Subject:n What is this?
Geographic location of the bug: Eastern Pennsylvania 19504
Date: 03/30/2019
Time: 09:56 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Second one of these we found in our home this week. One in our living room, one in our kitchen. Wondering what it is and if we may have more. Found mid to late March 2019. Legs damaged in capture.
How you want your letter signed: Curious homeowner
Dear Curious homeowner,
Do you have a fireplace or wood burning stove and do you store firewood inside the home? This is a Spined Oak Borer, Elaphidion mucronatum, which we identified on BugGuide, and according to BugGuide: “Extremely polyphagous; hosts include most eastern hardwoods & shrubs. Also noted in bald cypress (Taxodium distichum)” and “Eggs are laid beneath bark of dead hardwoods. Larvae feed beneath the bark for the first year and feed deeper the second year.” Adults do not feed on wood. We are presuming the individuals you found in your home emerged from wood you brought indoors.