Largest longhorn beetle native to USA/North America?

M

MAcoleo

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Hello all,

I was wondering if any of you guys knew what the largest longhorn beetle that is native to USA? Also, are there any large longhorn beetles we have that are not pests of living trees? Are there any that eat dead wood like Dynastes?

Thanks!

 
I imagine that Prionus are up there, the females are huge and extremely heavy- bodied.

Technically all wood feeding insects eat dead wood, wood isn't a living tissue. A tree with much of its wood hollowed out can remain alive. So there isn't a huge difference between wood from a living tree and wood from a freshly dead tree, and longhorn beetles that might attack living trees may also feed on dead wood. Many longhorn beetles are attracted to dying or damaged trees.

I don't know any examples of cerambycids that feed on well rotted wood like hercules beetles, but i'm sure they exist. Also note that not all longhorn beetles feed on woody plants, for instance Tetraopes larvae live in the stems of the same milkweed plants eaten by the adults and cactus longhorns feed on cacti.

 
Thanks for the well thought out reply! I was more asking to see if hobbyists can raise their own huge longhorns in a manner similar to how we raise D. tityus or granti.

 
Some longhorns, like prionus, can be reared using the log method, which is generally used for stags. I find that cactus longhorns are more interesting. Though not as large, they have more personality, live longer, are probably easier to care for, and take much less time to mature (prionus can take years, while monoleima (cactus longhorns) only take a few months, an can live a year as adults.) The only problem is finding prickly pear cactus to raise them on, they are also difficult to source themselves (no one really supplies them, though you can likely find private collectors to supply them).

 
Is there anyone who sources Prionus? I would love to try to raise them! Thanks! Prickly pear cactus can be bought at many supermarkets. I'd also be interested in Moneilema. Is there anyone who sells them?

 
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In the summer in the lower elevation part of Madera Canyon, cactus long horns are generally quite common. I generally go every year to Arizona so if someone is interested in those, send me a message. As far Prionids, for about a 10 day stretch at the Algodones dunes, there can be lots of Derobrachus hovorei out. However, it's a short window and then they disappear or maybe you will see one at your black light now and then the rest of the year. Some of those D hovorei are huge, especially the females. I have never attempted to breed either one of those because I always assumed it was very difficult. But I have to say that bugboy now has me curious.

Bugboy, have you raised Moneilema from egg to adult? Were you able to easily get the adults to lay eggs?

It just seems like a hassle dealing with cacti. The cholla cacti that the long horns are found on in Madera have really nasty super long spikes. I can't even imagine trying to deal with that stuff or even taking some of it with me to feed the adults and larvae. The stuff is like razor wire and the needles have barbs that are like fish hooks. If you get poked by one of the barbs, pulling it out is not fun.

This is the type of cactus that I find them on in Madera:

Maybe there is an alternative that's easier to deal with?

 
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Wow, super cool! I would be interested in some of the Derobrachus hovorei if you're able to get any. I've always wanted to raise large longhorn beetles.

 
Sadly I haven’t had access to the beetles, so I can’t say I have. The longhorn beetle chapter in The Ultimate Guide to Breeding Beetles would be a good read for information, as it describes both types to some extent. Apparently cactus longhorns are pretty easy to raise so long as you have live prickly pear cactus pads (larvae locate the pad by the root system) i think it states that females will lay eggs into moist sand. Mature larvae leave the pad to pupate. Most log feeding longhorns lay eggs into cracks on rotting logs, desert species are probably not as picky as forest ones.

 
Oh. My. Goodness. Prionus!!!! I found some really large Prionus laticollis here in Massachusetts this summer and breeded them. Do they eat oak tree roots?

 
The female Prionus laticollis are HUGE. They can measure around four inches with the ovipositor extended. The males are far more "refined" with thicker antennae. its strange how some male beetles are smaller than the females while others (like stags) the male is sometimes WAYYYYY larger than the females....

 
Bugboy3092 said:
Im pretty sure that most, if not all prionus species, bore into logs and live inside as grubs.
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I think that the Prionus laticollis eats the wood of roots, but could also bore into logs (maybe they eat from the root wood into the trunk). I found the beetles at the base of oak trees, and an oak tree fell this winter. the scary thing was that the tree looked healthy--no sawdust, no yellowed edge leaves--perfectly looked healthy, but it turns out that the tree was hollow as well as the roots....It might depend on where the female lays her eggs.

 
I've bred them, and the larvae were doing fine, but it was my first time breeding, so I forgot to heat treat the substrate and wood offered, which hosted centipedes and other creatures so eventually, they got scavenged. Trial and error, so eventually, I discovered that maybe I should bake it. Then, I came to BeetleForum and found out the different ways I could heat treat it, so I'm hoping for a second try this summer. There are TONS where I live in the summer--good news for me, Haha, but not so for my family and the oak trees. We are thinking of removing the oaks (sniff, sniff) because they are pretty large and we don't want any deaths, as they are facing the bedrooms....yikes. I really don't want to remove them as the oak trees (three) are a very RICH habitat, not only to beetles, but to katydids, cicadas, various beautiful moths and many more to be discovered...Its wierd however, the beetle species are really "diverse." one summer, we had many different species of stag beetles. then, the next year, lots of root borers (not so much stags)--so, I enjoy the "supplies" while it lasts. Fortunately, I constantly travel, so can collect many other beetles in other states. I certainly make the most of it....bringing a styrofoam cooler to bring home life creatures, and driving to Arizona and back--the insects have been REALLY hardy!!! Almost all (if not all) of them make they way back to Massachusetts alive, and I transfer them to habitats, even through the drastic climate changes.

MAcoleo said:
Stag Beetles: You've bred Prionus or know where to get them?
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Females of Derobrachus hovorei are quite possibly the largest longhorn beetles found in the US so far as overall size, although, females of some species of Prionus might actually reach a greater mass. Derobrachus is almost like a smaller version of the Amazonian species Titanus giganteus. Attached - a 152 mm specimen of T. giganteus from my collection. Virtually nothing is known about the larva of this species, but we do know that like Derobrachus, is pupates in an earthen cell, possibly at some depth underground, among the roots of huge rainforest trees. Whether or not it feeds on the roots of live trees or dead ones however, I don't know. In my area, the larvae of Mallodon dasystomus appear to feed only on already dead trees, either in the still standing trunk, or in the base / roots.

T_giganteus.jpg

 
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