Obera linearis

Pictures: Larva    Adult    Laying egg    Damage  Adult2  Damage2   Damage3  Male and female

Description

Adult: 11-16 mm, entirely black, very narrow. Quite thick antennae, not longer than the body. Bulging prothorax, yellow legs and base of the elytra. Larvae is 20 mm and white.

Biology and Damage

Adults appear in spring. The female lays eggs singly under the bark of the 1 year old twigs of the host trees. Larvae  first digs a circular gallery, perpendicular to the wood fibres, the gallery is subsequently orientated from top to bottom and can reach a length of 40 to 60 cm. The larva hibernates in the gallery then, the next spring, bores a descending gallery; at the end of the autumn, it makes a chamber inside the base of the branch in which it will later pupate. The larva does not leave its gallery and overwinters there twice. After the second hibernation, it pupates in April and the adults appear in May-June.

The digging of the circular gallery in hazelnut is accompanied by the formation of a ring-like protuberance and brings about,in autumn, the drying up of the bough and its splitting.

Common Names

DE: Haselbock , ES: Cerambicido del avellano,  FR: Capricorne du noisetier,   IT: Cerambice del nocciolo,  GB: Hazel longhorned beetle,  TR: Uçkurutan