Bug question

Reznik

There is a particular bug at my camp that we always call spruce bugs. After some googling to find the actual name I found that the white spotted pine sawyer looks pretty damn close except I was sure the ones at my camp had orange spots instead of white.

Are there varieties that have orange spots or am I crazy and not remembering right? My camp is in Northwestern Ontario, great lakes/boreal forest. There's a massive spruce tree beside our deck and that's where I'd see most of them.

I've been trying to find pictures that match but none of them have had that black/Orange coloring.

zepherin

You need to send up the bat signal, so we can have a race.

@BugBoy @Arch

Arch

Hmmmm. Common names are the devil, but here goes

What Google returns for "white spotted pine sawyer" is a beetle in the family Cerambycidae.

I know that yes, these can come with orange spots, and in a variety of other colors.

I know you're in Canada, but you can try poking around the image gallery here.

I'm not super familiar with the beetles of Canada, but I can try and get an ID if you can get a picture of the beetles from your camp....

Reznik

I don't have any pictures on hand, but I have a relative presently at camp so I've asked them to try and get a picture if they happen to see one. Not sure if they're plentiful this early in the year, but I remember a few years in July/August where they'd just be everywhere and all you'd hear is that clicking sound as they fly around.

I took a look through that site and found this: https://bugguide.net/node/view/130849/bgimage

It's the whitespotted sawyer again, but the spot at the top between the wings doesn't look quite so white, so I'm wondering if the ones I saw just had some color variation. I thought the bodies were a bit more solid black, but to be fair I never really did get too close to them (they're bitey).

Will update if/when I get a picture sent to me.