Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Vel­vet long­horned bee­tles are na­tive to parts of Asia in­clud­ing all of Rus­sia, and south to the south­ern bor­ders of Tajik­istan and Turk­menistan. Its na­tive range also spreads east to in­clude all of China, the Ko­reas, and Japan. There is also a na­tive pop­u­la­tion in Ar­me­nia, which is a lit­tle west of the rest of its range.

The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle has a large in­tro­duced range in­clud­ing sev­eral coun­tries in Eu­rope and North Amer­ica as well as Iran. The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle has been in­tro­duced and es­tab­lished in east­ern Eu­ro­pean coun­tries stretch­ing north to Poland, west to the Czech Re­pub­lic, south to Ro­ma­nia, and east to Ukraine. It has also been es­tab­lished in the United States and Canada. (Valdez, et al., 2019)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • introduced
• palearctic
  • introduced
  • native

Habi­tat

The habi­tat of the vel­vet long­horned bee­tle largely de­pends on where they lay their eggs due to their short lifes­pans. The prime habi­tat for lay­ing their eggs is areas with dry wood which can in­clude forests and or­chards, but also in­door and out­door wood piles, wooden fur­ni­ture, and other dry wood struc­tures. The bee­tle can in­fect al­most any wood host species. (Iwata and Ya­mada, 1990; Valdez, et al., 2019; Wat­son, et al., 2014)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• scrub forest

• Other Habitat Features
• urban
• suburban
• agricultural
• riparian

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Adult vel­vet long­horned bee­tles are 11-20 mm long with an av­er­age size of 16 mm. They have an elon­gated body and par­al­lel ely­tra which are eas­ily dis­tin­guish­able by the ir­reg­u­lar patches of hairs that form spots. They are uni­formly dark brown (al­most black in color) to or­ange-brown with an­ten­nae and legs being slightly lighter than their bod­ies. Their en­tire bod­ies are cov­ered with short and uni­form hairs with oc­ca­sional long hairs. An­ten­nae are al­most as long as the body and are shorter in fe­males.

Pupae are 18-20 mm long and off-white in color with dark spines along their backs.

Lar­vae are 15-30 mm long and white-yel­low with a dark brown head. They have six short legs and three sim­ple eyes arranged in a ver­ti­cal line on their flat­tened head. The lar­vae also have mandibles with “spoon-shaped” ends.

Eggs are 1.5-1.9 mm long and are white and oval-shaped. (Ever­att, et al., 2015; Valdez, et al., 2019; Wat­son, et al., 2014)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range length

  11 to 20 mm

  0.43 to 0.79 in

• Average length

  16 mm

  0.63 in

De­vel­op­ment

Vel­vet long­horned bee­tles have two major life stages - one for eat­ing and one for re­pro­duc­tion. They lay their eggs on barked wood (typ­i­cally trees, but oc­ca­sion­ally lum­ber and other wooden struc­tures) in late sum­mer/au­tumn. These eggs hatch after 10 days in which the lar­vae then bur­row slightly into the wood be­tween the phloem and xylem lay­ers (close to where the sap is pro­duced) and feed. Bark is nec­es­sary for young lar­vae to sur­vive, but once they are old enough to bur­row fur­ther into the wood, they no longer need the bark. Lar­vae go through their pupil stage while within the wood or a pupal cham­ber dur­ing the win­ter. While pu­pat­ing, they de­velop from a worm-like or­gan­ism to a bee­tle through a process called meta­mor­pho­sis. They then leave the wood as adults in sum­mer. De­pend­ing on where they are, they can emerge from April to May or from June to Au­gust. The adults then mate and lay eggs, restart­ing the cycle. In warmer places, this cycle takes about 1 year to com­plete. In colder areas, this cycle can take over two years. (Ever­att, et al., 2015; Ray, et al., 2019; Valdez, et al., 2019)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis

Re­pro­duc­tion

The adult vel­vet long­horned bee­tles are noc­tur­nal, mat­ing only at night. The males pro­duce a unique pheromone that at­tracts the fe­males. They don’t have so­cial struc­tures as far as we know. Since they only live for a short time, they mate once in their lives. They are only ac­tive dur­ing their adult lives which is only for the sum­mer. (Ray, et al., 2019)

• Mating System
• monogamous

The mat­ing sea­son for the vel­vet long­horned bee­tle is typ­i­cally from July to Au­gust but could be ear­lier de­pend­ing on when the adults emerge from their pupal cham­bers. Vel­vet long­horn bee­tles mate for the en­tirety of their adult lifes­pans, fore­go­ing food since they live for such a short time. Since they are noc­tur­nal, mat­ing oc­curs at night. The fe­males lay their eggs. Not much is known about what hap­pens to the adult after they lay their eggs or mate, but they don’t live through the win­ter. Adult lifes­pans are around 15-20 days. Eggs hatch after 10 days. The lar­vae then begin their de­vel­op­ment cycle. The num­ber of eggs in a clutch is not men­tioned in the lit­er­a­ture. (Ray, et al., 2019; Valdez, et al., 2019)

• Key Reproductive Features
• semelparous
• seasonal breeding
• sexual
• fertilization
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Velvet longhorned beetles mate once in their lives

• Breeding season

  Velvet longhorned beetles mate during late summer

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  7 to 24 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  7 to 24 months

Since vel­vet long­horned bee­tles die after lay­ing their eggs, all parental in­vest­ment oc­curs pre-hatch­ing. Vel­vet long­horn bee­tles lay their eggs shortly after mat­ing due to their short lifes­pans. Fe­males make sure to lay their eggs on wood with the bark in­tact which will pro­vide pro­tec­tion and nu­tri­ence for the lar­vae once they hatch. (Ever­att, et al., 2015; Valdez, et al., 2019)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Since vel­vet long­horned bee­tles are con­sid­ered in­va­sive pests, they are not held in cap­tiv­ity. Within labs, their lifes­pans are pre­served to con­duct as many tests as pos­si­ble using re­frig­er­a­tion. Lifes­pans are typ­i­cally 1 year to over 2 years. The time dif­fer­ence is due to de­vel­op­ment within the wood as a pupal times dif­fer­ing in dif­fer­ent cli­mates. Adults only live dur­ing the sum­mer. One study has found adults to live about 15-20 days. (Ever­att, et al., 2015; Ray, et al., 2019; Valdez, et al., 2019)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  1 to 2 years

Be­hav­ior

Vel­vet long­horned bee­tles live in wood for most of their lives, only emerg­ing dur­ing the sum­mer months as adults. While adults, they are noc­tur­nal and are only ac­tive dur­ing the night. They spend most of their time find­ing a mate due to their short lifes­pans. As adults, they can fly but don’t tend to mi­grate or move large dis­tances. While lar­vae and pupae, they spend their time alone feed­ing and de­vel­op­ing. They don’t have so­cial struc­tures as far as we know. The only time they in­ter­act is dur­ing mat­ing sea­son. Fe­males lay eggs alone so it can be as­sumed they don’t in­ter­act after mat­ing. (Ever­att, et al., 2015; Valdez, et al., 2019; Wat­son, et al., 2014)

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary

Home Range

Vel­vet long­horned bee­tles aren’t ter­ri­to­r­ial. They don’t have much time to mi­grate, so they don’t. This bee­tle can es­tab­lish it­self in al­most any wooden host, mov­ing wher­ever their host is moved. If the eggs are laid in wood that then gets used to make fur­ni­ture, the vel­vet long­horn bee­tle can sur­vive in the fur­ni­ture wher­ever it is moved to, as­sum­ing it is not harmed in the process. Es­sen­tially, their home range is wher­ever vi­able wood is. The in­di­vid­ual does not move far from where they de­velop as pupae. (Ever­att, et al., 2015; Valdez, et al., 2019; Wat­son, et al., 2014)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Vel­vet long­horned bee­tles are a soli­tary species. They spend most of their short lives alone bur­rowed in wood away from preda­tors and other vel­vet long­horned bee­tles. Their food source is tree sap, so they don’t have spe­cial adap­ta­tions for find­ing prey. Since their eggs are laid di­rectly on their food source for their whole lives, they don’t have to hunt for it ei­ther. Like other long­horned bee­tles, they have long an­ten­nae that span the ma­jor­ity of their body length. When the adults emerge, they are noc­tur­nal and only fly at night. They are also at­tracted to black light traps, but it is not known which sense is re­spon­si­ble for their night flight ca­pa­bil­i­ties. To find mates, the males re­lease a unique pheromone to at­tract the fe­males. (Ray, et al., 2019; Rod­man, et al., 2020; Valdez, et al., 2019)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones

• Perception Channels
• visual
• ultraviolet
• tactile

Food Habits

Vel­vet long­horned bee­tles have mandibles for bur­row­ing into wood to reach their food source: the sap and sur­round­ing lay­ers. They are xy­lophages, mean­ing their diet con­sists mainly of wood. They eat for their en­tire lar­vae and pupae stages (about 1-2 years) until they emerge as adults. (Ever­att, et al., 2015; Rod­man, et al., 2020)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • lignivore

• Plant Foods
• wood, bark, or stems
• sap or other plant fluids

Pre­da­tion

Vel­vet long­horned bee­tles spend most of their lives within their hosts (wooden struc­tures) which pro­tect them from preda­tors and pathogens. As adults, they only live for about 15-20 days, so they haven’t de­vel­oped anti-preda­tor adap­ta­tions as far as we know. They are noc­tur­nal and only fly at night. The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle does have some nat­ural preda­tors, how­ever, that can get to them while they are lar­vae or adults. These preda­tors in­clude other types of bee­tles, car­pen­ter ants, toads, lizards, birds, spi­ders, scor­pi­ons, small mam­mals, and other an­i­mals. They are also sus­cep­ti­ble to par­a­sites like chal­cid wasps and fungi. (Rod­man, et al., 2020; Valdez, et al., 2019)

• Known Predators

  • flat bark beetles (Cucujus clavipes)
  • cylindrical bark beetles (Colydiinae)
  • clerid beetles (Cleridae)
  • click beetles (Elateridae)
  • robber flies (Asilidae)
  • assassin bug (Reduviidae)
  • ambush bug (Phymatinae)
  • thrips (Thysanoptera)
  • carpenter ants (Camponotus)
  • birds (Aves)
  • lizards (Lacertilia)
  • spiders (Araneae)
  • scorpions (Scorpiones)
  • toads (Bufonidae)
  • braconid wasps (Braconidae)
  • ichneumonid wasps (Ichneumonidae)
  • chalcid wasps (Chalcidoidea)
  • tachinid flies (Tachinidae)
  • sarcophagid flies (Sarcophagidae)
  • nematodes (Nematoda)
  • fungi
  • small mammals

Ecosys­tem Roles

The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle is an in­va­sive pest. It bur­rows into wood and trees and while it doesn’t al­ways out­right kill them, it def­i­nitely harms yield for pro­duce trees. It can also cause the tree or wood to be more sus­cep­ti­ble to other in­sects and in­fec­tions, harm­ing its lifes­pan. The marks left be­hind by the vel­vet long­horned bee­tle also af­fect the mar­ketabil­ity of the wood, caus­ing it to be less prof­itable. (Rod­man, et al., 2020; Valdez, et al., 2019; Wat­son, et al., 2014)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle has no known pos­i­tive im­pacts on hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Vel­vet long­horned bee­tles are an in­va­sive pest that can harm crop and fruit yields, tree longevity, and pro­duc­tion of wood prod­ucts (the “gal­leries” they cre­ate neg­a­tively im­pact mar­ketabil­ity and profit). (Wat­son, et al., 2014)

• Negative Impacts
• crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle is not con­sid­ered on the IUCN Red list. The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle is not clas­si­fied on the United States En­dan­gered Species Act list. The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle is not clas­si­fied on the CITES ap­pen­dices. The vel­vet long­horned bee­tle is not clas­si­fied on the State of Michi­gan List.

• IUCN Red List

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

There is still re­search being done to find the best way to con­trol the pop­u­la­tion of vel­vet long­horned bee­tles. (Rod­man, et al., 2020)

Con­trib­u­tors

Jade Collins (au­thor), Col­orado State Uni­ver­sity, Amy Bagby (ed­i­tor), Col­orado State Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

Ever­att, M., C. Malumphy, J. Os­toja-Starzewski. 2015. "Mul­berry long­horn bee­tle Tri­choferus campestris" (On-line). De­part­ment for En­vi­ron­ment Food & Rural Af­fairs. Ac­cessed July 05, 2023 at https://​planthealthportal.​defra.​gov.​uk/​assets/​factsheets/​trichoferus-campestris.​pdf.

Iwata, R., F. Ya­mada. 1990. Notes on the bi­ol­ogy of Hes­per­o­phanes campestris (Fal­der­mann) (Col., Ce­r­am­by­ci­dae), a dry­wood borer in Japan. Ma­te­r­ial und Or­gan­is­men, 25: 305-313. Ac­cessed July 05, 2023 at https://​www.​researchgate.​net/​profile/​Ryutaro-Iwata/​publication/​331673415_​Notes_​on_​the_​biology_​of_​Hesperophanes_​campestris_​Faldermann_​Col_​Cerambycidae_​a_​drywood_​borer_​in_​Japan/​links/​5c8762daa6fdcc88c39c0d14/​Notes-on-the-biology-of-Hesperophanes-campestris-Faldermann-Col-Cerambycidae-a-drywood-borer-in-Japan.​pdf.

Ray, A., J. Francese, Y. Zou, K. Wat­son, D. Crook, J. Mil­lar. 2019. Iso­la­tion and iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of a male-pro­duced ag­gre­ga­tion-sex pheromone for the vel­vet long­horned bee­tle, Tri­choferus campestris. Sci­en­tific Re­ports, 9: 1-10. Ac­cessed July 05, 2023 at https://​doi-org.​ezproxy2.​library.​colostate.​edu/​10.​1038/​s41598-019-41047-x.

Rod­man, T., L. Spears, D. Al­ston, C. Can­non, K. Wat­son, J. Ca­puto. 2020. "Vel­vet Long­horned Bee­tle Tri­choferus campestris (Fal­der­mann)" (On-line). Utah State Uni­ver­sity Ex­ten­sion and Utah Plant Pest Di­ag­nos­tic Lab­o­ra­tory. Ac­cessed July 07, 2023 at https://​extension.​usu.​edu/​pests/​caps/​files/​velvet-longhorned-beetle-2020.​pdf.

Valdez, R., J. Francese, A. Ray. 2019. "Co­op­er­a­tive Agri­cul­tural Pest Sur­vey (CAPS) Pest Datasheet for Tri­choferus campestris (Ce­r­am­by­ci­dae): Vel­vet long­horned bee­tle" (On-line). Pur­due Uni­ver­sity. Ac­cessed July 05, 2023 at https://​download.​ceris.​purdue.​edu/​file/​3869.

Wat­son, K., C. Pratt, J. Ca­puto. 2014. "Total Records of Vel­vet Long­horn Bee­tle Tri­choferus campestris Fal­der­mann (Coleoptera, Ce­r­am­by­ci­dae) from Utah" (On-line). Utah De­part­ment of Agri­cul­ture and Food. Ac­cessed July 05, 2023 at https://​ag.​utah.​gov/​documents/​Insect_​Velvet_​Longhorn_​Beetle.​pdf.