ENY 3005 Family Identification

Coleoptera: Cerambycidae

 Common name: longhorned beetles

Identifying characteristics for the family Cerambycidae include:

• Long filiform antennae, ranging from one-half to over two times the length of the body.
• Body usually elongate and cylindrical; 2- to 60-mm in length.
• Eyes generally notched with antenna arising within the notch.
• Tarsi apparently 4-4-4, really 5-5-5 with the 4th segment small and inconspicuous.

• The Chrysomelidae have the same tarsal formula as the Cerambycidae, but their antennae are shorter, the body is likely to be oval, and the eyes are not notched.
• There are over 290 genera and 1100 species of Cerambycidae in North America, making it the seventh largest family of beetles.
• Many species are brightly colored, making this a favorite group of beetle collectors.
• Adults of many species feed on flowers, others feed on leaves and bark.
• Larvae of many species are the roundheaded borers found in the wood of living, dying, and dead trees (cf. flatheaded borers of the Buprestidae).
• The Cerambycidae play an important role in nutrient recycling in forest ecosystems. This feature, however, makes then serious pests in timber and wood products.

• Pages 196-197 and plate 7 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Pages 279-287 in R. E. White. 1983. A Field Guide to Beetles of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 368 p.
• Page 449 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Page 225 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
• Page 480 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.

Links to other web sites

• Family Cerambycidae (Long-horned Beetles), San Francisco Bay Biodiversity Project