Insects and Spiders - native

Golden Buprestid Beetle (Buprestis aurulenta) on Jun 5, 2025

Submitter has sample

Description of specimen

We want to know the identity of a new type of bug we have never seen around our property before, and whether your experts are interested in it.

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 ODF EAB webpage with some photos of other Oregon insects that could be mistaken for EAB

https://oregon-eab-geo.hub.arcgis.com/pages/identify

Thanks for being on the lookout!

Tom Valente
June 9, 2025, 1:14 a.m.

Resources

Golden Buprestid Beetle information from iNaturalist

Location

Alive, on our patio in a tray under a pot. We live on 5 acres south of Canby. We have found other borers before, and have birch and pine tree borer damage. We have ash trees but haven’t seen damage that we recognize.

Expert Reviewer

Tom Valente
Oregon Department of Agriculture

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