Bug FAQRobust Oak Borer
Enaphalodes atomarius · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Cerambycidae
The robust oak borer is about two-thirds of an inch long (≈17 mm). It has a brown-black head with short yellow-grey hairs, a dirty-black cylindrical thorax with yellow-grey pile, and black elytra mottled with yellow-grey that end before the abdomen, each bearing two spines at the tip. It was first described from New York City in 1773.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The head is brownish-black and covered with short yellow-grey hairs. The thorax is dirty black, cylindrical, without spines, and has yellow-grey pile. The elytra are black with yellow-grey mottling, bordered on the sides and suture, stop before the abdomen, and each ends with two spines. The abdomen, breast, and legs are greyish-brown, and each leg has a spine at the tip of the tibia.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The body length is about two-thirds of an inch, or roughly 17 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
The species was described from New York City.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It was originally recorded in New York City, United States.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 23 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where was the robust oak borer first described?
It was first described from New York City in 1773.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Cerambycidae)
House LonghornHylotrupes bajulusCan damage your home
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Red Milkweed BeetleTetraopes tetrophthalmus
White-spotted SawyerMonochamus scutellatusCan damage your home
Red Pine Longhorn BeetleStictoleptura rubra
Spotted Longhorn BeetleRutpela maculataSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enaphalodes_atomarius
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.