Report #4534 - Report: Golden Buprestid Beetle (Buprestis aurulenta)

Golden Buprestid Beetle (Buprestis aurulenta) on Jul 31, 2022

Originally reported as Jewel Beetles, species unknown (Buprestis spp.)

Submitter does not have a specimen

Description of specimen

I couldn't remember what the emerald ash borer looked like, and now realize this was something different. Metallic green with a purple stripe down the middle. Perhaps this isn't an invasive but at all... But we killed it in case it was the ash borer.

Commentary

Thank you for your report! This is not EAB. It's a native member of the Metallic Wood-boring beetle family, the Golden Buprestid, Buprestis aurulenta. These beetles are larger and less slender than EAB. They are not tree killers. Their grubs live in dead conifers.

There are a number of iridescent green look-alike beetles in Oregon that are not pests. I am attaching a link to the ODA EAB webpage with some photos of other Oregon insects that could be mistaken for EAB

https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/IPPM/SurveyTreatment/Documents/EABLookAlikes.pdf

Thanks for being on the lookout!

Tom Valente
Aug. 1, 2022, 3:34 a.m.

Golden Buprestid Beetle (Buprestis aurulenta) on Jul 31, 2022

Description of specimen

Commentary

Resources

Location

Expert Reviewer