Taxonomy
Kingdom:	Phylum:	Class:	Order:	Family:	Genus:	Species:
Animalia	Arthropoda	Insecta	Coleoptera	Cerambycidae	Phymatodes	P.testaceus

Violet Tanbark Borer is generally common throughout Europe from North Africa to Southern Scandinavia and the U.K. and from Portugal east through Asia Minor, Israel, Syria and Northern Iran to the far east of Russia and Japan. As a result of introductions it has also become established in the United States and Canada.

The beetle is common across England and Wales north to Nottingham and there are scattered records of the species in the north up to the Scottish borders. The typical habitat is broadleaf and mixed woodland, parkland and gardens with plenty of damaged and fallen timber and logs. However the beetles are rarely seen as they are crepuscular and nocturnal.

They are active from May to July or later, depending on the year, and may be found under bark in the pupal chamber earlier in the year. Small and pale eggs are laid under the bark of various tree species or in gaps of standing or fallen timber or logs. The larvae initially dig tunnels beneath the bark making galleries. They develop causing significant damage to their host trees. Pupation take place in the spring.

The P. testaceus imago is typically 6 to 16mm in length. Their eggs are 1 mm long. Larvae of the species are 10–18 mm long and 2.1 mm wide. Pupa are 9 mm long, and the abdomen is 2.8 mm wide. The adult is widely polychromatic, with variations from red to a deep blue black. A typical form has the pronotum red and the elytra blue. Head is much narrower than the pronotum;

This species might be mistaken for a Cantharis (especially Cantharis livida) or the Oedemerid Nacerdes but the form of the head and the tarsal formula are distinctive.