throughout the UK north to Orkney and the Western Scottish islands.

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland.