Long-lived wood boring beetle finally emerges

Howard Russell and Duke Elsner, MSU Diagnostic Services and Michigan State University Extension -

Editor’s note: This article is from the archives of the MSU Crop Advisory Team Alerts. Check the label of any pesticide referenced to ensure your use is included.      

Last September, Duke Elsner submitted a very nice metallic wood-boring beetle that just emerged from a pacific fir window casing in Grand Traverse County. This would be unremarkable except for the fact the windows were installed in the 1970’s. Jim Zablotny first identified this 30-plus year old beetle as Chalcophora angulicollis, the western scuptured pine borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Jim sent photos of the beetle to a buprestid expert who thought the beetle was more likely to be C. fortis, an eastern species.

There many examples of the prolonged or extended life cycles among the beetles. The ivory marked beetle, Eburia quadrigeminata (Cerambycidae) a wood boring beetle known for delayed emergence when feeding in dry wood holds the record. This beetle finally emerged from a birch bookcase that was 40-years-old.

The University of Florida Book of Insect Records names insect champions and documents their achievements. Each chapter deals with a different category of record. For more information, go to http://www.onlineuniversity.net/biology/entomology-resource/.

chalcophora
The long-lived buprestid Chalcophora fortis.  
Photo credit: Jim Zablotny, USDA/APHIS/PPQ, Romulus, Michigan.

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