Elm borer
The elm borer is a longhorn beetle, a beetle with long feelers on its head. It lives in Canada and the United States and loves elm trees. It is so tied to elms that it even carries a tiny tree fungus from one elm to the next.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It carries a fungus from tree to tree. This fungus is the one that makes elm trees sick with Dutch elm disease.
A tiny wasp lays its eggs in elm borers, and its babies grow inside them.
It was first described by a French scientist named Olivier in 1795, more than 200 years ago.
Most asked questions about Elm borer
?What does the elm borer eat?
Elm trees, mainly the red elm and the American elm.
?Is the elm borer dangerous?
Not to people. It can harm elm trees, because it carries a fungus that makes them sick.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Saperda tridentata
- Named by
- Olivier, 1795
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Cerambycidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Cerambycidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Saperda tridentata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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