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In article <7j6g5h$lrl$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, texased@my-deja.com wrote:

>  For the last week I have seen some very large yellow and black beetles
> outside of my office building.  Please help me identify them.
[snip] 
> They are found directly under a large "River Birch" tree that has some
> sizable bore holes in the bark.  I don't know if this is related.  I am
> located in Western Austin, Texas - U.S.A.

They're clearly longhorned beetles (Cerambycidae), though there are a fair
number that would match your description.

> I would like to add some nice entomology sites with ID pages to my
> bookmarks and would like a recommendation on a field guide. 

There's only one field guide to Cerambycids, and I wrote it,
coincidentally enough. It can be had in hardcover, with 32 color plates,
from the Illinois Natural History Survey, for 15 bucks (includes postage).
Write to cwarwick@denr1.igis.uiuc.edu for a copy. Note that neither I nor
the Survey makes any money off the sales of the book. Be warned, however,
that since it was written for the NE, there are a number of Texas species
which aren't in there, and your mystery species could be one.

Peace,

Doug Yanega                              Dept. of Entomology
Entomology Research Museum               Univ. of California
Riverside, CA 92521                       909-787-4315
           http://insects.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is
    the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick

In article <7j6g5h$lrl$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, texased@my-deja.com wrote:

>  For the last week I have seen some very large yellow and black beetles
> outside of my office building.  Please help me identify them.
> 
> Large 1.5"-2" in length,
> black legs and antennae wich are approx. .75" and 1.25" respectively,
> yellow on the entire top side with black ovals that run from side to
> side on each half (line drawn lengthwise) of the body.  I would say
> there were about 5-6 pairs.
> 
> I took a container to collect one for description purposes and thay had
> crawled off (or were eaten by hte birds).  So I am sorry if this is
> incomplete.
> 
> They are found directly under a large "River Birch" tree that has some
> sizable bore holes in the bark.  I don't know if this is related.  I am
> located in Western Austin, Texas - U.S.A.
> 
> I would like to add some nice entomology sites with ID pages to my
> bookmarks and would like a recommendation on a field guide.  I heard
> about "The Bug Book" by Garrett on WOAI radio last weekend, is this one
> good?
> --
> Ed Weltens
> Central Texas  Zone 7/8

Sounds like longhorn beetles to me.  I suspect they are there ridding the
area of another tree that is not well suited to this environment.  River
birch is a tree that his more at home in east texas and similar environs.

Dennis Brown

-- 
*************************************************
               Urban Forestry Resources
   ********************************************
        Dennis Brown, Consulting Arborist
        Austin, TX
        (512 )263-2798
       quercus@texas.net
       http://quercus.home.texas.net

What you have described sounds like a Cottonwood Borer which is a cerambycid
beetle that attack trees and other plants.  They mostly feed on Cottonwood,
but also feed on poplars and willows and can be found below the soil or in
the bark of the trees and can kill small trees since they can weaken them,
causing them to fall over in high winds.

Mike