On 24 July, a man in Thailand asked netizens to help him identify an insect he spotted in his home, the likes of which he has never seen before.
Many responded amusedly, with some saying it looks like a “gem-encrusted roach”.
The post was made in the evening to a Thai Facebook group that specialises in identifying animals or insects.
The images show a roach-like insect with multiple white and black spots across its back. Each of its antenna also includes a tuft of black hair in the middle.
The bug was photographed while it was hanging from the side of shelf and half atop a lighter.
Comments soon flooded in, with many netizens trying to help the man identify the bug.
One commenter asked if this was a roach that fell into a pit of gems. Another said it was a cockroach wearing glittery make-up.
However, a serious answer was provided by one netizen who identified it as a “hairy tuft-bearing longhorn beetle”.
Another also provided a local name for the critter, calling it a “maeng daad pom” (แมงตัดผม), which literally “means insect that cuts hair”.
According to the Thailand’s Forest and Plant Conservation Research Office Department, the bug has a few key characteristics. Its most distinguishing feature is the tuft of hair on each antenna.
Source: สำนักวิจัยการอนุรักษ์ป่าไม้และพันธุ์พืช on Facebook
Its body is around 27 to 50mm and it sports a reddish-brown colour with spots of white and black.
It is a chewing type insect that primarily eats vegetation.
One has been spotted in Singapore as well, as evidenced by this report from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
Sighted in October 2017 at Marina Bay on the pavement, this longhorn beetle, too, sports a black tuft on each antenna.
However, it has bright yellow spots and is about 3cm in length.
Also read: ‘Shameful & disgraceful’: Former opposition candidate slams insect consumption in S’pore
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Featured image adapted from นี่ตัวอะไร on Facebook and สำนักวิจัยการอนุรักษ์ป่าไม้และพันธุ์พืช on Facebook.
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