Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug

Posted in Photo, Science by Elliott Back on July 18th, 2006.

This was crawling around outside our house last night:

I have no idea what it was, but it’s the largest beetle I’ve seen in a while. I’m glad I got a photo of it! If you know what it is, leave a comment

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 18th, 2006 at 6:55 pm and is tagged with insect, photo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

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Helen Mills 2 years ago 1 point
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What is it?..My husband drove into the driveway tonight and a similar beetle flew at his windshield. He capture it. We live in Vancouver,Washington 7/24/06.

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Brenda 2 years ago 1 point
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We found the same beetle tonight. Our cat was playing with it and it was making a clicking/hissing noise. I thought it might be some type of cicada. (Same noise). We are in the country outside of Springfield, Or. 07/25/2006

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Lisa 2 years ago 1 point
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My cat found the same beetle a day ago. It wasn't making any noises. A day later my husband found another one in our basement. I am alittle freaked out. I have searched the internet and only came up with Round headed borer. It looks just like the beetle I found and what you have pictured. Either way this thing is nasty. Reminds me of the beetle from the movie Beetle Juice.

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Barb 2 years ago 1 point
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We found two of these yesterday on our porch. One was 1 1/2" long and the other was 2 1/2" long! I placed them in two separate plastic disposable blueberry boxes and by morning the large one chewed it's way through. The second had almost chewed through as well. When I tried to release the second, he grabbed the plastic with his front pinchers (at mouth) with a very strong grip (eeeks! --- so be careful). Anyway, if anyone knows what it is, we would appreciate knowing.

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Barb 2 years ago 1 point
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Hey, I found on www.waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0502.htm that this is an adult pine sawyer beetle.

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Lori 2 years ago 1 point
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I found this same beetle last night on my porch and it has to be the UGLIEST insect I have seen yet! It measure about 2 inches long and its GROSS! I captured it in a plastic jar and left it on the porch and I could hear it moving around in there~my skin crawls just thinking about it! YUCKKKKK!

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Jo 2 years ago 1 point
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I have the same bug in a plastic pot right by me now i live in england

what is it ???

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Rodger 2 years ago 1 point
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Looks like an oversized jumbo beetle to me. I have it in my hermit crab cage and I like it. I think I'll name it henry and let it sleep in my bed sometimes. :-)

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drake 2 years ago 1 point
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thats not a pine sawyer right now i have one and a huge insect guide a pine sawyer is different

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s j g 2 years ago 1 point
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The beetle you are finding looks like Prionus root borer. I found pictures @ Utah State website http://extension.usu.edu

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Name Alexey 2 years ago 1 point
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!!! It is class to itself

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http://tabulas.com/~Alexblog

Sten50394 1 year ago 1 point
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I haven't gotten anything done today. I feel like a fog, but what can I say? I've just been letting everything wash over me lately, not that it matters. Shrug.

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http://florida-miami.headgo.info

b dorley 1 year ago 1 point
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i had one of these beatles crawl inside my blanket last night was on my ankel, thank goodness i didn't push on it. i screamed my son hit it, cut open its back, it was so mad, it jumped and almost got his finger, we flushed it quickly. hope to never see another.

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kaytlyn 1 year ago 1 point
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hey homie. thats a palo verde borer beetle. i am from tucson and they are my favorite animal. they come during the monsoons where i live. your welcome.

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Rhiannon 1 year ago 1 point
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Well, I have a strange story to tell about those beetles. Yesterday morning I found one dead and floating in my pool. I am an artists hand have been collecting cool looking dead insects for a project. I took the beetle in and placed it in a shallow bowl next to an equally dead hercules beetle I have had for about a year. This morning, I found another of these big black beetles floating in my pool so I took it's lifeless body in to put with the one from yesterday. YIKES!!! The one from yesterday was not where I left it, I turned the studio upside down. Yes, the hercules beetle was still there and intact. The missing beetle prompted me to put the second dead beetle that I found in the pool, inside a jar.........just in case. Well guess what..........this evening that dead beetle in the jar came back to life and was kicking and trying to turn itself onto it's stomach!!!! What is it with these things? Do they have nine lives like a cat? Do they play possum or what??? I need answers I am totally freaking. And by the way, I came across a half-live one this morning and feeling sorry for it I picked it up to put it back on it's feet and the darn thing pinched the heck out of my palm......so be careful around these guys they are mean!

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Linnette 1 year ago 1 point
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Hello friends!
I found one last night that was nearly 4 inches long. It much resembled a giant cockroach. This was just after a sighting by my friend the day before & a story of another friend I will tell in a moment. I live in Phoenix & the other gentleman was right. It's a Palo Verde Beetle & from what I've gathered, it lives underground in tree roots most of it's life, coming up in late June-early July to mate. (It's also a full moon, so they're more inclined to be "romantic"). They do fly & will pinch if provoked, They can grow up to about 6 inches & they are attracted to light & that's why he was coming to my door @ about 11pm(though they prefer early evening). Once they mate, the female lays eggs in the tree base & the males usually die. Otherwise, they seem to be harmless. My friend found about 30-40 of them in her backyard one evening some 15 years ago. They had made a circle around 2 others all were flying in for the show. The 2 @ the center seemed to be fighting & the rest were clacking their mandibles in the spirit of the fight I suppose. Very entertaining, but scary to her. But it seems we have nothing to fear. Just let them mate & be on their way & all will be fine. :)

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jh 1 year ago 1 point
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I found something similar in front of my house in Boise, ID. Everyone says it's a Prionus root borer (prionus californicus) see http://www.bentler.us/eastern-washington/insect...
I'm not sure what the differences are b/n the Calif prionus and the Palo Verde, but they must be similar and they are both root borers.

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fsci 1 year ago 1 point
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If it hisses its probably a hissing cochroach.

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Ted 1 year ago 1 point
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That is Derobrachus geminatus or the Palo Verde Root Borer. Check this website for more information.

http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/t-...

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Nana Nola 1 year ago 1 point
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I live near Yosemite, CA and one of these HUGE beeteley bugs alnost landed in my hair on the front porch early last night. This one almost 3 inches long. I heard they are some sort of Chinese bug. Also, my melon crop is almost gone all of a sudden! YIKES!

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Az native 1 year ago 1 point
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As a kid growing up in Phoenix, I had neighbors down the road that had a stand of about 10 Paloverde trees along the road. We would catch the cicadas, (we called locust), in the trees and tie thread around their heads and fly them like kites during the early evening, as it got darker we would get out our ping pong paddles and wait for the male Burrowing Beetles to come flying in. I cannot tell you how much harmless fun these two insects gave my friends and I during the scorching summer evenings. Believe it or not my friends and I actually spent as much time reading and researching these critters as torturing them. Hopefully this won't start a thread on entomologist subject abuse.

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kristy 1 year ago 1 point
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One was in my car and got on my friends foot it was soooooooo gross i hate them, they are ugly!!!!!!!!!

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damian 1 year ago 1 point
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its a california prionus, i just caught one today. atleast two if not three inches long, not counting its antannae

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http://damiankingart.com

Betty 1 year ago 1 point
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hi I found that same kind of bug, in my yard needless to say it lives no more.I'm in Warren Ohio

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Elliott C. Back: Technology FTW!

Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug

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