Twig-girdling Longhorn vs Primitive Silverfish

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Twig-girdling Longhorn Primitive Silverfish
Scientific Name Ceroplesis thunbergii Tricholepidion gertschi
Order Coleoptera Zygentoma
Family Cerambycidae Lepidotrichidae
Size 20-35 mm 8-12 mm
Habitat Orchards Forests
Diet Wood Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Southern Africa United States
Conservation Least Concern Near Threatened

Twig-girdling Longhorn

A grey and black longhorn beetle with pale speckled markings. It girdles living twigs to create suitable egg-laying sites.

💡

Did You Know?

Females methodically chew a neat groove around a branch until it dies, providing their larvae with drying wood to feed on.

Primitive Silverfish

The most primitive living silverfish, restricted to old-growth forests of northern California. It retains compound eyes and other ancestral features.

💡

Did You Know?

It is considered a living fossil and the sole surviving member of its family.