Possibly Spined Oak Borer

bugman

September 5th, 2010 at 9:48 pm

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What is this bug?
Location: New Jersey shore bordering pine barrens
September 5, 2010 9:23 pm
I found this beetle (?) fascinating. The curving, segmented antennae are longer than its body, and the area above its eyes looks like it’s got painted-on eyebrows. I can’t believe I have combed the internet and still can’t identify it! I found it on my patio at the NJ shore, in an area that borders the pine barrens. I hope you will find my ”bug” fascinating, too, and will tell me what it is. Thank you!
Signature: Mary Palmer

spined oak borer mary 300x172 Possibly Spined Oak Borer

Spined Oak Borer, we think

Hi Mary,
We believe this is a Spined Oak Borer, Elaphidion mucrunatum, based on images posted to BugGuide. We wish you background was less camouflage and that it showed the details of the femora because according to Bugguide: “Note very long femoral spines.“

Hi, Daniel.
You guys are amazing. I can’t believe you answered my question at all, let alone so quickly. I see exactly what you mean about the lack of detail of the femora in my photo. I’d never seen an insect before with those intriguing “eyebrows” and forgot that to identify any kind of wildlife you need more than color or one interesting characteristic. In future if I find an insect I want to identify with an online “bug” guide, I will attempt to get it into a glass container of some kind so I can view it from every angle.
In any case, armed with information from you, I have searched around online some more. I am thinking that the beetle I saw was a little bigger than a spined oak borer (next time I am photographing any mystery bug, I will photograph it next to a ruler!) and that it might actually be something else, like Parelaphidion aspersum. In any case, this was a good learning experience for me, a reminder that neither I nor anyone else can identify an insect without enough information about it, visual as well as length, etc.
I really can’t thank you enough!
Mary Palmer
P.S. It would not surprise me if “my” insect likes to eat oak trees. I don’t know where you are located, so you may or may not know much about the pine barrens of New Jersey, but the two main trees of the pinelands are pines (no surprise) and oak, with a few other varieties.

Hi again Mary,
Parelaphidion aspersum does look like a very good match and the two species are in the same tribe.