Oemona hirta

Lemon tree borer
O. hirta by Des Helmore
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Suborder:
Polyphaga
Superfamily:
Chrysomeloidea
Family:
Cerambycidae
Subfamily:
Cerambycinae
Genus:
Oemona

Fabricius, 1775
Species:
O. hirta
Binomial name
Oemona hirta
Fabricius, 1775

Oemona hirta, the lemon tree borer, also known as the whistling beetle or the singing beetle, is a longhorn beetle endemic to New Zealand.[1] Its larvae are generalist feeders, boring into the wood of a wide variety of trees, native and introduced. When citrus orchards were first established in New Zealand, this beetle started inflicting serious damage, and so gained the name "lemon tree borer".[2] Four species within the genus Oemona have been identified, suggesting that more species could be found.[3] When disturbed by predators or humans, the adult beetle stridulates creating a "rasp" or "squeak" sound by rubbing its thorax and head together against an area of thin ridges.[4][5] Māori would eat a liquid called "pia manuka", which was produced by manuka trees when its wood was damaged by the larvae.[6] When Captain Cook first arrived in NZ, his naturalists, Banks and Solander, collected a lemon tree borer in their first collection between 1769 and 1771.[7] This oldest collected specimen can be found in the British Museum. A few years after the first collection, the species would be first described by the Danish naturalist Fabricius in 1775.

  1. ^ Foord, M (1990). The New Zealand descriptive animal dictionary : The common names of the animals, native and introduced, large and small, on the land and in the waters of New Zealand and her outlying islands, with a short description of each. Dunedin, N.Z: M.R.R. Foord.
  2. ^ Hudson, George Vernon (1934). New Zealand beetles and their larvae: an elementary introduction to the study of our native Coleoptera, with seventeen coloured plates. Ferguson & Osborn. ISBN 1869642287. OCLC 155928156.
  3. ^ Lindsey, T., & Morris, R. (2013). Collins pocket guide to New Zealand minibeasts. Auckland: Harper Collins Publishers.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Walker, A., Cox, Geoffrey J., & Heath, Eric (2000). The Reed handbook of common New Zealand insects (Rev. and updated.. ed.). Auckland [N.Z.]: Reed.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Clearwater, J., & New Zealand. Department of Scientific Industrial Research (1981). Lemon tree borer, Oemona hirta (Fabricius), life cycle (Information series (New Zealand. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research); no. 105/33). Wellington, N.Z.: Dept. of Scientific and Industrial Research.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Miller, D (1955). Native insects (Nature in New Zealand). Wellington [N.Z.]: Reed.
  7. ^ Helmore, D., & Entomological Society of New Zealand. (1982). Drawings of New Zealand insects (Bulletin (Entomological Society of New Zealand). Auckland, N.Z.: Entomological Society of New Zealand.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)