Rosalia funebris

The banded alder borer, Rosalia funebris, is a member of the very diverse family of longhorn beetles.

Rosalia funebris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Family:
Cerambycidae
Genus:
Rosalia
Species:
R. funebris
Binomial name
Rosalia funebris
(Motschulsky, 1845)

Appearance

Like many others in the family Cerambycidae, R. funebris has strikingly colored wing covers (elytra). The elytra are dark with three white bands. The thorax (pronotum) is white with a large black spot. The alder borer's antennae are banded white and black. The male's antennae are longer than the body; the female's are shorter. Long and narrow, the body of R. funebris may grow to be 38 millimetres (1.5 in).

Rosalia funebris in the second before flight

Distribution

Located along western North America, Alaska through California, Washington and in New Mexico,[1] the banded alder borer may be found in the spring and summer on the bark of alder trees.

The exact reason is unknown, but R. funebris is drawn to recently painted buildings and may be found, in multitudes, resting on the paint.[2]

Larvae

The adult wood-boring beetles lay their eggs in a crevice of the bark on hardwood trees such as Oregon ash, New Mexico willow, and California laurel/Oregon myrtle.[1] From there the larvae bore into the wood. Unlike the oval (in cross-section) tunnels of the Buprestidae larva, larval Cerambycidae tunnels are circular (in cross-section) and will generally go straight for short distances between turns.[3]

Food

Most mature Cerambycidae feed on flowers.[3] The larvae consume wood. Rosalia funebris generally lays its eggs on downed trees rather than living trees, so it is not considered a significant pest.[2]

Sound

When handled or threatened R. funebris makes an audible noise similar to that of a squeaky running shoe, or a hissing sound much like air being let out of a bike tire.

Other Rosalia species
gollark: Suuuure.
gollark: Anyway, the mechanism here is obvious: poor treatment of tendon injuries causes more resources to be spent on attempting to repair the tendon, instead of being used to develop your brain so you would know how video codecs and containers work. This is definitely how it works.
gollark: Just handling of videos.
gollark: It's not a technical term.
gollark: I think it's that bad self-treatment for tendon injuries causes you to have poor knowledge of modern video handling.

References
  1. http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?allSpecies=y&searchText=rosalia%20funebris&curGroupID=4&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=1
  2. "California first-grader gives beetle to Cornell's insect collection. Chemical in paint appears to mimic pheromone to attract beetle". Cornell University. June 9, 1997.
  3. Charles A. Triplehorn & Norman F. Johnson (2004). Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects (7th ed.). Brooks Cole. ISBN 0-03-096835-6.
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