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Sticker of Fig longhorn beetle
Bug card No. 1663 of 4,939

Fig longhorn beetle

Xylotoles griseus
Eats: WoodBeetlesForests and woods6 legs

The fig longhorn beetle is a longhorn beetle from New Zealand. Like all longhorns, it has long feelers. It is common all over New Zealand and grows up in the wood of many kinds of trees.

Lives in
New Zealand, and once found in England
Top speed
about 0.4 km/h (0.25 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not sting.
What does it eat?
It feeds mostly on dead wood, for example of elm and fig trees.
For real!Photo of Fig longhorn beetle
Picture by Steve Kerr. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

In 2014 it was found in England for the first time, in a fig tree that had just been cut down in Devon.

2

It breeds in many different kinds of trees.

3

It was first described in 1775 under another genus name.

4

Two colour varieties of it have been named.

you asked

Most asked questions about Fig longhorn beetle

?Where does the fig longhorn beetle live?

In New Zealand, where it is common. It has also been found in England.

?What does the fig longhorn beetle eat?

Mostly dead wood from many kinds of trees.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Xylotoles griseus
Named by
Fabricius, 1775
Group
Beetles
Family
Cerambycidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Cerambycidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania, Europe
Also known as
Fig longhorn

Where the facts come from

  1. Xylotoles griseus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Steve Kerr. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Beetles

Also at home here: Forests and woods

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