Metallic Wood-Boring Beetles

Family Buprestidae

Eastern metallic green wood borer (Buprestis fasciata). Photo:Stephanie Boucher

Both the larvae and adults live in dead or dying trees, and under bark on logs. Some species will attack living trees or newly cut or dying logs and branches. Other species occur on the foliage of trees and shrubs, or are leaf miners. Most Buprestidae will fly when they are disturbed but a few will play dead. Some tropical species are much bigger, sometimes reaching 100 mm in length, and are very brightly coloured. These beetles are metallic coloured, often coppery, green, blue or black and the elytra (modified front wing that protects the hind wings) often have a distinct sculptured surface. The body is hard, compact and often flattened. The larvae have the anterior end flattened and enlarged and are sometimes called 'flat-headed wood borers'.

Distribution of Eastern metallic green wood borer (Buprestis fasciata) in Canada