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Longhorned Beetle
(John Obermeyer, Purdue University)
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Common Name: Longhorned Beetle

Order: Coleoptera

Family: Cerambycidae


Pest Status: Longhorned beetles are the adult stage of many of the wood borers that sometimes damage trees. Most often, however, people find them in already dying trees and mistakenly assume that they are the cause.

Appearance: Adults vary in size from 1/4 to 2 1/4-inches in length. They characteristically have very long antennae. The body is long and cylindrical.

Life Cycle: After mating, females chew oval pits in host trees and lay their eggs. The eggs hatch and young larvae bore into the trunk to feed. After pupating, the adult beetle then chews its way out to create the characteristic emergence hole.

Where to Collect: Longhorned beetles prefer stressed, dead, or dying trees. Peeling the bark back from or splitting these trees often reveals longhorned beetles.