Hazel Pot-beetle

The Hazel Pot-beetle (Cryptocephalus coryli) is a small leaf-eating beetle, native to the UK. It’s prime location is in Sherwood Forest, although isolated locations exist on the North Downs in Surrey.

Hazel Pot-beetles are shiny and orange-red coloured. Their legs are black but tinged with other colours. As with all other Cryptocephalus beetles, the pronotum bulges and almost covers the head, giving them a distinctive shape. Female pronotums are orange, while males have black ones. The orange-red elytra (wing covers) have a fine black longitudinal central suture, and the males sometimes also have an indistinct black spot on the ‘shoulder’.

The Hazel Pot-beetle needs a transitional habitat, where two different ecological habitats meet and merge. This includes a mosaic of scrub and grass, or woodland edges and clearings. It is associated with Silver Birch (Betula pendula) and Hazel (Corylus avellana), that grows on sunny but sheltered chalk grassland, on south-facing slopes. This habitat has been much reduced and become fragmented over many years, primarily due to excessive clearance of scrub to promote open grassland, or the lack of management leading to taller, denser scrub, both of which are unsuitable habitats for this species.

• Size: 5.8 to 7.5mm long.
• Life span: Two years – the adult stage lasts just a few weeks, from late April until early June.
• Diet: Adults feed on Birch and Hazel leaves, and occasionally pollen. Larvae feed on fallen Birch and Hazel leaves on the ground.
• Reproduction: Adults lay their eggs in individual ’pots’ created from their faeces. These drop to the ground where the larvae hatch and feed on leaf litter, while remaining in their pot. This larval stage lasts two years before they pupate within their pot and emerge as an adult the following spring.
• When to see: Adults can be found on tree leaves from late April until early June.
• Population Trend: Declining, previously known from scattered locations in southern England, now known from just a few sites on the North Downs in Surrey.
• Threats: Loss and fragmentation of the appropriate mosaic of Birch and Hazel scrub on chalk grassland, in warm and sunny conditions.
• Interesting Fact: The larvae live in a pot constructed from the adult’s droppings.

How can I help?

In 2026, Buglife began Chalk Lines in the Surrey Hills National Landscape, a project aiming to restore and enhance chalk grassland for seven rare and threatened invertebrate species, including the Hazel Pot-beetle. While Buglife continues to work to increase awareness of invertebrates and support nature’s recovery through our projects and campaigns, we need your help to keep them going! You can support our work by joining the Buglife community, making a donation, or even buying from our shop. For more ideas on how to support our work, find out how to get involved.  Thank you 🪲

Think you’ve seen a Hazel Pot-beetle? Share your finds by joining a recording scheme and logging your finds – download the iRecord app and get recording!

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