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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Southern Sculptured Pine Borer

Black and White Beetle
November 4, 2009
I have been trying to identify this beetle. It is black and white (off white/beige), with 6 legs and 2 black antennae. It has wings, although I havent seen it attempt to fly. It also has a bronze metallic sheen to its underbelly. Any Ideas?
Thanks- Robin
Deland, Florida

Southern Sculptured Pine Borer

Southern Sculptured Pine Borer

Hi Robin,
Your lovely beetle is a Southern Sculptured Pine Borer, Chalcophora georgiana.  You can see images on BugGuide for comparison.  It might also be a Sculptured Pine Borer, Chalcophora virginiensis, which is also pictured on BugGuide.

Posted 05 November 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Jewel Beetle from India: genus Sternocera

Is it a jewel beetle
October 9, 2009
The Beetle Picture i took from SNGP Forest Area. First time i am saw the
beautiful insect. Pl. let me me know the id ?
Hari Iyer
Yeeor, Thane, Maharashtra, India.

Unknown Jewel Beetle from India

Jewel Beetle from India

Hi Hari Iyer,
Yes, this is a Jewel Beetle, one of the common names for a Metallic Wood Boring Beetle in the family Buprestidae.  We will see if one of our readers is able to find the exact species name for you.

Ed Note: Thanks to Karl for providing a comment identifying the genus as Sternocera, and providing several links with confirmation imagery.

Posted 11 October 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Jewel Beetle from Hawaii, but what species???

Is this a Jewel Beetle?
August 25, 2009
Hi there,
This little guy flew into my house. I took him back out after admiring him a bit but the very next day, there he was again, clinging to the post I hang my purse on. He’s beautiful but I don’t want him to die in here, I’ve put a variety of leaves out for him since he just plain refuses to leave. Is he a Jewel Beetle? Thanks for your help.
Amy
Kaneohe, Hawaii

Jewel Beetle

Jewel Beetle

Hi Amy,
Yes, this is a Jewel Beetle in the family Buprestidae, but we are uncertain of the species. Since it is an island habitat, Hawaii is one of those places where invasive exotic species can displace endemic endangered species, and we are curious to find out what species you have submitted.  Sadly, since we must leave for work, we haven’t the time to research right now. Judging by her ovipositor, your specimen is a female.

Posted 25 August 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Jewel Beetle

Beetle, Fluoresent green head, orange/black body
August 11, 2009
Found this at Clearlake State Park on the road (alive) less than one inch long- see image for coloring. Ranger didn’t know what it was and couldn’t find it in the books at the information center. Thanks
Mary Alberts
Kelseyville, CA on Aug. 8th 2009

Jewel Beetle: Buprestis viridisuturalis

Jewel Beetle: Buprestis viridisuturalis

Hi Mary,
This is one of the Metallic Wood Boring Beetles in the family Buprestidae, also known as the Jewel Beetles.  We believe we have identified your specimen as Buprestis viridisuturalis based on images posted to BugGuide. We posted a photo of a dead specimen from Acton  back in 2006 and at that time we learned from Ken Weiner, a Natural Resource Specialist with Englebright & Martis Creek Lades that  “The buprestid from Acton, California is Buprestisviridisuturalis Nicolay & Weiss. It is found in dead Fremont Cottonwoods.”

Posted 11 August 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Jewel Beetle: Red Legged Buprestis

Colorful Beatle in S.E. PA
July 24, 2009
I found this beautiful bug in my garden, and I almost thought it was fake until it flew to one of my plants. I have never seen anything like it, the detailing was amazing, One picture is of the underneath and one from above. Thanks!
Sandra Diprojetto
Southeast PA, USA

Red Legged Buprestis

Red Legged Buprestis

Hi Sandra,
This Metallic Wood Boring Beetle or Jewel Beetle is the Red Legged Buprestis, Buprestis rufipes.  This is a magnificent beetle that is found in eastern North America.  The larvae feed on the wood of maple and birch trees.  You can look at higher resolution images on BugGuide.

Red Legged Buprestis

Red Legged Buprestis

Posted 24 July 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Sculptured Pine Borer

golden looking flying beetle
Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 6:55 AM
found this outside this morning…we are in upstate ny…may not be able to see in the photo but he is very iridescent gold and silver. very curious to know what it is.
thanks!
kyle and jaimy
olivebridge, ny 12461

Sculptured Pine Borer

Sculptured Pine Borer

Dear kyle and jaimy,
This is one of the Metallic Wood Borers in the family Burprestidae, more specifically, a Sculptured Pine Borer in the genus Chalcophora, and we believe it is a Northeastern Sculptured Pine Borer, Chalcophora liberta, though it may be Chalcophora virginiensis, the Sculptured Pine Borer.  Both species are represented on BugGuide.  BugGuide indicates this information concerning the geographic range of the different members of the genus:  “C. angulicollis is widespread in west. C. fortis is found in northeastern, north-central United states and Canada. C. georgiana is found in Georgia, Mississippi. C. liberta is found in northeastern and north-central United States and Canada. C. virginiensis is widespread in Eastern United States and Canada. “

Posted 06 July 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Metallic Wood Boring Beetle: Dicerca divaricata???

2″ Long Colorful Beetle
Sun, May 24, 2009 at 11:15 PM
Found it in my sunny driveway, I live in southern Vermont and have never seen anything like this before. Definitely the most attractive looking bug I’ve ever seen
Spragels Bigels
Southern Vermont

Dicerca divercata???

Dicerca divaricata???

Dear Spragels Bigels,
This is one of the Metallic Wood Boring Beetles in the family Buprestidae, sometimes called Jewel Beetles.  We believe it is in the genus Dicerca, probably Dicerca divaricata.  If your specimen is really 2 inches long, it is a trophey.  Most specimens posted to BugGuide are less than an inch long, and the largest example there is 1 1/2 inches long.  We would not rule out that this may be a Poplar Borer, Dicerca tenebrica, which is also pictured on BugGuide.  Again, your 2 inch long specimen would be unusually large.

Posted 25 May 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Metallic Wood Boring Beetle

Unidentified fly (?) in AZ
Fri, May 22, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Found this evening while pruning hybrid Chilean mesquite; overall length is ~16mm. Compared with images from your website, but could not find any matches. Any idea what it might be?
AJ
Phoenix, AZ

Metallic Wood Boring Beetle

Metallic Wood Boring Beetle

Hi AJ,
This isn’t a fly, which might explain your difficulty with the identification. It is a Metallic Wood Boring Beetle in the family Buprestidae. We believe it is in the genus Chrysobothris. BugGuide pictures a group from this genus known as the femorata species group, and there is a photo from Arizona that looks quite close to your specimen. We are not sure if Eric Eaton will be able to respond to us at the moment, but we will contact him for his opinion. The second insect in your first photo is an immature Assassin Bug, probably in the genus Zelus.

Metallic Wood Boring Beetle

Metallic Wood Boring Beetle

Daniel:
I don’t even know if that buprestid is a Chrysobothris.  I’ll try and get folks on Entomo-l listserv to respond to you, but it is the holiday weekend, of course….
Eric

Posted 23 May 2009 § Assassin Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °

Metallic Wood Boring Beetle from Turkey

Boring Beetle? – Turkey
Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 11:39 AM
We saw these flying rather loudly around willow trees near a stream north of Gaziantep, Turkey. They were quite active and a bit skittish but once I caught one it calmed down long enough for me to get a photo. It’s about an inch and a half long or a little more.
kipouros
Gaziantep/Araban Prefecture/Turkey

Mediterranean Flathead Woodborer

Mediterranean Flathead Woodborer

Dear kipouros,
Many years ago we identified a very similar Buprestid, or Metallic Wood Boring Beetle from Italy.  We believe it is the same species, Capnodis tenebrionis which goes by the common name Mediterranean Flathead Woodborer. The adults feed on the leaves of apricot trees, almond trees and other stone fruits. The larvae bore into the roots and cause great damage.  We located a fine website with information and photos.

Posted 23 April 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Cucuya or Click Beetle from Ecuador and a Tailless Whipscorpion Too!!!

Beetle from Cloud forest in Ecuadorian Andes
Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 8:46 PM
We just got back from Milpe in Ecuador (elevation 1500 meters) and came across this beautiful beetle. Can you ID?
BTW. We saw an almost identical Scorpion bug in the Amazon as the one noted in Thailand. I am attaching pic. Amazing how they can be found in areas so far away from each other.
Mtnchk
Milpe Ecuador

Buprestid? or Elaterid?

Click Beetle: genus Semiotus

Dear Mtnchk,
We not be able to ever get you a definitive species identification on your beetle, but first we need to start with the family. We are not sure if your beetle is a Jewel Beetle (AKA Metallic Wood Boring Beetle) in the family Buprestidae, or a Click Beetle in the family Elateridae. Our first thought was a Buprestid because of the coloration, but the thoracic area has us inclined to speculate that this is an Elaterid. Click Beetles get their common name from their ability to snap their bodies at the junction of the thorax and abdomen. If the beetle finds itself on its back, this ability allows it to right itself by snapping its body against the hard ground, propelling the beetle high into the air and producing an audible clicking sound. Most North American Click Beetles are drab in coloration, but some tropical species are brightly colored. We hope one of our expert contributors will be able to at least narrow the family and perhaps identify the species.

Tailless Whipscorpion

Tailless Whipscorpion

Also, thanks for including your Ecuadorean example of a Tailless Whipscorpion.

Update: from Eric Eaton
Hi, Daniel:
It is indeed a click beetle, in the genus Semiotus. The whole genus is quite colorful!
Eric

Dear Daniel,
This is fantastic. I really appreciate your quick and thorough response. What a great website you have and I have actually given you a very positive rating as a new website for “Stumble upon” where I was when I came upon your website. I hope this gives you many more hits which lead to some financial gains- you certainly deserve it!
Mtnchk (Rebecca

Update:
Hi Daniel
It goes by the common name ‘Cucuya’ in Ecuador and it is a click beetle (family Elateridae); probably Semiotus illigeri. It occurs in Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and Ecuador. Semiotus is a large neotropical genus with 31 representatives in Ecuador. Images are hard to find but the ‘Natural History Museum of Los Angeles’ has posted a report on the genus that includes numerous distribution maps and excellent color plates (look for Figure 227). Regards.
Karl
http://www.nhm.org/research/publications/Contributions_in_Science/CS514.pdf

Posted 11 February 2009 § Click Beetles § Scorpions, Whipscorpions and Vinegaroons ‡ Comments (0) °

Metallic Borer Beetle from Iran

Green Buprestid from Iran
Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 6:47 AM
Green Buprestid from Iran
Hi,
Thanks for this very nice and informative website,
One of friends gave me this lovely buprestid. It had a very brilliant, Emerald green color but after pinning (Really tough work to get through the elytra, you all know!) its just pale metallic green. I just want to know its scientific name.
Yours, Mohsen Arooni,
Tehran, Iran

Metallic Borer Beetle

Metallic Borer Beetle

Hi Mohsen,
Many years ago we identified a similar looking Buprestid from Italy (if memory serves us correctly) but we are having problems locating that posting since our site migration in September. Perhaps it never made the transition. We are going to search through our old Dreamweaver files in an attempt to locate it. Meanwhile, perhaps one of our readers will write in with an identification.

Ed. note:
We spent a goodly portion of time searching our old website and found several postings that did not migrate, including the Mediterranean Flathead Woodborer from October 2003, but it looks nothing like this Buprestid.

Update: Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 6:18 AM
Daniel:
Maurizio Gigli maintains a terrific Jewel Beetle (family Buprestidae) website. Mohsen Arooni’s beetle is likely in the genus Julodis . It could be J. andreae or J. onopordi, but it looks more like J. ampliata. Their geographic distributions are somewhat different. I assumed this one was from Iran, but I also thought that it might just be the location of the poster. Knowing the origin of the specimen may be helpful. Regards.
Karl
http://utenti.romascuola.net/bups/jewel.htm

Posted 13 January 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Flat Headed Borer Grub

White worm w/ odd head
Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 8:50 AM
White worm w/ odd head
Hi. Two of these worms have come off the firewood in the last couple days, here in PA. Just wondering what they are. The picture should provide a lot of info.
Thanks!!
Diane B.
SE Pennsylvania

Flat Headed Borer Grub

Flat Headed Borer Grub

Hi Diane,
This is a Flat Headed Borer Grub in the family Buprestidae, known as the Metallic Wood Borers or Jewel Beetles.  You can match your photo to one we located on a Forestry Images website or to the images on BugGuide. Many of the adult beetles are quite gorgeous and are sometimes made into jewelry in tropical counties.  Sadly, we are not skilled enough to tell you the exact species.  Flat Headed Borers often live many years as grubs feeding on wood.  We have heard reports of the Golden Buprestid, Buprestis aurulenta, emerging from furniture 50 years after it was built.  You can confirm this online in numerous places including a Canadian Forestry site.  We have received our own report of an adult Golden Buprestid emerging from an 8 year old pine cutting board.  If your firewood is local, you have a different species of Flat Headed Borer as the Golden Buprestid is native to the Pacific Northwest.

Posted 11 January 2009 § Grubs ‡ Comments (0) °

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