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Banded Alder Borer

Posted by June 29th, 2006 at 12:00 am

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Beetles

Look at this!
I saw this bug flying outside my place of business and I had never seen anything like it before. It is quite large for a flying bug in my area. After some online research, I discovered that it could be an Alder-Boring Longhorn Beetle. The related info stated that it is native to the Northern Cascades. I captured it in Los Angeles! If it is an Alder-Boring Longhorn Beetle, what is it doing way down here?
Thanks Bugman!
Mike

Hi Mike,
This is indeed a Banded Alder Borer, Rosalia funebris. Here is what Charles Hogue writes in his wonderful book Insects of the Los Angeles Basin: “Although the species is also popularly known as the California Laurel Borer, it does not use Caulifornia Laurel (Umbellaria species) as a primary host. It is normally noticed resting on the dead trunks of its host trees, which are alder, ash and other hardwoods. In the basin it sometimes infests Coast Live Oak and eucalyptus.”

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