Natural-Japan.net

Today was Longhorn Beetle day for me! I went out for 4 hours between downpours and walked around my local area to see what I could find. Everywhere I looked I spotted longhorns: 9 species in total. Not bad. Well, just to put that figure into perspective… there are about 800 species of longhorn beetle in Japan!

Left = Psacothea hilaris hilaris; Right = Prionus insularis

Left = Chlorophorus quinquefasciatus; Right = Chlorophorus annularis

Left = Paraglenea fortunei; Right = Allotraeus rufescens

Left = Uraecha bimaculata; Right = Mesosa longipennis

Monochamus subfasciatus

Coleoptera: Cerambycidae:
Longhorn beetles = kamikiri

Location: Munakata Common (Google map)

Coleoptera: Curculionidae:
Merus flavosignatus
Also: Mecysolobus flavosignatus
Weevil = kisuji-ashinaga-zoumushi

Location: forest area near Ikeda Village in Munakata (aerial photo)
Map: Google map link

These are big longhorns (around 30mm) and they were all over the place in the orchards I visited today. I found about 10 and, by the looks of things, they were finding one another pretty easily too !

Coleoptera: Cerambycidae
Anoplophora malasiaca
Longhorn Beetle = gomadara-kamikiri

Location: forest area near Ikeda Village in Munakata (aerial photo)
Map: Google map link

This tiny jewel beetle was a little devil — running around like crazy and refusing to smile for his photo! Hence the not-quite-in-focus photos. Only about 3mm long but what a beauty.

Coleoptera: Buprestidae:
Nalanda rutilicollis
Jewel beetle = mune-aka-chibi-naka-boso-tamushi

Location: forest area near Ikeda Village in Munakata (aerial photo)
Map: Google map link

I thought this was some kind of dragonfly nymph at first. However, it was on the underside of a big mushroom — a pretty weird place to find one. Taking a closer look, I could see it was a type of rove beetle (hanekakushi), but unlike any I’d seen before. Apparently, they feed on mushrooms and carrion.

Coleoptera: Staphylinidae
Ontholestes gracilis
Rove beetle = sabi-hanekakushi

Location: forest area near Ikeda Village in Munakata (aerial photo)
Map: Google map link

It’s very hot and humid today and rain is forecast so I almost didn’t go out… But I couldn’t resist the urge to go and look for beetles! The best find of the day was this flower longhorn beetle, which I’d never seen before. It’s very wasp-like in appearance.

Coleoptera: Cerambycidae
Leptura ochraceofasciata
Four-banded flower longhorn beetle (my translation) = yotsu-suji-hana-kamikiri

Location: Near Genkai Golf Club in Munakata (map here)

Walking home from the train station last night, I stopped at every vending machine to see what had been attracted to the lights. This is a false blister beetle (“false longhorn” is the translation of the Japanese).

Coleoptera: Oedemeridae (false blister beetles):
Xanthochroa hilleri
False blister beetle = ki-iro-kamikiri-modoki

Location: Munakata Common (map)

I walked the 6km from the train station to my house last night — arriving home around midnight. This was by choice of course because I wanted to check for insects on all the vending machines, which act as great light traps in the countryside. There are about 20 on the way home. I found a few moths, bugs, and beetles. The most interesting was this fungus weevil; something I’d never seen before. It is not a true weevil because it lacks a rostrum (“snout”) and this species has unusually shaped antennae.

Coleoptera: Anthribidae (fungus weevils):
Ozotomerus nigromaculatus
Fungus Weevil = futamon-tsutsu-hige-naga-zoumushi

Location: Munakata Common (map)

I spent a couple of hours rooting around in what should be called “mosquito city” — an overgrown and forgotten corner of my local community that seems to be the main source of all the mosquitoes in the area. Being an altruistic soul, I fed them thoroughly so hopefully they will leave everyone else alone for a while!!
And the reason I spent so long there… I found lots of interesting things to photograph. The best find for me today was this rather nice weevil. Very tropical-looking!

Coleoptera: Curculionidae:
Aplotes roelofsi
Weevil = tohoshi-osa-zoumushi

Location: Munakata Common (map)

I found lots of these elm leaf beetles today — probably 20 or more. I hope that doesn’t mean the local elm trees are in trouble…

Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae (leaf beetles)
Pyrrhalta maculicollis
Elm leaf beetle = nire-hamushi

Location: Munakata Common (map)