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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Longhorn and Leaf Beetles (Chrysomeloidea) » Longhorn Beetles (Cerambycidae) » Cerambycinae » Clytini » Placosternus » Mesquite Borer (Placosternus difficilis)

Species Placosternus difficilis - Mesquite Borer

Mesquite Borer, dorsal view - Placosternus difficilis Longhorn Beetle sp. - Placosternus difficilis Tentatively - Placosternus difficilis beetle - Placosternus difficilis beetle - Placosternus difficilis Placosternus - Placosternus difficilis Megacyllene caryae? - Placosternus difficilis * - Placosternus difficilis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Longhorn and Leaf Beetles)
Family Cerambycidae (Longhorn Beetles)
Subfamily Cerambycinae
Tribe Clytini
Genus Placosternus
Species difficilis (Mesquite Borer)
Explanation of Names
Placosternus difficilis (Chevrolat 1862)
Size
10-17 mm(1)
Range
so US (CA-TX, FL) to Honduras; West Indies(2); throughout TX(3)
Habitat
Adults active day and night, running rapidly along freshly cut branches of their host plants and feeding on the blossoms of Koeberlinia, Acacia, Baccharis, Bumelia, Clematis, and Solidago(4)
Season
Feb-Nov (mostly spring & fall) in sTX(4), mostly Jul-Oct in nTX(5)
Food
Larval hosts: Prosopis, Acacia, Pithecellobium, Platanus, Citrus, Leucaena(4)
Remarks
come to lights and bait
Internet References
Cerambycidae Catalog
Works Cited
1.The Cerambycidae of North America. Part V. ... subfamily Cerambycinae, tribes Callichromatini through Ancylocerini
Linsley E.G. 1964. U. Cal. Publ. Entomol. 22: 1-197.
2. A distributional checklist of the beetles (Coleoptera) of Florida.
Peck & Thomas. 1998. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Gainesville. 180 pp.
3.Texas A&M University Insect Collection (TAMUIC)
4.The Cerambycidae, or longhorned beetles, of southern Texas: a faunal survey (Coleoptera)
Hovore F.T., Penrose R.L., Neck R.W. 1987. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 44: 283-334.
5.The Cerambycidae of north-central Texas.
Lingafelter, S.W. & N.V. Horner. 1993. Coleopterists Bulletin, 47(2): 159-191.
Contributed by Joshua Stuart Rose on 12 November, 2005 - 4:03pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 23 September, 2021 - 12:34pm

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