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| Banded laurel borer, Rosalia funebris |
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| His* body, not counting those antennae, is a bit over an inch long. |
He's dressed formally in black and white; a white top with a black shield in centre back, a long coat-tail with three white bands. I love the two white buttons on either side. Legs and antennae are in alternating bands of black and white. And look at those fancy shoes with the two yellow-fringed toes!
The larvae of these longhorned beetles eat wood, but since their eggs are usually laid in fallen wood rather than living trees, they're not a threat to local landscaping. The adults feed on flowers.
*The antennae of the males are longer than their bodies; females have shorter antennae. I can't tell here, whether this one was male or female, because the antennae that were in focus curved around behind the next glad stems.
When I watered the glads, he hung on, not seeming to mind the rain, but when I returned after I hung up the hose, he was gone.
The species name, funebris, comes from the Latin for "funereal, mournful, gloomy", probably referring to the black and white colouring, but he looked cheerful enough to me.
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