Beetles in the family Cerambycidae are commonly called longhorned beetles, after their characteristically long filiform antennae, which can be up to two times the length of the body. The eyes are notched or actually wrap around the base of the antennae (fig.1), and in at least one species, the red milkweed beetle, the eye is split in two with the antennae inserted between the sections.

There are over 20,000 species described, with over 250 genera and 1100 species in North America. Many longhorns are serious agricultural pests, as their larvae have the unfortunate habit of boring wood. The Asian Longhorn beetle, for instance, has been responsible for the preventive destruction of thousands of trees in Northern Illinois and other locations in the United States. Adult longhorns feed on foliage, flowers and pollen. [1]

Fig.1 Cerambycidae antenna set into notch in compound eye.

Most Cerambycidae larvae feed within dead, dying or even decaying wood, but some taxa are able to use living plant tissue. Girdlers (adults of the Onciderini, larvae of genera in the tribes Methiini, Hesperophanini and Elaphidiini) sever living branches or twigs, with the larvae developing within the nutrient-rich distal portion. The larvae of a few species move freely through the soil, feeding externally upon roots or tunneling up under the root crown. [3]

Most adult cerambycids, particularly the brightly colored ones (such as the bright red beetle featured here), feed on flowers and pollen, and as such can be important pollinators of some flowering plants. Other species consume sap, leaves, blossoms, fruit, bark or fungi. [3]