What Problems Do Asian Longhorn Beetles Cause?

A lot of hue and cry has been made over the spread of the Asian Longhorn Beetles in the US in recent years, and in this article, we will tell you exactly why they are so dangerous.

Could you ever think that a small beetle is capable enough of toppling down massive healthy trees? Yes, it is true.

The Asian longhorn beetles are known for their ability to destroy backyard trees by boring continuous network tunnels through the bark.

In this article, we will take a closer look at these insects and the extent of damage they are capable of inflicting. It will share details on how to control these pests.

What Is the Asian Long-Horned Beetle?

The Asian longhorn beetle, also scientifically known as Anoplophora glabripennis, is a member of the vast beetles family that poses a significant threat to a wide range of healthy trees.

These beetles are majorly found in China and neighboring countries. The adult beetles have a glossy black body with an irregular network of white spots on them.

They have 0.75 to 1.25 inches long bodies (this excludes the length of the antennae).

The Asian longhorn beetle larvae feed on the wood of trees by boring tunnels in the trunk of healthy living trees.

How Do Asian Longhorn Beetles Kill Trees?

The adult female beetles lay eggs on chewed depressions that they create in various hardwood trees.

Once these eggs hatch, the beetle larva starts tunneling across the bark of the tree. They create tunnels through different layers of the trees to consume wood.

These larvae spend nearly two to three years inside the host tree.

After constant chewing and tunneling, the larvae reach the woody tissue of the healthy tree and continue to feed on the same, making the tree nearly hollow from the inside.

When the larvae emerge from the tree, they leave behind large gaps of 3/8inch diameter, which allows tree sap to flow from them.

This makes it worse for the poor tree since it weakens it structurally and makes it susceptible to other diseases and pests.

In some cases, the trees become so structurally weak that a strong gust of wind can knock them over.

Which Trees Does it Target?

These beetles often select trees where they can complete their entire lifecycle without having to change their hosts.

In the US, they choose hardwood trees like mountain ashes, sugar maple, chestnut, willow, and more. All of these are economically important trees.

In China, Korea, and other Asian countries, it has infested trees like poplars and mulberries.

What is The Asian Longhorned Beetle’s Damage To the Economy?

We already mentioned that the Asian longhorn beetle could cause significant economic losses.

But how are they capable of doing so? When these insects occupy trees near the street, there is a high chance that these trees might fall at any given point due to a lack of strength.

Thus, they must be removed immediately, and proper treatment must be given to eradicate these insects from the region.

The cost of repairing and replacing the street trees and clearing the ALB population from the area is almost $100 per infested tree.

If these pests enter a forest range, the economic damage can be far more significant.

A complete infestation of these beetles in a well-grown forest of hardwood trees can heavily impact the export market for almost all hardwood products.

Thus, these insects can cause a loss of billions of dollars if they are not stopped. Adding to that, the cost of containment and eradication will also be high.

Where Has This Beetle Spread in the US?

The longhorn beetle was first discovered in New York City and Chicago. Here they were spotted destroying ornamental trees.

Since then, regular detections of these insects have been made in the northeastern part of the United States.

It is conjectured that these bugs entered the US via untreated wooden crates and packaging material from China.

What Can Be Done To Control It?

These pests have some natural enemies, like the woodpecker and red wood ants, but external measures must be taken to eradicate them.

People often use pathogens to kill the populations of these beetles.

The fungus Beauveria bassiana can kill these insects when injected into newly dug holes made in trees. Brongniartii is also exceptional in infecting and killing these adult beetles and their larvae.

Apart from such parasites, entomopathogenic nematodes are also used to get rid of these insects. The S. feltiae nematode is effective in killing these wood-boring beetles.

Lastly, as of now, the method being used is to completely eradicate the trees and surrounding trees that are infested so as to limit the spread.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrap Up

The Asian longhorn beetles are a big threat to biodiversity and the growing species of trees across major forest ranges.

Therefore it is essential to know how to control them and eradicate their populations if you spot an infestation near you. We hope this article will help you with that.

Thank you for reading the article.

Reader Emails

Ever since Asian Longhorned beetles gained their notoriety in the US, many of our readers have been checking in with us to see if they have sighted one in their garden or yard.

Here are a few such emails.

Letter 1 – Asian Longhorned Borer or Starry Night Sky Beetle

 

can you identify this bug?
Hey Bugman,
I was surfing the web and happened upon your website and thought it was pretty cool. The thing is I’m working in Seoul, South Korea right now and a few months back I came across this big bug that I’d never seen before. I took a picture of it with my cell phone and I’ve been wondering ever since. I’ve never been able to identify it. Can you help me out.
Thanks.
Ian
PS – again, it was a cell phone camera, so the picture quality is pretty mediocre.

Hi Ian,
Your beetle, the Asian Longhorned Borer, Anoplophora glabripennis, is a new exotic introduction to the U.S. and it is causing quite a bit of commotion. The U.S. Department of Agriculture site states: ” This beetle is a serious pest in China where it kills hardwood trees in roadside plantings, shelterbelts, and plantations. In the United States the beetle prefers maple species ( Acer spp.), including boxelder, Norway, red, silver, and sugar maples . Other known hosts are alders, birches, elms, horsechestnut, poplars, and willows . A complete list of host trees in the United States has not been determined. Currently, the only effective means to eliminate ALB is to remove infested trees and destroy them by chipping or burning. To prevent further spread of the insect, quarantines are established to avoid transporting infested trees and branches from the area. Early detection of infestations and rapid treatment response are crucial to successful eradication of the beetle. ” According to another government site, the English translations from Asian languages for this beetle’s name include Starry Night Sky Beetle and Sky Ox Beetle.

Letter 2 – Mating Asian Longhorn Beetles

 

Asian longhorned beetle love
Love you site, check out the attached Anoplophora glabripennis shot.
Best,
Mike

Hi Mike,
We are thrilled to have your wonderful documentation of mating Asian Longhorn Beetles, especially since it will be cross referenced in our Bug Love section and our Invasive Exotic section of our new site, which we are currently about to migrate to, however, your photo lacks a location. Was this taken in native China? or is this an example of the species spread in North America? As this species has become established in the U.S., there is much information about the species online, including this UC Davis posting.

Worcester, Massachusetts.

Letter 3 – Longhorned Borer Beetle emerges from Firewood

 

Bugs coming from firewood?
January 17, 2010
I’m finding these bugs in our house and they seem to be coming from our firewood. We do keep some wood in the house for use and have a couple of racks outside our house.
Bill
Eastern Pennsylvania

Hi Bill,
Our eyes are crossed from clicking through all the pages of BugGuide’s Cerambycidae section to no avail.  We had hoped to identify the species, but the best we can do is the family Cerambycidae, the Longhorned Borer Beetles.  We will see if Eric Eaton can provide a species identification.  Firewood brought indoors often causes dormant wood boring insects to emerge due to the warmth indoors.

Eric Eaton provides an identification
Hi, Daniel:
The actual beetle specimens are longhorned woodborers, Phymatoes varius in all likelihood.  There are no images of this species on Bugguide currently, so we would welcome the person to submit them there.  We also have some top-notch cerambycid experts who could confirm or correct my own ID.
Eric

Hi Daniel & Eric,
I’d be happy to post the images, however I don’t know how. If you would like to post them, feel free to do so. Is there any problem with finding these insects in our home? I wanted to make sure they weren’t termites, which may be a problem.
Thanks for your help,
Bill

The adult insects are not interested in wood as that is the larval food.  Borers do not infest milled lumber, though there is occasionally a possibility of the larvae surviving the milling process and then emerging from furniture or structural beams many years later.  That is a rare occurrence.

Letter 4 – Tan Bark Borer may have emerged from firewood

 

Subject: beetle
Location: northern wisconsin
February 26, 2013 12:05 pm
We have been seeing these insects inside the house for the last several weeks, perhaps one or two a day. We don’t remember seeing them in the house prior to this winter. They started appearing after our first significant snowfall of the winter. They can appear anywhere in the house and are very slow moving, rarely flying.
Signature: Bob and Martha

Dear Bob and Martha,
Do you burn firewood in the home?  We suspect you brought in some wood and these Longhorned Borer Beetles had been living in the wood as wood boring larvae, and that they were most likely in the pupa stage when the heat of the home caused them to emerge early.  We are pressed for time this morning, and cannot browse through the family Cerambycidae on BugGuide to identify the species.  Perhaps while we are at our regular job, one of our readers will supply a comment with an identification.  We will try to determine a species at a later date.

Update:  February 27, 2013
Thanks to a comment identifying this as a Tan Bark Borer, Phymatodes testaceus, we are investigating on BugGuide.  It appears we might be getting confused with Martha.  According to BugGuide, the Tan Bark Borer is:  “native to Eurasia; widely established around the world, incl. e. US and, more recently, in the Pacific Northwest”

Thanks for the tip – we do burn firewood and Martha suspected that that might be the source of the beetle.  From the photos on your site, we think that it is an oxycopis thoracica
Bob and Martha

Well, on further review it appears to be Phymatodes testaceus, which makes more sense given it’s oak firewood origin.
Thanks again,
Bob and Martha

Hi again Bob and Martha,
When we received a comment that this was a Tan Bark Borer, we turned to BugGuide.  We saw your submission that “Martha thinks they are coming from the firewood” and we suspected that we were being confused with Martha Stewart.

Letter 5 – Longhorned Borer collected in 1984 is not native to North America!!!

 

Subject: Asian Longhorn beetle??
Location: Tulsa Oklahoma
September 28, 2013 10:03 am
In 1984 when I was taking entomology I captured this bug along the Arkansas river walk in Tulsa Oklahoma. I always just assumed it was an Asian Longhorn beetle, so I never double checked myself…but now while doing some more research I am seeing that the Asian Longhorn beetle seems to be more ”spotted” rather than striped. The specimen is 2 1/8 inch long from top of head to end of abdomen, so quite a large beetle. Did I misidentify this guy? He’s still in my collection, so I’d love to correct any mistake I may have made.
Thanks
Signature: BugLady

Dear BugLady,
First we want to commend you on preserving your insect collection for nearly 30 years.  We just lamented that a collector who captured a lovely Carolina Tiger Beetle would most likely discard it after receiving a grade.  This is not an Asian Longhorn, but the family Cerambycidae is correct.  We will attempt to get you a species identification.

Hi Mr. Marlos,
Not only have I preserver my collection, it has been the foundation of my business…started three years ago.
It’s a long story, but I have been fascinated by insects since the age of 8. I mainly studied Lepidoptera mimicry in graduate school…and I gave my collection a glance now and then…The beetle I caught while biking along the Tulsa River Walk  on the way to school, and he always gave me pause, because I assumed identification and never verified it…..
(I had to bike back to my college apartment one handed, while holding this guy…and he scratched the * %^% out of my hand.)
I respect everything I mounted and I have had my collection museum crated and moved at great expense when I moved cross country. It is the center of my living room wall now…
I am always saddened by the people that tell me they had a collection and then discarded it…I think life, even insects, deserve respect, and we need to use it to teach future generations about the beauty and diversity of nature and the need to preserve and protect the world around us.

Eric Eaton Responds
Hi, Daniel:
Well, it is certainly not a species native to the U.S.  My best guess is Batocera wallacei, or at least something in the genus Batocera.  Sometimes insects like this sneak in on commerce from other parts of the world, but….
I’m copying my reply to Ted MacRae, who knows far more about longhorn beetles than I do.  Hopefully he will weigh in, too.
Eric

Hi again BugLady,
It appears we owe you an apology.  While your beetle is not THE Asian Longhorn, Anoplophora glabripennis, that has gained such notoriety in recent years (see Asian Longhorned Beetle website), it is AN Asian Longhorn.  We are awaiting additional input from Ted MacRae.  While this is a non-native species, we don’t have any indication that it was able to reproduce in Oklahoma, so it is most likely not an invasive species, however we are nonetheless tagging it as an Invasive Exotic species. 

Ted MacRae provides his expertise
Hi Daniel,
Eric is right, it is a species of Batocera, a genus native to Africa and southeast Asia.
It is common for large, exotic longhorned beetles to be captured emerging from furniture or pallets once in the U.S., but it is another thing to find one out in the wild – especially one as large and spectacular as Batocera. I’d need some convincing that this doesn’t represent merely a mislabeled specimen.
Best regards,
Ted

Editor’s Note:  Cold Case
Since so much time has elapsed, it is likely we will never know for sure how this African/Asian Longicorn found its way to the Arkansas River in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Perhaps the river was used to transport goods brought from Asia.  A warehouse nearby might have housed the goods that included crating or palettes that contained the pupa that eventually emerged and was captured by BugLady.  This is all speculation of course.

Hi Daniel,
Her story seems to be valid – the part about biking back home one-handed while the beetle clawed her other hand convinced me.
I’m just glad this species apparently never established in the U.S., but it is quite extraordinary that it made it all the way into the middle of the country and was then found by somebody with an interest in insects.
Best regards,
Ted

Very Interesting…and somewhat exciting! I always meant to get a positive ID on this one…just never got around to it until now…
The specimen was definitely captured by me in 1984. It has been in my collection ever since and nothing has been switched or mislabeled. It is actually the only large longhorn in that collection and I did not collect non-native species until well into 2000.
The River Walk in Tulsa Oklahoma runs along the Arkansas river. There is a port in Catoosa Oklahoma. Maybe it came in on a shipment…or maybe there is a breeding population that just has not been recorded yet…How many entomologists are looking for beetles along that area?
BugLady

Editor’s Note
We requested permission to use BugLady’s real name and to provide a link to her business.

Not at all…It would  great!
Thanks!!
On another note…please realize that in the early 1980s the internet was not what it is today…(also I was not a computer person), so although it is easy to find help with Insect identification now, back then websites like yours did not exist, and even though I checked a few books and nothing really matched this specimen so I labeled it “Asian Longhorn Beetle” and then went along my way…but I have always wanted to get a positive ID, so I thank you for your help with that!
Katja Hilton
Amazing & Beautiful Butterflies
www.abbutterflies.com

Reader Emails

Over the years, our website, whatsthatbug.com has received hundreds of letters and some interesting images asking us about these insects. Scroll down to have a look at some of them.

Letter 1 – White Marked Spider Beetle: Ptinus sexpunctatus

 

Subject: strange beetle Location: southeastern Idaho March 28, 2015 8:06 pm I keep finding these beetles in my bathroom, and I’ve never seen them before. Signature: mrs. Payne

Dear Mrs. Payne, These are Longhorned Borer Beetles in the family Cerambycidae, and they resemble the Ivory Marked Beetle, Eburia quadrigeminata, but they seem very small and Idaho is considerably west of their range as listed on BugGuide, so normally we would discount that as a possibility but for one bit of information posted on BugGuide.  According to BugGuide:  “Notorious for emerging from furniture after as many as 10-40 yrs.  Delayed emergence of E. quadrigeminata was discovered from a birch bookcase 40 years old (Jaques 1918).”  Larvae from this family are wood borers, often remaining in the larval stage feeding for several years.  If infested lumber is milled and turned into paneling or furniture, it is possible that the larvae might survive, and individuals in that situation may emerge many years later and they are often considerably smaller than individuals that develop in nature.  According to BugGuide:  “hosts include a wide variety of hardwoods (oak, ash, hickory, locust, chestnut, maple, elm, beech, cherry); larvae bore in heartwood.”  It is possible that you bought a piece of furniture made from one of those trees that was milled in the normal range of the Ivory Spotted Beetle, and that could explain its presence in Idaho.  That is speculation on our part and the beetles you found might actually be a local species, but at this time, we have not been able to find a likely candidate.  We will seek a second opinion on this from Eric Eaton and our readers might also be able to provide some other information.

Eric Eaton Responds Daniel: Way too tiny for Ivory-marked Longhorn, but I see the resemblance otherwise. These are spider beetles, family Ptinidae.  Probably the White-marked Spider Beetle, Ptinus fur.  Here’s the Bugguide page: http://bugguide.net/node/view/88327 I rarely see these, but they are well-known “stored product pests.” Eric author, Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America http://bugeric.blogspot.com/

Letter 2 – Longicorn from Costa Rica in genus Taeniotes

 

Subject: costa rican longhorn Location: costa rica cloud forest, north west highlands April 6, 2015 12:48 pm Can’t find anything like this on Google. Signature: jason

Dear Jason, Your beetle is a Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae, but we have not yet been successful in finding a matching image online to provide an identification.  Your Bycid looks similar to a Costa Rican individual we believe we may have correctly identified as Taeniotes scalatus, and it looks even closer to two fighting males of that species pictured on the BeetleForum.net site.  Neither of those, nor any other examples of Taeniotes scalatus we have located online, has markings exactly like your gorgeous specimen, so we doubt they are the same.  Perhaps one of our readers (Markikavana or Cesar or Karl perhaps) can provide an identity. A couple more photos attached.

Karl provides an identification Hi Daniel and Jason: Taeniotes is probably the correct genus and I believe the species is T. praeclarus (Cerambycidae: Lamiinae: Monochamini), which ranges from Nicaragua to Bolivia. Taeniotes dentatus also looks quite similar, but the range is given as Ecuador to Bolivia. Regards.  Karl Thanks so much Karl.  The colors are much more beautiful on the living beetle.

Letter 3 – Two Unknown Longicorns from Botswana

 

Subject: unknown Longhorn beetle Location: Central Kalahari, Botswana April 9, 2015 3:02 am Hey 🙂 I have been looking through the forum and the web in search for an ID to these two species. Both of them showed up on the ground in our camp in Central Kalahari. The surroundings are pretty much dominated by different Acacia trees/bushes, however Silver Cluster-leaf (Terminalia sericea) is more abundant just around the camp. I am collecting all different kind of insects around the farm area where our camp is stationed, to make a species list and show room of the insects you can espect to find during your stay. It will be a huge help If you can help me out 🙂 There are pictures of two different species of Longhorn beetles. Signature: Mathias

Dear Mathias, We did an internet search and we were not able to determine the identity of your Longicorns, so we are posting them as unidentified in the hope that we will eventually be able to provide you with an answer.

Update: We just received a comment that these may be Pycnopsis brachyptera obsoleta based on this FlickR image and Titoceres jaspideus which is pictured on iSpot.

Letter 4 – Wasp Mimic Clytus planifrons

 

Subject: Wasp beetle in California? Location: Petaluma, CA May 1, 2015 3:13 pm Founds this bug today,. Petaluma, CA. Riparian / farm land Hot and sunny. Signature: Kati Jackson

Hi Kati, Many species of Longhorned Borer Beetles from the family Cerambycidae are excellent wasp mimics, including members of the genus Clytus.  We believe the individual represented in your images is Clytus planifrons based on its resemblance to individuals posted on BugGuide.  The species is found in California.  On the genus page, BugGuide states:  “C. arietis is called ‘wasp beetle’ in the U” which we suppose should have read “UK” because according to Nature Spot it is “Common and widespread in England and Wales, scarcer in Scotland.”  Had you not stated that your found your individual in California, we might have mistaken it for its Old World relative.

   

Letter 5 – Musk Beetle from Sweden

 

Subject: Beautiful green/gold beetle Location: Värmdö, Sweden July 16, 2015 6:20 am I found this beauty outside my house in Värmdö, Sweden, around noon today (July 16). It’s about 7 cm long, all in all. Do you know what it might be? Signature: Sam

Dear Sam, In attempting to identify your Longhorned Borer or Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae, we soon found a FlickR posting identified as Aromia moschata.  Upon researching that name, we next discovered the common name Musk Beetle on the Eakringbirds.  According to the Wildlife Trusts:  “The Musk Beetle is a long, narrow-bodied longhorn beetle that has very long antennae. The larvae live in the wood of willow trees (particularly pollards), taking up to three years to develop. The adults can be found on flowers and tree trunks near to wetlands during the summer. The adults emit a musky secretion, hence the common name.”

Letter 6 – Round Headed Apple Borer

 

Subject: What is this bug? Location: New york July 31, 2015 8:17 am Hi my name is jennifer g and my sister and i found a beetle on our screen door in new york it is white with brown stripes and makes a squeaking noise when touched. Maybe you can help identify it. Signature: Jennifer G

Dear Jennifer, Your beetle is a Round Headed Apple Borer, Saperda candida, and according to BugGuide:  “Larvae feed on the wood of apples (Malus) and related trees in the rose family, such as pear (Pyrus), hawthorn (Crataegus), mountain ash (Sorbus) and Saskatoon (Amelanchier). Also: Aronia, Cotoneaster, Cydonia, Prunus. Adults feed on leaves.”

Letter 7 – Probably Spotted Tree Borer

 

Subject: what’s this bug Location: Lassen National Forest in northern california August 14, 2015 7:56 pm Lassen National Forest in northern california in August 2015 elevation 6500 ft near a lake Signature: Bugman

This is a Longhorned Borer Beetle or Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae, and it is a Flat-Faced Longhorn in the subfamily Lamiinae.  Though we are not certain of the species, we believe it is a Spotted Tree Borer, Synaphaeta guexi, an impressive species and every year we get one or two identification requests from California.  We wish you had submitted a dorsal view as it is easier for us to identify a beetle with a dorsal view.  Compare your individual to this image from BugGuide, also from Lassen.

thank you for the quick response and the coaching on best angle for a picture. Mark Rieger We should also add that your images are quite stunning, and we did not mean to imply that they are substandard.  We are certain that any coleopterists out there would have no trouble providing a species identification based on your images, but we have no such credentials, so for our staff, dorsal views of insects are the best for identification purposes.

Letter 8 – Musk Beetle from the UK

 

Location: Stretham Cambridge UK August 23, 2015 6:07 am I found this insect while picking blackberries. I have no idea what it is but was fascinated by the size and nobbles of its antennae. I would love to know more about it. I hope the photos are useful. With kind regards Signature: P. Carr

Dear P. Carr, This Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae looked familiar to us, but we were uncertain of its identity, so we decided to search our own archives.  Our first matching image is this Unidentified Longicorn from Serbia which we believe is the same species.  We then found another similar looking individual from Sweden that we identified as a Musk Beetle, Aromia moschata, though it is green as opposed to purple.  The Eakring Birds site pictures both green and purple individuals, leading us to deduce that we have a correct identification on your beetle.  

Letter 9 – Unidentified Longicorn from France

 

Subject: Longhorn Beetle Location: Gard, France September 24, 2015 11:18 am Hello, I found this longhorn beetle wandering across our terrace earlier. Do you have any idea of what sort it is? Signature: Kinyonga

Dear Kinyonga, We haven’t the time to research this right now, but we are posting your image of a Longicorn and perhaps one of our readers can supply some information.

Cesar Crash provides an identification Hi, there! I think this longhorn is Monochamus galloprovincialis. Best Cesar Crash

Letter 10 – Cactus Longhorn Beetle

 

Subject: Black Beetle (?) with White Stripe Location: SE New Mexico Nature Trail October 10, 2015 11:47 am Thank you for identifying my Metallic Borer Beetle on October 4th, 2015. I found this guy / gal a little further down the same nature trail. It was just running across the trail when I snapped the photo. As with the first beetle, I tried looking this one up on your site and on the web in general and had no luck. As with the prior beetle, this one was on a nature trail in SE New Mexico. It had been in the 90’s the week before, but that week and for several after that it was cool and rainy. I don’t recall seeing this bug/beetle with the white stripe before, but I may just not have been looking closely enough. Thanks for all the time you put into educating us. Signature: Curious

Dear Curious, We are busy with a personal project right now, but we wanted to try to do a quick posting today.  We believe this is a Darkling Beetle in the family Tenebrionidae, and it looks similar to some Desert Stink Beetles or Acrobat Beetles in the genus Eleodes.  We will try to contact Eric Eaton for assistance. Udpate:  Cactus Longhorn Right after writing to Eric Eaton, we remembered a Cactus Longhorn and sure enough, we found Moneilema gigas, one of the Cactus Longhorned Beetles on BugGuide.  According to the Desert Ecology of Tucson, AZ:  “Often seen feeding as adults on cactus stems (frequently prickly pear and chollas). Larvae (grubs with brown heads) feed on both stems and roots. Both adults and grubs may cause severe damage and even death to cactuses.” Eric Eaton Confirms Daniel: This is one of the cactus longhorned beetles that *mimics* Eleodes:  Moneilema sp. Eric

Letter 11 – Prionid from Australia is Poinciana Longicorn

 

Subject: aussietrev Big Brown Beetle Location: Nth Burnett region. Queensland November 11, 2015 10:32 pm Hi guys. This big beetle got caught up in some hail netting after a storm and unfortunately the ants got to it before I found it. They had removed pretty well all its legs, antennae and had started on the body but it was still alive and trying to get free. I have no idea what group it might belong in, and I guess the missing bits are going to make it hard to ID but can you help? P.S> Did you get the link I sent you to the review on Pacific Corrinnidae that I contributed to? Signature: aussietrev

Hi Trevor, This is a Prionid in the subfamily Prioninae of the family of Longicorns, Cerambycidae.  It looks like it might be Agrianome spinicollis which is pictured on the Atlas of Living Australia where it is described as:  “Very large, elongate beetle with long antennae. Wing covers yellowish-brown. Thorax reddish-brown, edged with a row of pointed teeth. Head with a pair of stout jaws.”  Previous postings on our site indicate the common name Poinciana Longicorn. We cannot recall posting a link.  Please resend the information so we can link to the review on Pacific Corrinnidae. Thanks guys. That beetle must be quite the traveler as there are no Poinciana anywhere around here. Wonder if they use any other native as a host? The link is to a pdf of a rather large work by Robert Raven from the University of Queensland reviewing Western Pacific Corrinidaes to which I contributed specimens and photographs. One of my pictures was used for the cover art so now you know someone that is a famous published nature photographer. 🙂 It won’t be much use to anyone except dedicated spider nuts as it is a very technical work rather than a general use type of thing. https://www.dropbox.com/s/z6zcivdts7x1r7m/Raven_2015_Corinnidae_Western%20Pacific.pdf?dl=0