Longhorned beetles have come a-callin'

Seems there is a bunch of people noticing longhorned beetles hanging around Sisters Country.

They've been reported to be bumping into windows, smearing windshields and putting dents in cars when they collide, discovered clinging to the side of trees and buildings, and found on clothing drying on a clothesline in the morning sun.

The discussion around town has officially expanded to my home recently in an email from Sisters City Recorder Kathy Nelson. To whit: "Good Afternoon Jim, we just discovered a large (three-inch) beetle on the front side of City Hall. After looking at pictures we decided it's a sawyer beetle - apparently they eat dead pines. The article said they are usually found in Southern California. Is this visitor anything we should be concerned about? It's definitely the largest beetle I've ever seen. Thanks."

That about sums up the questions and comments I've received in other emails and phone calls; principal among them: Where did they come from? Are they dangerous? Do they bite? Will they kill trees?

Have you noticed all the burned and killed trees from various forest fires surrounding Sisters? If the answer is "yes," you have the answer to the first question.

Even before the fires had cooled, a variety of wood-boring insects were attracted to the burned trees by the burning pitch and fading smoke. Woodpeckers-just about every species in Sisters Country-flocked to the trees to take advantage of the cornucopia of insects to feed upon. Among the host of beetles, wasps and moths, were the longhorned beetles of the family Cerambycidae.

It takes sometimes over five years for the grub (larva) to grow into an adult, and I think that's why we're seeing these hundreds of adult beetles appearing around Sisters Country; they are emerging from the dead trees around town, and out looking for a night of sexual encounters to further their kind.

"Are they dangerous?" The answer to that one depends on you. If you pick up one (bare-handed) without any respect for the methods insects have of defending themselves, and get pinched by those formidable pincers between its eyes-and happen to notice it's a bit painful-the answer is, obviously, yes.

In the photo above, Kathy is demonstrating perfect self-control and taking the opportunity to enjoy a close look at one of the largest beetles we have in Oregon. While I was helping Kathy to prepare for the moment, a tiny pseudoscorpion dropped out of the beetle's elytra (the hard covering over its wings).

Pseudo (false) scorpions are real scorpions, but without a telson and "stinger." They are diminutive - about the size of a teardrop. These creatures hitchhike around their environment clinging to the underside of the beetles' elytra, and dropping off when they arrive at a new location.

Are the beetles venomous-or as some people incorrectly use the term-"poisonous?" The answer is an emphatic "NO!" The males' pincers are used to protect themselves and to fight other males for that one glorious night of mating.

Will the beetles kill live trees? No, we've already accomplished that with the fires, the beetles just moved in to speed up reducing the dead trees back to duff, to replenish the health of the soils and help furnish the energy for a healthy, new forest.

Unfortunately, a lookalike beetle has moved into the Northwest from China. The alien beetles kill live trees. With that in mind, please plunk any longhorned beetle you find in a container, place your name and contact information in with the beetle, and drop it off at The Nugget.

If it's an invader, I'll let you know and we'll leave it to the experts from there.