knotty-horn again

•

I had never seen this beetle until last summer. Its identity was a mystery to me until Karen Sue found the cloaked knotty-horn, a.k.a. elder borer in an Audubon field guide. It’s a long-horned beetle noted for its bright orange cloak, metallic-blue back and the enlarged knot-like knees at the antennal segments.

It was a pleasant surprise running into it again this summer along Clingman's Dome Road in the Smokies.

The knotty-horn lays its eggs in the ground near the base of an elderberry shrub. The larvae burrow into the stems of the plant (hence the second common name: elder borer). The small grubs then move down into the roots and pupate in the soil. The adults appear from June through September to start the process anew.

- Photo taken in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

•