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Microgoes oculatus
Classification
Diagnostic Features of Larvae
- Larva. Integument thin, shining; body sparsely covered with whitish silky hairs. Gula distinct but scarcely as protuberant as in other species; mandible more slender; posterior area of pronotum covered with velvety pubescence; ampullae tuberculate, the tubercles smooth and shining pleural tubercle orbicular; spiracles small, broadly oval. This is the only species of the genus which does not attack living trees. It feeds beneath the bark, going into the wood to pupate. It is found in the dead wood of Cornus, Oxydendron, Fagus, and Castanea throughout the eastern States, but more commonly south. Adapted from Craighead (1923).
Biology and Economic Importance
- Members of this tribe include one of the most notorious cerambycids: the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB), Anoplophora glabripennis. In 1996, this invasive species was discovered in New York City and later in Chicago. Native to China and the Korean peninsula, ALB was accidentally imported into the U.S. via wooden shipping materials (Lingafelter & Hoebeke 2002). By 1998, ALB infestations resulted in the destruction of nearly 7,000 trees. Recently, the USDA estimated that, if left uncontrolled, ALB and other Chinese wood boring beetles could cause more than $100 billion in damage to the US economy (Meyer 2010). Accidental introductions continue, and as recently as 2011 a population of ALB was detected in southwest Ohio (USDA-APHIS 2011).
Selected References to Larvae Specimens
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