Looks like yellowjacket or paper wasp but without wings…
Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Hi. My mom mailed me these pictures of this insect. I am actually an entomologist, but I work with mosquitoes, bed bugs and other biting and stinging public health pests. So beetles are a bit beyond me. I can’t get a good look at it, because she can’t mail me the specimen. (she lives in Indianapolis, and I live in Honolulu) . All I have is a handful of out of focus pictures. I am 99% sure it is a beetle from cerambycidae, and leaning toward something similar to Megacyllene robiniae.
Since it is such a colorful fellow (and looks like a wasp to most people) I thought I’d send it to you.
Tory
Indianpolis, Indiana. Winter (with 12+ inches of snow on the ground!
Hi Tory,
We believe this is either Megacyllene robiniae, the Locust Borer as you have surmised, or a closely related species, the Hickory Borer, Megacyllene caryae. We are curious about the sighting with 12 inches of snow on the ground, and are guessing that the insect in question may have emerged from some firewood that was stored indoors.
Update: From Eric Eaton
Monday, February 6, 2009
Daniel:
The “locust borer” from Indiana is almost certainly a hickory borer. It is not at all atypical to get them indoors at this time of year. The locust borer emerges in the fall. Period. There seems to be virtually no overlap in emergence times between the two species.
Eric