Well, that’s quite a name. And take a look at this beetle. It’s quite the insect too. It grows to a size of 1.25 inches. The Larger Flat-headed Pine Borer (Chalcophora virginiensis) can be found throughout the US, anywhere conifers grow, where they breed on dead trees and stumps but they will also breed on live trees which will eventually kill the tree.

Under its dark-copper/black elytra (wing coverings) is a vibrant metallic blue-green abdomen that is revealed as the beetle flies.

As I was checking out my photographs of this insect, I was struck by its similarity to the Emerald Ash Borer, including the metallic coloring of the EAB’s entire body. Turns out this is in the same family of metallic wood boring beetles, the Buprestidae family, as the Emerald Ash Borer, which is aggressively devastating the woods up here as I type this. Not a nice wood borer.