Categories

Large Beetles
Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 6:54 AM
Could you help tell me a bit about this type of bug? I found this one on my patio, and have never seen this type of bug here. I have seen something similar to this farther east in Barstow, only it was about 6″ in length. This one was only about 2″. Have heard them called date bugs, and large cockroaches farther east, but this one was smaller and about 50 miles east of Barstow, CA.
JR
Apple Valley, CA

California Prionus

Hi JR,
This is a California Prionus, Prionus californicus.  We just finished posting an image of an eastern relative, the Tile Horned Prionus.  The Prionids are a group of Longicorns or Long Horned Borer Beetles.  The California Prionus has grublike larvae that bore in the wood of oaks, madrone, cottonwoods, fruit trees and Eucalyptus trees according to Charles Hogue in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin.  Your specimen is a male.  The larger female has less impressive antennae.

Related Posts

1. California Prionus (June 23, 2007)
2. California Prionus (June 14, 2007)
3. California Prionus (July 21, 2007)
4. California Prionus (July 7, 2007)
5. California Prionus (December 22, 2009)