yarg!
Location:  West Texas (Midland)
September 10, 2010 1:15 pm
This bug looks kinda like a springtail, but it’s huge! I live in West Texas, it’s summer time, (September), and it has rained a little bit lately. One got in the house last night. The dog goes out and sits down on the back porch and they stick to his fur.
I only see them at night, and when we’ve turned off the porch light for a while, they go away.
they have long antennae, and are kinda striped.
Signature:  grossed out

Mesquite Girdler

Dear grossed out,
Your beetle is a Mesquite Girdler, Oncideres rhodosticta, one of the Longhorned Borer Beetles in the family Cerambycidae.  Your observation that they are attracted to lights is valuable information that is not included on BugGuide, though many other members in the family Cerambycidae, like countless other beetles, moths and other insects, are attracted to lights.

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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, 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.

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Longhorn Beetle
Location:  Fairfield, Maine USA
August 23, 2010 1:42 pm
Dear Bugman,
I think I found a Flower Longhorn Beetle (Stictoleptura canadensis) on my Land Cruiser. I wonder why it was so far from the meadow and flowers…Can you please confirm/dis-confirm the I.D. and share any interesting info about this beetle?
Thank you,
James R

Banded Longhorn

Hi James,
We agree that your beetle is Stictoleptura canadensis, and the BugGuide information page is noticeably lean on information.  It is a Flower Longhorn which means that though the larvae are wood borers, the adults feed on pollen.  The data page on BugGuide indicates the species is found in both eastern and western North America from Canada to Arizona.  According to the Cirrus Image website, the species is called the Banded Longhorn.

Banded Longhorn

Strange, I thought this (see attached) was the Banded Longhorn because of this image I found on B.G…
I guess the names are a little general?
Thank you,
James

Hi James,
Common names do not have the rigorous degree of regulation that scientific names have, though because there are not many fact checkers, there are often incorrect identifications posted on the internet.  That is why we like to have “credible” websites for our links.  The link you provided is an unidentified Longhorned Borer Beetle, but we followed information on the page to the bugGuide information page for the Banded Longhorn, Typocerus velutinus.  If BugGuide is using the common name Banded Longhorn, it must be an officially accepted common name.

Hello Daniel,
Wow, thanks for the info and the additional identification!
It’s incredible that so many bugs and insects are even identified, at all.
Best regards,
James

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Do you know what kind of bug this is?
Location:  Southern California
August 18, 2010 1:14 am
found this while cleaning up a pile of redwood logs. It ran pretty fast and survived a cat attack !
Thanks for your expertise : )
jenny

Unknown Longhorned Borer

Hi Jenny,
In a general sense, this is a Longhorned Borer Beetle in the family Cerambycidae, and we believe it is in the subfamily Cerambycinae which is well represented on BugGuide.  The species seems very familiar to us, but we have been unable to locate an identification.  Hopefully we can enlist the assistance of our readership.

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