Another chance encounter of the insectoid kind. This one didn't sit still as long as the dragonfly. But I was still able to get pretty close. Those are some long "horns" though.
Lovely! It's definitely Monochamus scutellatus, or a Whitespotted Sawyer, a kind of flat-faced longhorn--although that took some figuring out on Bugguide.net. The giveaway is the white half-moon spot. It's antennae are solid black and long, rather than striped and short, so it's a male. Its favorite food is decaying or sick conifers--the larvae burrow in the wood, and the adults dine on pine needles and tender bark. This differentiates it from the Asian Longhorn Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) that infamously attacks healthy deciduous trees. The Whitespotted Sawyer is only a pest to loggers, because it favors dead wood.
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Lovely!
It's definitely Monochamus scutellatus, or a Whitespotted Sawyer, a kind of flat-faced longhorn--although that took some figuring out on Bugguide.net. The giveaway is the white half-moon spot. It's antennae are solid black and long, rather than striped and short, so it's a male. Its favorite food is decaying or sick conifers--the larvae burrow in the wood, and the adults dine on pine needles and tender bark. This differentiates it from the Asian Longhorn Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) that infamously attacks healthy deciduous trees. The Whitespotted Sawyer is only a pest to loggers, because it favors dead wood.