Western Cedar Borer (Trachykele blondeli) on Aug 14, 2022

Originally reported as A metallic wood-boring beetle (Agrilus cyanescens)

Submitter has sample

Description of specimen

This unusual beetle was found outside the garage door in the breezeway. I'm not sure where it came from, but I can speculate a couple of different possibilities. We have scrub jays that regularly fly through here, so one of them may have found it and dropped it. On the other hand, it could have been paralyzed by a wasp since we also have a couple of wasp holes around. When I was photographing it, one of the legs distinctly moved out and then retracted again repeatedly even though it appeared dead to me. It exhibited no other movement and didn't seem to react at all when I was handling it. This is the only beetle like this that we've noticed on our property, and we don't have any ash or olive trees in the immediate vicinity.

Commentary

Thank you for your report! This is not EAB. It's a native member of the Metallic Wood-boring beetle family, the Western cedar borer, Trachykele blondeli. These beetles are larger and less slender than EAB. They are not tree killers.

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. 15, 2022, 1:13 a.m.