Longhorn beetles, especially the Asian ones, are an invasive pest and can create severe economic damage to trees. But can these beetles fly as well? Let’s find out.
The long-horned beetle is a destructive pest that can cause severe damage to trees. That said, you might be curious if these beetles can fly.
Unfortunately, the answer to this is yes. These beetles can move from one tree to another by flying around.
Although Asian long-horned beetles aren’t native to North America, they have grown in numbers and spread, becoming a major nuisance.
What Are Longhorned Beetles?
The term ‘longhorned beetle’ doesn’t refer to any specific pest in particular but an entire family of 35,000 beetle species.
They earn the name from their extremely long antennae, which often grow longer than their bodies.
One of the most common species of longhorned beetle is the Asian Longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis), which is black with white spots.
Native to China and Korea, this pest has spread across to other continents too. Although often mistaken to be a Japanese beetle, it is not a part of Japan’s native fauna.
What Damage Do They Do?
The adult females use their ovipositors to lay eggs under the bark of wood. It’s mostly the larvae that cause damage to stems, trunks, and roots.
Known as round-headed borers in the larval stage, they are capable of damaging both living trees and untreated lumber by boring into the wood.
The damage varies from one species to another, but some are particularly destructive. Certain species, like the old-house borer, are also major indoor pests.
These larvae live for two to three years inside the tree, making tunnels that leave the tree a hollow shell of itself.
The Asian Longhorned beetle is capable of laying up to 90 eggs during its lifetime.
Can They Fly?
Yes, this invasive pest is a winged beetle and is capable of flying. On average, they can fly up to 1.4 miles from the tree where they originally emerged.
The stronger ones among them can cover longer distances, especially the older and well-fed adults.
During laboratory tests in controlled environments, some were able to fly as far as 8.5 miles.
Because of its ability to fly and its destructive capacity, this bug often requires setting up large quarantine areas to prevent longhorned beetle outbreaks.
How To Control Their Spread?
Eliminating longhorned beetles can be a challenge, as pesticides aren’t very effective against them.
In the event of a longhorned beetle outbreak, the best you can do is try to control its spread.
Usually, quarantine areas with buffer zones are set up to control the spread. This requires the removal of infested trees after a thorough survey.
During the quarantine period, no host trees or wood should be moved out from the area, including nursery stock.
Besides this, it’s also possible to use the natural enemies of the pest against them to control their population.
Ontsira mellipes, a parasitoid wasp species, is particularly effective against these pests.
The wasp is already used often to control the spread of Asian Longhorned Beetles in forests.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do longhorned beetles bite?
If you come across a longhorned beetle in your home, there’s no reason to fear it.
Although these pests can be quite a nuisance, they are incapable of stinging, biting, or harming you in any other way.
Besides, the adult beetles do not attack furniture either; only the larvae of certain species do.
Are longhorn beetles harmful?
Although the extent of damage depends on the species, long-horned beetles can wreak havoc on trees.
Their larvae bore tunnels and galleries in the stems and the roots, weakening the trees and eventually killing them.
These beetles can be devastating enough to disrupt forest and woodland ecosystems. The adults feed on leaves, young bark, and twigs.
What do longhorn beetles do?
The adult females chew depressions into tree bark and lay their eggs inside them. Upon hatching, the larvae feed on plant tissue, boring deep and vast tunnels in the wood.
Besides the damage this causes to the tree’s structure, it also inhibits the tree’s ability to absorb and transfer nutrients properly.
How long do longhorn beetles live?
Like many insect species, female longhorn beetles live longer than males. Each female beetle of this species lives for approximately 66 days after hatching. A male longhorn beetle, on the other hand, has a lifespan of 50 days.
Wrap Up
Longhorned beetles can attack a diverse variety of trees. Potential host species include mountain ashes, birches, willows, poplars, maples, etc.
Due to the nature of the infestation, it is possible that these bugs can cause a lot of economic harm to the wood industry.
Hence, the appearance of these beetles near woods or gardens can be quite concerning. I hope you found this article enjoyable, and thank you for reading it.
27 Comments. Leave new
HI! I was looking online for info of cedar pests and ran across this website. I’m curious of what part of the tree the Cedar tree borer feeds in and also pupates in? I know that some beetles burrow further into wood to pupate. Since the beetles are emerging from cedar furniture I would think all the sap wood has been removed- with only the heartwood remaining. If this is indeed the case then I guess the answer is that the beetles are in the heartwood…but are they only pupating in the heartwood? …as I would think they would or (wood) only feed in the sap wood. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Cheers! Sarah
This looks like Oxymerus aculeatus (Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Trachyderini). The Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services has posted a “Pest Alert” for this species (available online), fearing that it may have become established in South Florida. I believe this is it, but I haven’t checked to see if there are related and similar looking species. Regards. K
We recently moved to another home in the same area, and now we have an infestation of these Ceder Borer Beetles, and wanted to know how to get rid of them! We’ve never had this problem before. In fact, it took me quite a time to figure out what these little bugs were. One actually bit/pinched me! Is there a way to kill them out side on the wood pile?
Given the shape and color scheme, I’m guessing some kind of flower longhorn (Lepturinae); possibly Leptura obliterata (although the coloration seems off)? See https://bugguide.net/node/view/165929/bgimage and https://bugguide.net/node/view/315077/bgimage.
This is not a Lepturini for sure. The body is too robust. Note the enlarged femur and the squared humeri. Would luv to see an ID on this one it has me puzzled.
Muskoteekein – in Cree we call them a Bear Beetle or a Spruce Bug – in our part of the world they bite! Great photo!
They are Eburia stigma and the single beetle is Anelaphus inermis.
Thanks for the assistance with this identification.
Believe this to be Compsocerus violaceus based on this image https://www.cerambycoidea.com/foto.asp?Id=1501. Hope this helps.
These are common flower longhorns of the genus Zorion
Thanks for your identification.
Rhagium mordax
Awesome. Thanks so much Mardikavana.
Found the same beetle in my garden on the swamp milkweed mating the other day. Got some good photos with my iPhone camera posted to Instagram .. I came hunting to find out what the beetles name was as I haven’t seen this really red one before. I caught them matting then one took wing and flew away! No Monarch butterflies seen here in Washington, DC yet this summer as of June 21st 2015. Hoping they will appear soon. We are trying to keep our various asclepius growing in our flower gardens.
My brother and I made an end table out of a wood stump and these guys are starting to appear and holes are popping up in the stump. Is there any way to get rid of them? Do they live in the stump or are the coming into the house and burrowing in it?
You can try getting rid of the stump to get rid of the Borer Beetles. They are emerging from the stump in which they were living as larvae or pupae when you brought the stump indoors, and now that they have matured, they are appearing.
It may be a Gerania bosci.
Thanks for the suggestion. We will look into this.
It must be Imantocera penicillata.
Thanks Cesar. We found a link on Lamiaires du Monde.
Arrived at same conclusion (n genus level, at least):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=97395&subview=grid&taxon_id=50265
Thanks for this and your other comments Boris. We will have to do plenty of posting corrections thanks to your diligence.
Are young Albizia longhorn beetles green, instead of brown?
A beetle got into my bedroom that I don’t recognize. It was large with long antenae and a very tiny head. The color was dark green and black. I lived in Baton Rouge, LA. I can attach a photo to an email if I get a response from your staff.
Identification requests can be sent using the Ask What’s That Bug? link on our site.
I can say that the specimens on BugGuide can easily be told apart by the eyes.
My Grandson has just found a pair of these at his school in Hastings