Body is very elongate and narrow. The elytra are grooved and the sides nearly parallel. The antennas are often beadlike. It is 1/3 of an inch to almost an inch long. The males are usually slightly larger. This beetle is reddish brown to brownish black with elongate yellowish spots on elytra. Females have long slender snouts while the male mouthparts are broad and flattened and considerably larger than those of the females. Photo A is a female while photo B is a male beetle.
Found beneath the bark of injured, dying or recently cut down oak and poplar trees. They are present from May to August. The females lay their eggs in living trees where the sapwood has been exposed by a previous injury. Larvae bore in the wood forming pinhole burrows. The occurrence in Fontenelle Forest is not known but these beetles are found in the eastern U.S. This one, a female, was photographed in Childs Hollow in early May.
Territorial males use their broad snouts and large jaws to defend against rival males. This family is considered a primitive weevil family.
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