eTawau > Insects of Borneo > Beetles > Long-horned beetles > Cerambycinae, Tanah Merah, 2009

Species record · Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae

A round-necked longhorn beetle in the Eda Sawmill log yard

One adult on the ground, Tanah Merah Mangrove Coast, Merotai Besar, Tawau, 28 July 2009, 12:20

The beetle from above on graph paper under a clear plastic sheet: long orange-brown body, very long antennae and legs.
12:20:25, on graph paper (2 mm squares), for size.
The whole beetle from above in a white plastic box, antennae longer than the body, legs spread.
12:22:42, in the white ice-cream box.
Close view from above: the golden, shining pronotum with a dark spine on each side, the dark scutellum, and the long orange-brown elytra with small white spots.
12:23:29, pronotum and elytra.
The head from the front: large black eyes notched around the antennal bases, dark-tipped mandibles and palps.
12:24:55, head from the front.
Close-up of the pronotum: glossy orange with golden reflections, dark edges and a sharp black spine on each side.
12:29:38, pronotum and its spines.
The elytra from above: finely punctured, with faint lengthwise lines and two small white spots on each.
12:32:18, elytra and the four white spots.

Six of ten frames, each reduced from the camera original; nothing else changed. No flash.

The record

DateTuesday 28 July 2009
Time12:20–12:32, around midday
PlaceLog yard of Eda Sawmill, on the Tanah Merah Mangrove Coast, Kampung Merotai Besar, Tawau, Sabah
HabitatGrassy ground of the log yard, about 100 m from the wet mangrove. Damselflies, dragonflies and many other insects in the area
SubstrateOn the ground; photographed in a white plastic ice-cream box and on graph paper
BehaviourNeither crawling nor flying when found; slow and clumsy
NumberOne, adult
SizeAbout 6 cm, estimated against graph paper with 2 mm squares; not measured exactly
CameraCanon PowerShot A470, ten frames in twelve minutes, no flash
AfterwardsReturned to the grassy ground
ObserverWong Fook Yee
iNaturalistobservation 407193420

Identification

Order Coleoptera · Family Cerambycidae (longhorn beetles) · Subfamily Cerambycinae (round-necked longhorn beetles).
Genus and species not determined.
  • Antennae very long, longer than the body, with a long first segment.
  • Eyes large, black and finely faceted, deeply notched around the base of each antenna.
  • Pronotum rounded, with a sharp dark spine on each side; glossy orange with strong golden reflections and dark edges.
  • Scutellum dark and triangular.
  • Elytra long and parallel-sided, orange-brown, finely punctured with faint lengthwise lines, and two small white spots on each.
  • Legs long and slender, orange-brown; femora not clubbed. Mandibles dark-tipped.

The long antennae and notched eyes make it a longhorn beetle; identifiers on iNaturalist placed it in the subfamily Cerambycinae. The genus could not be decided from the photographs.

Remarks

A large beetle lying still on the ground at midday may have come from the timber of the log yard, where longhorn larvae bore in wood, but that was not observed. The spined, golden pronotum and the four white spots should help a specialist place it.

Related: Tanah Merah Mangrove Coast: all records · Kampung Merotai Besar · Long-horned beetles · Beetles · Two pairs of wings
Photographs © Wong Fook Yee. Locality, date, time and behaviour are the photographer's own; identification at subfamily from iNaturalist. Record page written 10 October 2026.