How to Manage Pests

Pests in Gardens and Landscapes

Pest identification and confirmation—Asian longhorned beetle look-alikes in California

Asian longhorned beetle
Asian longhorned beetle
Anoplophora glabripennis

The thorax (area immediately behind the head, where legs are attached) is entirely black. Wing covers have many irregular white blotches, about 20 on each forewing. Overall appearance is smooth and shiny; antennae are black-and-white banded. Submit any suspected Asian longhorned beetles found in California to the county agricultural commissioner.

Banded alder borer
Banded alder borer
Rosalia funebris

The thorax is whitish, with one large black spot. The wing covers have several broad bands that are black and whitish; antennae are black-and-white banded.

Cottonwood borer
Cottonwood borer
Plectrodera scalator

The thorax has white bands. The wing covers are shiny, black and white checkered; antennae are all black.

Whitespotted pine sawyer
Whitespotted pine sawyer
Monochamus scutellatus

Wing covers have a distinct white dot where they meet the thorax. The overall appearance is bumpy and dull colored. Antennae are black-and-white banded. The similar Oregon fir sawyer, Monochamus scutellatus oregonensis, has the same white mark where the wing covers and thorax meet, but few other white marks on the body.

For identification help, contact your local UC ANR Cooperative Extension office or consult A Photographic Catalog of the Cerambycidae of the World by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and Screening Aid for the Cerambycidae of the Western U.S.A. (PDF) by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service.

Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
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