Flower Longhorn Beetle
If you use a little imagination, you may be able to see a resemblance between longhorn beetles and the much larger variety of longhorns, longhorn cattle that is. Maybe that is asking a bit much of the imagination, but the antennae of the insects do extend out in front like the horns of the bulls so often associated with Texas, cowboys and large ranches.
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The antennae of this beetle are as long as and sometimes longer than its body. In other members of the family, the antennae are less pronounced and in some cases would be considered short. However, this extreme in variation is to be expected in a family that includes over twenty thousand species.
Again, because of the size of the family, there are many recognized subfamilies and some of these subfamilies are divided into separate families. In other words, determining what constitutes a longhorn can be a complex and drawn out procedure. This system of classification means that there are few defining features within the group as a whole. In fact there are certain groups that seem have no features which lend to its members being included in the family.
In short, the family of longhorns is large and not well-defined, but when you see a member of the family with the pronounced and extended antennae it is easy to identify.
