Larval habits: Most species feed within dead, dying or even decaying wood, but some taxa can use living plant tissue. Girdlers (adults of the Onciderini, larvae of genera in the tribes Methiini, Hesperophanini and Elaphidiini) sever living branches or twigs, with the larvae developing within the nutrient-rich distal portion. The larvae of a few species move freely through the soil, feeding externally upon roots or tunneling up under the root crown.

Many adults (especially the brightly colored ones) feed on flowers. Adult feeding requirements are variable, with some species taking nourishment from sap, leaves, blossoms, fruit, bark, and fungi, often not associated with larval hosts; others take little or no nourishment beyond water. Life span in temperate regions typically range from 1 to 3 years, but cycles of 2-3 months to decades have been documented. Most of the lifetime is spent in the larval stage; the adults usually emerge, disperse, reproduce, and die within a few days to months. Cellulose digestion appears to be aided primarily by enzymes rather than symbiotic microorganisms. In many cases, Cerambycidae are primary borers, providing a vital "first step" in the biorecycling of wood. [1]

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Flower Longhorn Beetle on Queen Anne's Lace

The Cerambycidae (longhorn beetles or long-horned beetles) is a cosmopolitan family of beetles characterized by their extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than the beetle's body. There are over 20,000 species described. Many longhorns are serious agricultural pests, as their larvae have the unfortunate habit of boring wood. The Asian Longhorn beetle, for instance has been responsible for the preventive destruction of thousands of trees in Northern Illinois and other locations in the United States. Adults are voracious consumers of pollen and nectar. Larvae feed on decaying hardwoods. Range: Eastern United States. [2]