''Placosternus difficilis'', commonly known as the mesquite borer, is a wood-boring longhorn beetle which resembles a black and yellow wasp. Larvae of mesquite borers are deposited in, among others,

mesquite tree Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus ''Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under grou ...

s, although it has been recorded from a range of hosts and is considered

polyphagous Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

. It has been seen to be attracted to mesquite trees when there is freshly cut or broken limbs and logs. Adults use

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

and

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

as a food source.Mesquite Borer - What's That Bug?
/ref> It is known from the United States (California to Texas), Mexico,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, Cuba, and the Bahamas.

References

Clytini Beetles of Central America Beetles of North America Taxa named by Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat Beetles described in 1862 {{clytini-stub