EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Huhu:  Friend or Foe?

Huhu Beetle (Prionoplus reticularis), Family Cerambycidae
Northland, New Zealand

Explanation:  It is well after dusk, time for the flight of the huhu.  

Who?  Huhu.  (OK, enough of that.)

This is indeed called the huhu beetle, the largest endemic beetle of New Zealand.  We are in Waipoua Forest of Northland, North Island, New Zealand, where this fellow has just alit on the railing of our cabin, attracted to the outside light.  

Huhu beetles -- called tunga rere in the local native Maori -- are indeed a part of the native fauna of this wonderful land, and are found nowhere else in the world -- at least as a native species.  

However, they are reviled among the top five insect pests, because, like others of their family, they drill into logs, timber, stumps, snags, and dead parts of live trees, creating economic havoc with the timber industry.  
  

Friend or foe?  Part of the unique native biodiversity to be conserved, or timber terror?

One project has even looked at using huhu beetles for creating biofuel!

Acknowledgment:
     My thanks to colleague, entomologist, and traveling friend Dr. Steve Pawson for guiding me on the Northland excursion and sharing his knowledge of this and other forest invertebrates of wonderful New Zealand.