Locust borer
The locust borer is a longhorn beetle with black and yellow stripes, so it looks a lot like a wasp. That disguise helps keep birds away, but it cannot sting. In late summer you can find it on yellow goldenrod flowers.
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Fun facts
The third yellow stripe on its back is shaped like a letter W.
Mother beetles run up and down tree trunks looking for small cuts in the bark to lay their eggs in.
The grubs spend the winter under the bark, then dig tunnels about 10 centimetres long into the tree.
The tunnels let in a fungus that rots the inside of the tree, so the tree can break in the wind.
The male's feelers are two thirds as long as his body.
Most asked questions about Locust borer
?Can the locust borer sting?
No. It looks like a wasp, but it is a harmless beetle.
?What does a locust borer eat?
Adults eat goldenrod pollen. The grubs eat wood inside black locust trees.
?How big is a locust borer?
It is about 1 to 3 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Megacyllene robiniae
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Cerambycidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Cerambycidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Megacyllene robiniae (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Bruce Marlin. CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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