Ribbed Pine Borer vs Flat Silphid Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Ribbed Pine Borer

A longhorn beetle found across northern forests that develops under the bark of dead conifers. Adults are active in spring on freshly cut logs.

💡

Larvae create distinctive flattened pupal chambers under the bark, lined with coarse wood fibers.

A flattened, all-black silphid beetle with three raised ridges on each wing case. It feeds on snails and caterpillars rather than carrion.

💡

Unlike most silphids, it has shifted entirely to predation and is rarely found on carrion at all.