Southern Pine Sawyer (Monochamus titillator)Latin Name: Monochamus titillator
Common Name: Southern Pine Sawyer
Appearance:
These beetles can grow to be up to 1.5 inches long, mottled, and mixed in with pine bark. The “horns” are longer antennae than the rest of the insect.
Because their tunnels are spherical, the larvae are known as roundheaded borers.
Older larvae then burrow right into the heartwood before pupating approximately a year later near the bark. Because their tunnels are spherical, the larvae are known as roundheaded borers.
Host plants:
Pines are the principal host plants of southern pine sawyers.
Territory:
Longhorned beetles known as Southern pine sawyers, and Monochamus titillator, are prevalent in North Carolina.
Damage caused by Southern Pine Sawyer:
Sawyer larvae hatch and bore for a period in sapwood, constructing shallow tunnels loaded with wood fibers and frass. These roundheaded borers have no legs and are rather thin. Older larvae then burrow right into the heartwood before pupating approximately a year later near the bark. Because their tunnels are spherical, the larvae are known as roundheaded borers.
Life history and Habits:
Sawyer larvae hatch and bore for a period in sapwood, constructing shallow tunnels loaded with wood fibers and frass. Sawyers, sometimes known as roundheaded borers, are legless and somewhat thin. Sawyers are so named because as these grubs eat, they make a clicking or rasping noise that may be heard from many feet away. Adults emerge from pupae by gnawing spherical holes in the bark. New sawyers feed on pine twig bark and infest the new tree with nematodes from the tree from which they originated. Because sawyers feed on the bark of healthy trees, such trees may get afflicted with pinewood nematodes during this period.
