Rustic borer
Xylotrechus colonus
The rustic borer is a black longhorn beetle with grey bands and a wavy yellow mark near the front of its back. Its babies grow up inside oak wood. The grown-ups visit yellow goldenrod flowers.
Lives in
The eastern half of the United States, in oak forests
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its larvae eat the outer wood of oak trees. The grown-ups drink nectar from goldenrod and similar flowers.
How fast is it?
A garden snail about 0.05 km/h (0.03 mph)
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Rustic borer about 0.4 km/h (0.25 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its underside is black with faint yellow bands.
2
The grey bands on its back are different from beetle to beetle.
3
It is most common in the eastern half of the United States, from the middle of Texas northwards.
you asked
Most asked questions about Rustic borer
?What does the rustic borer eat?
The larvae eat oak wood, and the grown-ups drink nectar from goldenrod.
?Is the rustic borer dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Xylotrechus colonus
- Named by
- Fabricius, 1775
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Cerambycidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Cerambycidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Rustic borer beetle
Where the facts come from
- Xylotrechus colonus (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 Ken Walker, Museum Victoria. CC BY 3.0 au, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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