Silver flower longhorn beetle

Description

Silver flower longhorn beetle is small to moderate sized, flower longhorn beetle. It occurs across North America from southern Quebec to Alaska south to North Carolina and California. It is most common west of the Great Plains. Based on the number of reported observations, it is uncommon in Minnesota. However, Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve (CCESR) in Anoka County reports it as common. It is found in spring and summer on flowers in deciduous and mixed woodlands. Larva feed on dead hardwoods, including sumac, poplar, and, oak. Adults feed on flower pollen from a wide variety of flowers including at least thirteen genera.

Adults are 3 ⁄16″to 5 ⁄16″ (5 to 8 mm) long. The body is robust, broad-shouldered, cylindrical, and almost parallel. Females are slightly larger than males.

The head is black, short in front, inflated behind the eyes, and abruptly constricted in back forming a neck that is visible when viewed from above. The upper part (vertex) is very densely covered with very fine pits. The face slants forward or is nearly vertical. The compound eyes are small, black, and slightly notched. The antennae have eleven segments. They are slender, black, and long, almost as long as the body. The base of each antenna is narrowly separated from the base of the jaw (mandible), and is not surrounded by the compound eye. The second antennal segment is short. All of the segments are cylindrical and are longer than wide. The finger-like sensory organ (maxillary palp) attached to the mouth is blunt at the tip, not pointed.

The upper thoracic shield (pronotum) is black, bell-shaped, and wider than long. It is narrow at the front and almost as wide at the base as the base of the hardened wing covers (elytra). It is moderately inflated on top (dorsally). It has a very shallow impression in the middle near the base. The angles at the rear corners of the pronotum are very sharp and point outward. The surface of the pronotum is very densely covered with very fine pits, and is also covered with short, curved, silvery hairs. This is the feature that gives the beetle its common name. On some individuals the hairs are dark but they are never golden.

The elytra are entirely black, shiny, and elongated, usually less than 2½ times as long as the base is wide. They are broadest at the base and almost parallel from below the base to the rounded tip. The elytral surface is pitted, finely on the basal half, even finer on the rear (apical) half. It is also moderately covered with short dark hairs. The abdomen has five visible segments on the underside. On the female the last segment is rounded at the end and does not have a bump (tubercle).

The legs are long, slender, entirely black, and covered with short hairs and fine pits. The fourth segment (tibia) of each leg has two short spurs at the tip. The last part (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, is black. The tarsus has five segments but the fourth segment is minute and is concealed within the lobes of the heart-shaped third segment, making it appear that there are only four segments. On the hind leg, the tarsi are slender. The third segment is split beyond the middle.

The bases of the antennae, the plate on the face above the upper lip (clypeus), and the legs are sometimes partly reddish.

Size

3⁄16″ to 5⁄16″ (5.0 to 8.0 mm)

Similar Species

Habitat

Deciduous and mixed woodlands

Ecology

Season

April to August

May and June (CCESR)

Behavior

Life Cycle

Larva Food/Hosts

Dead hardwoods

Adult Food

Pollen from a wide variety of flowers including at least thirteen genera.