Longhorn beetle

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Cerambycidae

Necydalis mellita

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Superfamily:	Chrysomeloidea
Family:	Cerambycidae Latreille, 1802 ^[1]

Subfamilies

Cerambycinae
Lamiinae
Lepturinae
Necydalinae
Parandrinae
Prioninae
Spondylidinae

The longhorn beetles or long-horned beetles (Cerambycidae) are a cosmopolitan family of beetles, typically characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than the beetle's body. In various members of the family, however, the antennae are quite short (e.g., Neandra brunnea, figured below) and such species can only be recognized with difficulty from related beetle families such as Chrysomelidae. The family is large, with over 20,000 species described. Several are serious pests, with the larvae boring into wood, where they can cause extensive damage to either living trees or to wood in buildings; the old-house borer (Hylotrupes bajulus) being a particular problem indoors. A number of species mimic ants, bees, and wasps, though a majority of species are cryptically colored. The rare giant long-horned beetle (Titanus giganteus) from northeastern South America is often considered the largest (though not the heaviest, and not the longest including legs) insect, with a maximum known body length of just over 16 centimeters.

1 Classification
2 Notable species
3 Selected photos
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links

[edit] Classification

As with many large families, different authorities have tended to recognize many different subfamilies, or sometimes split subfamilies off as separate families entirely (e.g., Disteniidae, Oxypeltidae, and Vesperidae; [1]); there is thus some instability and controversy regarding the constituency of the Cerambycidae (e.g [2]).

[edit] Notable species

[edit] Selected photos

Visual gallery of Cerambycidae

Locust Borer Megacyllene robiniae (Förster, 1771)	Milkweed beetle, Tetraopes tetrophthalmus (Förster, 1771)	Neandra brunnea (Fabricius, 1798)	Aromia moschata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Tylosis maculatus LeConte, 1850	Prosoplus bankii (Fabricius, 1775)