Diet

• Adults: Feed on bark, leaves and tender tissues of woody plants. The species is particularly associated with fig trees (Ficus spp.), but adults can use a variety of other plants.

• Larvae: Wood-boring, developing inside branches and trunks. Young larvae initially feed beneath the bark before tunnelling deeper into the wood.

Range

• Neoptychodes trilineatus has a remarkably broad distribution extending from the southern United States through Mexico and Central America into northern South America and the Caribbean.

• It is widely distributed in Mexico, including Guerrero, and is associated with tropical dry and deciduous forests.

• Around Zihuatanejo, it is fairly common to occasional, particularly where fig trees and other suitable woody hosts are present. It is a species worth looking for on trunks and branches rather than only among flowers.

Habitat

• Found in tropical dry forest, tropical deciduous forest, woodland, orchards, gardens, agricultural areas and urban vegetation.

• Around Zihuatanejo, look closely at fig trees, damaged branches, dead or weakened wood and tree trunks, especially in warm sunny locations.

• Adults may sit motionless against bark, where their mottled brown coloration provides effective camouflage.

• The species is particularly associated with fig trees, and can develop in both cultivated and wild Ficus.

Size

• Adult length: approximately 19–24 mm (0.75–0.95 in). A measured specimen was 24.2 mm long.

• Body elongated and somewhat flattened, with extremely long antennae.

• Usually greyish-brown to dark brown, with orange-brown mottling and three conspicuous pale longitudinal bands running along the elytra.

• The three pale lines are the most useful field clue and are reflected in the species name trilineatus, meaning “three-lined.”