Red Mystery Beetle

Anybody know offhand what this bad boy is?

(click on image to enlarge)
I found him crawling on my car last month. When I tried to touch him, he flew off into the wind.
UPDATE #1: I’ve put in an inquiry to What’s That Bug. They say they are swamped, but maybe something will work out.
UPDATE #2: Whats That Bug wrote back:

Hi Justin,
We believe this beauty is one of the Cerambycid Longhorns, though we are not positive, and we have no idea of the species. The list of specimens that could use Eric Eaton’s assistance is growing and we are not sure when he will return from collecting in West Virginia. How large was this beetle?

To which I replied:

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. The beetle was approximately one inch in length. I will continue to try and find additional information here in Japan, and will update you if anything comes to light.

I’m really impressed with the dedication of the authors of the Whats That Bug site – go check them out as our correspondence is posted there as well, and they may update there when their resident beetle expert returns. Meanwhile, if any of you can help with the identification, I’d be grateful.
I wonder if this is the Eric to whom they refer. Wow!
MYSTERY SOLVED!: T harnessed his ancient Oriental powers of deduction and came up with what looks like the correct answer. This longhorn beetle is commonly known in Japan as a ?????? (benikamikiri); Latin name: Purpuricenus (Sternoplistes) temminckii.
Sources:
http://www2.gol.com/users/nanacorp/ZUKAN/beni.htm
http://naturaljapan.net/?pp_album=1&pp_image=benikamikiri01.jpg

6 thoughts on “Red Mystery Beetle

  1. Well, it does kinda look like some cardinal beetles and Purpuricenus but I haven’t found an exact match online yet.
    This is the closest match, except for the solid red body: LINK

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