Xylophagus cinctus                                               

Xylophagus cinctus is one of three British species of Xylophagidae all of which have been recorded in Scotland. Xylophagus ater is the most common and occurs as a larvae under the bark of a wide range of deciduous trees. Xylophagus junkii is known only from one adult specimen taken near Aviemore in 1913, Falk (1991) considers that it may now be extinct as a British species.

Status and distribution

In the UK Xylophagus cinctus is restricted to the Scottish highlands, it was considered to be rare and was given a RDB 3 status in Falk (1991) but since that time it has been found at other Scottish locailties from Huntly in the north east to Beinn Eighe in the north west and the Black Wood of rannoch in the south. In recent years it has succesfully moved out  of its ancient stronghold in native pine forests and will now colonise mature plantations if suitably large dead wood is available

Ecology

 It occurs as a larvae under the bark of dead Scots Pine and occasionally spruce where it is predatory on the range of other Dipteran and Coleopteran larvae which are present during early stages of the decay process under the bark of the fallen tree.

Reference

MacGowan, I.  1997.  Notes on Xylophagus cinctus (Diptera, Xylophagidae) with a description of the puparium. Dipterists Digest, 4 (1), 45 - 47