{"id":2348,"date":"2014-01-10T14:45:59","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T19:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/?p=2348"},"modified":"2021-01-14T17:28:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T22:28:37","slug":"ontario-long-horned-beetle-not-asian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/ontario-long-horned-beetle-not-asian\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Every Long Horned Beetle in Ontario is an Asian One"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a few brief glorious months, Canada was declared to be free of any traces of Asian Long Horned Beetles after a campaign of many years and more dollars. Then, distressingly, in mid-2013 the announcement was rescinded: a worker near Pearson Airport found a large insect on his car windshield. It was an Asian Long Horned Beetle<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 A new quarantine and cleanup began. The government would like you to keep an eye out for these beetles and advise them quickly if you find any. The tricky part is not every Long Horned Beetle in Ontario is an Asian one.<\/p>\n

Why are They Called Long Horned Beetles?<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s not the best name, admittedly, because unlike Rhino beetles<\/strong><\/a>, these ones have no \u201chorns\u201d at all. What they do have is startlingly long antenna. Like this one:<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Most Common Long Horned Beetle in Ontario<\/h2>\n

There are a surprising number of types of Long Horned Beetles. Well, surprising to me because I\u2019ve rarely seen any.<\/p>\n

The most common native Ontario type seems to be the White Spotted Sawyer. \u201cSawyer\u201d is used in its original meaning as one who saws wood. According to the Royal Alberta Museum website<\/strong><\/a>, \u201cThe larvae make enough noise when chewing their way through the wood that it sounds like a distant saw, hence the name.\u201d (Apparently they sometimes snack on log cabins!)<\/p>\n

How Can I Tell If My Find is a White Spotted Sawyer?<\/h2>\n

Your best bet is to get confirmation from an etymologist. However, there is one noted field mark: According to BugGuide.net<\/strong><\/a> the scutellum is white. \u201c(Scutellum is the little triangle at the front of the elytra, or wing covers.)\u201d<\/p>\n

If you squint at my photo closely, you\u2019ll see this small white triangle sort-of in the centre of the \u201cneck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

The number of other white spots can vary widely. It can have only the scutellum spot or it can be heavily dappled.<\/p>\n

What Do White Spotted Sawyers Eat?<\/h2>\n

Again, according to BugGuide.net, the larvae \u201cexcavate galleries in coniferous trees, often after they are damaged by a fire, storm, etc.\u201d Balsam fir, spruces and white pines are common hosts.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve actually seen the work the grubs do and it\u2019s both impressive and kind of gross. A particularly bad stormed felled a 90-foot-plus white pine near my relatives\u2019 cottage. While sawing it up, my strong-armed relative found the chambers bored out by the larvae. The larvae themselves were large and thriving.<\/p>\n

According to the Natural Resources Canada website<\/strong><\/a> adults can damage young twigs on healthy trees by feeding on the tender bark. The larvae are both \u201cphloeophagous\u201d and \u201cxylophagous\u201d because they feed on both phloem and woody tissues. The tunnels from the young can damage wood cut for lumber. Foresters need to take precautions to avoid having cut but not used logs damaged by the beetles.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

The NRC lists the host trees as<\/p>\n