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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Long-horned and Leaf Beetles (Chrysomeloidea) » Longhorned Beetles (Cerambycidae) » Prioninae » Prionini » Prionus » Broad-necked Root Borer (Prionus laticollis)
Photo#198237
2
Copyright © 2008 Kathy Poartfleet

2" Large Black Beetle - Prionus laticollis
Highland Lakes, Sussex County, New Jersey, USA
July 6, 2008
Size: 2" to 2 1/2"
Hi,
We found the 2" to 2 1/2" beetle in our backyard around 3 pm in the afternoon. My 8 year old found it first by a tree stump and it had later sauntered over further into the grass area of our yard. It appeared to have the a spear like area at the rear of the bug and the front of the bug was very close to the ground. There seemed to be some kind of white/clear moving tentacle poking up perpendicularly out of the spear. The underside of it was black and orange striped. I'm wondering if it was a female possibly ovipositing? I browsed your site looking for something similar and couldn't find anything...Could you tell me what kind of beetle this is? And what it was doing?

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Contributed by Kathy Poartfleet on 6 July, 2008 - 5:22pm
Last updated 7 July, 2008 - 3:55pm

Female broadnecked root borer.
Wow, 'everybody' seems to be finding these beetles right now! This is indeed a female beetle ovipositing. She is a "broadnecked root borer," Prionus laticollis, a common species in eastern North America, in the family of longhorned woodborers, Cerambycidae. Larvae bore in the roots of trees, but apparently do little damage to the vitality of the host.
… Eric R. Eaton, 6 July, 2008 - 5:31pm login or register to post comments

 
2" Large Black Beetle
Thank you Eric...Will her eggs or larvae be protected in this open of an area? Or should we move her?
Thanks,
Kathy
… Kathy Poartfleet, 6 July, 2008 - 5:43pm login or register to post comments

 
Move her.
Well, she is not ovipositing now, in that she doesn't have her ovipositor in the ground, or tree bark or anything. I'd move her if there is danger she could get stepped on or run over by a vehicle. Otherwise she can probably amble off on her own. She may not even have mated yet, in which case she could be 'calling' males with her sex pheromone. That actually seems the more likely scenario given the second image, which was not up yet when I made my initial comment...yeah, that's right:-) LOL!
… Eric R. Eaton, 6 July, 2008 - 6:27pm login or register to post comments

 
Ok, I think I'll move her in a day or so
LOL....I will give her a few days where she is, and if my husband goes to mow the grass or something I'll move her. I just hate to disturb her, she seems to like it where she is...we just went out to check on her and she changed to the other direction now...we watched her, she is verrrrry slowwww....I'm sorry I didn't have the second photo up, I'm new here and wasn't sure if we were able to upload more than one photo. I figured it out now....We also have been watching a zygiella x-notata outside our upstairs window for the past 2 months...WOW how fascinating!! She has three egg cases, one has hatched and we had about 100 spiderlings living on the outside of the window...she is quite large and we can actually see her eat the bugs when we put a flashlight on her at night. I was wondering if anyone knows, Do spiders die after they lay the egg cases? We were afraid she would be gone, but so far so good, she's still here. Thanks for all the info.
Kathy
… Kathy Poartfleet, 6 July, 2008 - 6:42pm login or register to post comments

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