Dogwood twig borer

Dogwood twig borer is a small, flat-faced, long-horned beetle. The body is long, slender, and cylindrical. Mature adults are 5 ⁄16″ to ⅝″ and less than ⅛″ wide.

The upper thoracic shield (pronotum) is cylindrical, wider than long, yellowish-tan, and smooth. The upper (dorsal) surface is convex with a black bump on each side and a black spot at the rear (posterior) margin.

The hardened wing covers (elytra) are yellowish-tan, pitted, slender, and slightly narrowed in the middle. On each elytron there is a broad black stripe on the outer (lateral) margin and a narrow stripe on the inner (sutural) margin that pairs with the one on the opposite elyturm to make a broad central stripe. The small plate between the bases of the elytra (scutellum) is black.

The head is yellowish-tan. The face is nearly flat. The eyes are black and deeply notched. The bases of the antennae are inserted into the notch. The antennae are as slightly shorter to slightly longer than the body. The antennal segments are yellowish-tan at the base and black at the tip. The amount of black is variable, and occasionally the segments appear entirely black. The first segment is always entirely black. The outer margin of the mandible is nearly straight. The end segment of the finger-like process (palp) on the maxilla is pointed.

The legs are entirely yellowish-tan. The last part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has five segments but the fourth segment is minute, making it appear that there are only four segments.

Total length: 5 ⁄16″ to ⅝″

Late May to early August (Michigan)

The female creates a pair of slits in a twig and deposits a single egg. When the egg hatches, the larva bores into the twig to the center. The larva overwinters inside the twig.

Twigs and branches of mostly dogwood but also elm, viburnum, blueberry, Labrador tea, poplar, willow, and mulberry.

Leaves of mostly dogwood but also elm, viburnum, blueberry, Labrador tea, poplar, willow, and mulberry.

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Widespread

Superfamily
The idea of moving the families Cerambycidae and related families Disteniidae, Oxypeltidae, and Vesperidae from Chrysomeloidea to create a separate superfamily “Cerambycoidea” is not new, It has not been widely adopted in the scientific community due the lack of evidence that the resulting groups would be monophyletic, meaning that they would contain all of the descendants of the most recent ancestor or ancestral population and no non-descendants. Recent molecular studies have provided new support for the move. Among online taxonomic databases, iNaturalist.org, which is often among the first to adopt taxonomic advances based of recent research, is the only database to adopt the superfamily Cerambycoidea—so far.

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

Location: Woodbury, MN