Weird Bug in Tucson Arizona
Location: Tucson AZ
October 19, 2011 9:11 pm
Hi, we saw this but outside an Ace Hardware store in Tucson Arizona USA. I have never seen anything like it here before. I took a few photos but didn’t want to get too close because it had huge pinchers. The thing finally flew away. It was about 1.5 to 2 inches long not including its antennae.
Signature: Meg
Long Jawed Longhorn Beetle
Hi Meg,
This is one impressive beetle. It is a Long Jawed Longhorn Beetle, Trachyderes mandibularis, and we have posted a few photos of this species in the past. According to BugGuide, its range is: “southwestern U.S. (TX-CA), south to Honduras, southern Florida.” The well developed mandibles indicates that this is a male.
Thank you so much. I can see how they got their name. Armed with the name of the insect I looked up more about them. Funny I had never seen one before in all my years living here.
Meg
¶ Posted 20 October 2011 § ‡ ° Cerambycid in Africa
Location: Kenya, Africa
October 17, 2011 10:25 am
My friend is conducting research in Africa (Kenya) and sent this Cerambycid photo to me. Any idea?
Thanks so much!
Signature: Cera
African Longicorn
Hi Cera,
We do not recognize this lovely Longicorn species. We will post it as unidentified in the hope that in the future we may get an answer. Those furry front feet are probably a good diagnostic feature.
Update: Karl does some research
October 28, 2011
Hi Daniel and Cera:
I think you are correct Daniel in suggesting that the furry front feet may be diagnostic, and I therefore believe that the genus is probably Lasiopezus (Cerambycidae: Lamiinae: Ancylonotini). My first thought was that it might be L. sordidus, but that species is apparently restricted to West Africa. I was not able to locate images of all the half dozen or so species that do occur in Kenya but of the ones I was able to find L. nigromaculatus appears to be the closest match. That said, it doesn’t look quite right, mostly because the color of the mottling seems more brown than black and the overall effect is less contrasting. I like the genus but I suspect the species is one for which I was unable to locate an online image. Regards. Karl
Thanks for all the links Karl.
Amazing Beatle
Location: Brasília, DF – Brazil
October 16, 2011 1:10 pm
Hi there
First of all, congratulations on this website. The idea of helping people to identify these beautiful animals is phenomenal.
About the picture I submitted, I parked my car at the airport for some minutes and when I came back there was this amazing beatle (?) sitting on the hood.
It was about 5.5 cm long and had these long antennae. It drew my attention not only for its size but also because it was sporting these yellow shoes.
While I was driving home, it kept stuck to the car despite the wind pressure, which made me think about how strong it was.
Any ideas about this bug?
All the best from Brazil.
Signature: Gustavo
Unknown Longicorn from Brazil
Good Evening Gustavo,
We haven’t had much luck identifying your gorgeous Longicorn by species. This stunning beetle is in the Longhorned Borer Beetle family Cerambycidae. The larvae are the wood borers. Entomophiles with a certain hipness factor (among other entomophiles at least) call these beetles Bycids for short. We miss Karl. He always took on challenges such as these and he provided difficult identifications with links as support documents.
Unknown Longicorn from Brazil
Hi Daniel and Gustavo:
I believe your lovely Cerambycid is Dorcadocerus barbatus (Cerambycinae : Trachyderini). I found one online photo of what appears to be the same species, but tagged as D. barbicornis. However, I think this is probably a misnomer as I can find only one species listed for the genus (i.e., D. barbatus). Its range extends from Mexico to Argentina. Although not quite visible in your photo, the species appears to have a very curious, brush-like face. Regards. Karl
Hi Karl,
Thanks so much for providing this identification. Though we are thrilled with the identification, we are even more thrilled to hear from you again after what seems like an interminable hiatus. We hope all is well and that you will be visiting us more often in the future.
1
¶ Posted 16 October 2011 § ‡ ° locust borer
Location: NE Oregon
October 9, 2011 9:10 pm
I found this bug in my yard and found out it is a locust borer similar to the hickory borer but we do not have the trees i read that it lays its eggs in. I have all kinds of trees around us. but none like it said this thing likes. We are in the inland pacific northwest and even your report says they are not native to here. how do we protect our trees from them?
Signature: worried about this bug
Locust Borer
Dear worried about this bug,
As you letter indicates, the Locust Borer, Megacyllene robiniae, is native to the eastern portions of North America, however, with the cultivation of its larval food plant, the black locust, as well as the more decorative locust cultivars, the range of the Locust Borer has expanded to the Pacific Northwest. The BugGuide data map shows states that include sightings submitted to that website. You do not need to worry about other trees as the Locust Borer is host specific to Locust trees.
¶ Posted 10 October 2011 § ‡ ° Brownish and black flying beetle?
Location: Tampa Florida
October 2, 2011 2:12 pm
Hello! I found this bug on my porch and managed to snap a picture before he flew away. I was hoping you could tell me what this bug is. The huge antennas and the bug itself really amazed me.
Signature: Thank you, Amy Ryan
Horse Bean Longhorn Beetle
Dear Amy,
We could have written you sooner with a general family identification since we were able to determine that this is a Longhorned Borer Beetle in the family Cerambycidae, but we thought your beetle was distinctive enough that we could easily identify it to the species level, however that proved to be more difficult than we anticipated. We eventually matched your individual to images of the Horse Bean Longhorn Beetle or Long Jawed Longhorn Beetle, Trachyderes mandibularis, based on photos posted to BugGuide. The wood boring larvae feed in hackberry, fig and citrus trees. We only have a few other images of the Horse Bean Longhorn Beetle in our archives.
1
¶ Posted 03 October 2011 § ‡ ° anyone know what this is???
Location: St.Lewis NL Canada
October 2, 2011 6:03 am
this summer we have been spotting some very strange bugs for around these parts of Labrador…but this one topped the cake yesterday when we saw it outside…
Signature: Cara
Whitespotted Sawyer
Dear Cara,
Your insect is one of the Longhorned Borer Beetles or Longicorns. The species is Monochamus scutellatus, and in French speaking Canada it goes by the common name Longicorne noir. For English speakers, it is commonly called the Whitespotted Sawyer, though BugGuide also lists Oil Sands Beetle and Tar Sands Beetle as common names and provides this explanation: “The local (to Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada) common names of Oil Sands Beetle and Tar Sands Beetle are due to the attraction of this insect to oil sands. Apparently the attraction is the scent of bitumen, chemically similar to compounds released by the diseased or damaged coniferous trees where they are attracted to lay their eggs.”
¶ Posted 02 October 2011 § ‡ ° Huge bug found in Israel
Location: Israel (Tel Aviv area)
September 20, 2011 5:35 am
Hello Daniel,
Thank you for this wonderful web site. This bug I found on my balcony on the 9th floor at the end of August 2011 in Israel. Well, I have never seen such a huge and beautiful bug, it looks like a prehistoric one. Wow!
My cat first discovered it and she started to play with it. When she touched him he started to move his head (like bowing) and was producing sounds of wooden branch creak. The size of the bug is 3 to 4 inches. Supposedly it can fly.
Well, I let him free in the nearby garden. My can was very disappointed. 
Please identify it.
Thanks,
Signature: Julia K
Fig Borer
Hi Julia,
Your cat discovered a Mango Stem Borer, Batocera rufomaculata. In Israel where it causes damage to the trees in fig plantations, it is known as the Fig Borer. You can see some links to other websites by viewing the earlier posting of a Mango Stem Borer from Israel.
Thank you Daniel!!! It so great that so quickly identified it, i will look into your link. Thanks a bunch!
Julia
Beetle
Location: Abbotsford, British Columbia
September 13, 2011 7:17 pm
I found this beetle on my windshield when I was cycling around the farms in the Sumas prairies in Abbotsford, British Columbia. I particularly loved the red back and the striped antennae.
Signature: Frenchie
Red Shouldered Pine Borer
Hi Frenchie,
Using BugGuide, it didn’t take us long to identify this Longhorned Borer Beetle or Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae as the Red Shouldered Pine Borer, Stictoleptura canadensis. There is more than one color form and this is the red form. There isn’t any information the info page on BugGuide. Cirrus Image has a nice informative page illustrated with the red shouldered version of the Red Shouldered Pine Borer.
¶ Posted 14 September 2011 § ‡ ° 
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