B52 Bomber?
Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 2:08 AM
B52 Bomber?
This 10cm long bug flew in on us one night. Very slow and noisy in flight. It seemd to be having trouble staying aloft & its sense of direction was not too good either. I am emailing from Harare in Zimbabwe & we are at the beginning of summer at the moment.
Jenny Harrison
Zimbabwe
Hi Jenny,
While we cannot tell you what species this enormous beetle is, we can tell you that it is one of the Longhorned Borer Beetles in the family Cerambycidae. The larvae of the Longhorned Borer Beetles bore into the wood of trees. The formidable jaws on the beetle enable the newly metamorphosed adult to chew its way out of the tree where the larva has been feeding.
Friends:
WhatsThatBug.com has another interesting post (scroll down the home page) of a lovely, mottled prionid cerambycid from Africa that we’re curious about. In the course of my own cursory research, I stumbled upon some wonderful eye candy at:http://www.beetlesofafrica.com
that you might also find interesting. Thank you in advance for any help with the ID.
Eric R. Eaton
Update December 5, 2008
Daniel:
Mike Thomas says he communicated the genus name to you, but this person provides a species name and more information:-) Keep up the great work.
Eric
Eric’s / Jenny Harrison’s large ‘bycid carries the name Tithoes confinis (Laporte de Castelnau, 1840). It is likely a female, and not as large and fearsome as individuals of this species often are. The species is widespread through most of the continental Afrotropics and in the right habitat they are bound to come to light on a good light-trapping night; they come in around 1-3 hours after sunset. Its pedigree is Cerambycidae: Prioninae: Acanthophorini.
Best fishes,
RiaaN
Hello, Eric – I took the liberty of showing your image to a friend of mine who
is an avid cerambycid enthusiast, and he had the following to say:
“Acanthophorus (Tithoes) maculatus (Fab.) especially if the third antennal
segment has a sulcus on it.”
Hope this helps,
Ed Saugstad
Sinks Grove, WV