My trip to Southern Illinois

[bandrow]

Hi trehopr1,

Thanks for the image - this works - your beetle is M. titillator. You can see how the ends of the elytra meet the suture at a right angle, with a prominent spine.

I've specialized on the Cerambycidae since my early teens - and it was a Monochamus notatus that hooked me. I was eating lunch at a picnic table at Mohican State Park in north-central Ohio around 1973, when a huge male notatus flew through our campsite. I dropped my food and ran for the net and luckily bagged him. I now have over 100 drawers of N.A. long-horned beetles, and that specimen is still the one with the most sentimental value.

Cheers!
Bandrow

[mothman27]

Nov 3, 2018 22:15:43 GMT bandrow said:

Hi trehopr1,

Thanks for the image - this works - your beetle is M. titillator. You can see how the ends of the elytra meet the suture at a right angle, with a prominent spine.

I've specialized on the Cerambycidae since my early teens - and it was a Monochamus notatus that hooked me. I was eating lunch at a picnic table at Mohican State Park in north-central Ohio around 1973, when a huge male notatus flew through our campsite. I dropped my food and ran for the net and luckily bagged him. I now have over 100 drawers of N.A. long-horned beetles, and that specimen is still the one with the most sentimental value.

Cheers!
Bandrow

First of all, I went to Mohican SP last summer! Got several Boloria bellona. Anyway, I collected this beetle last summer in Northern Indiana at BL. Is this Monochamus titillator, female?

And here with a couple of my largest self-collected longhorns

[bandrow]

Hi Mothman27,

I love Mohican! While growing up in Mansfield, Ohio, it was a fairly close drive and had some wonderful areas. I hadn't been there in over 20 years but went through there in March 2018 on my way home from Columbus to Pittsburgh. I collected a few dead branches and reared a nice specimen of the long-horned beetle Xylotrechus quadrimaculatus.

Your specimen from northern Indiana is a female of Monochamus carolinensis. You can see how the ends of the elytra meet the sutural tooth at more of an angle than in the image of Monochamus titillator posted by trehopr1.

You probably have names on the others, but if not - the first is a prionine, Orthosoma brunneum, and the third is in the Aseminae - it is Arhopalus rusticus obsoletus.

Cheers!
Bandrow

[larrycurlymoe]

I have one of those with a 227mm (9-inch) antenna spread.

[bandrow]

Larrycurlymoe,

That's one big M. titillator! While M. notatus gets much bigger in body size, its antennae don't get much longer in proportion as the body size increases. But in M. titillator, the antennal length/body length ratio really gets impressive as the beetles increase in size.

On my way to work a few months ago, I had a car in front of me with a vanity license plate that you would appreciate: NYUKX3

Cheers!
Bandrow

[larrycurlymoe]

Love the license plate! As you can tell, I'm a longtime 3 Stooges fan.

[trehopr1]

Larrycurlymoe, I only just noticed your post of Feb.03 and I have to say that if you have a Monochamus sp. measuring 227mm than I would sure like to see it ! I don't want to sound like a "doubting Thomas" but, I cannot imagine a specimen with an antennal length that excessive for this species or any closely related ones.
I have only collected 2 males (like my one pictured) over the years and both are very close in size. There is quite a "gulf" of difference in size between mine at 143mm and yours of 227mm. If your species is something different than mine then maybe Bandrow could tell us what it is.

[bandrow]

Hi All,

I concur! If larrycurlymo can post a pic of that monster Monochamus, I'd enjoy seeing it as well. I wrap the antennae of my specimens to save space, but I'll have to see what my largest specimen measures. I think 9" is well within the realm of possibility of a tip-to-tip measurement with the antennae spread out sideways...

Cheer!
Bandrow

[larrycurlymoe]

I'm having trouble uploading the picture of the big M titillator. It's under 1MB, but I'm getting a message that says this thread is maxed out.

[Adam Cotton]

No, it's not the thread, but each attachment costs the forum owner money in hosting fees. By far the best method to add pictures to posts is to follow the instructions in the Technical issues section (see collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/11/attach-picture), using the external hosting method. I strongly recomend imgur.com, it's a little confusing to use at first, but once you get used to it the results are great - full frame photos on the page, and you can put as many photos as you like in a single post (see above photos).

Adam.