Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Subfamily Prioninae

Root Borer - Orthosoma brunneum Beetle - Prionus laticollis - female Male prionid with long mandibels - Nothopleurus lobigenis - male tragosoma depsarius? - Tragosoma depsarium - female Beetle from NM - Prionus integer Palo Verde Root Borer - Derobrachus hovorei Palo Verde Root Borer - Derobrachus hovorei BG2540 E0991a - Mallodon dasystomus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles)
Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Long-horned and Leaf Beetles)
Family Cerambycidae (Longhorned Beetles)
Subfamily Prioninae
Size
25-70 mm
Identification
Large and robust Longhorns, usually brown to black. Antennae long, prominent, sometimes flattened. Often sexually dimorphic, males having large, strong jaws. Presumably these are used in intra-specific fights.
Remarks
Nocturnal, attracted to lights. Larvae usually feed on rotting wood, often wood in contact with soil, such as roots. Tree-associated species often have gregarious larvae.

This subfamily could be called "really big borers".
Print References
Yanega, p. 26 (1)
Dillon, p. 575, plate LVII (2)

1996. Chemsak, A.J. Illustrated Revision of the Cerambycidae of North America. Vol. I, Subfamilies Parandrinae, Spondylidinae, Aseminae, Prioninae. Wolfsgarden Press, Burbank, ix+150pp., 10 pls.

1962. Linsley E.G. The Cerambycidae of North America. Part II. Taxonomy and classification of the Parandrinae, Prioninae, Spondylinae and Aseminae. Univ. Calif. Publ. Entomol., 19:1-102, 1 pl., 34 figs.