Giant green beetle
Location: Deep South – Rural Alabama, about 80 miles north of Gulf Shores off of the 65 highway
June 24, 2011 10:24 am
While traveling near Gulf Shores Alabama, during mid June (06/17 exactly), my ”City Girl” girlfriends and I came across this BIG green beauty. I’m not a city gal but I’ve never seen anything like this guy. We sent a picture to one of the husbands out west and he doesn’t believe it’s real! A little boy we met was more than happy to pick it up and display him for us 
Signature: T.S.
Female Eastern Hercules Beetle
Dear T.S.,
“He” is a female Eastern Hercules Beetle, Dyanstes tityus. The larger males have horns and they are considered to be the heaviest beetles in North America. Here is a photo of a male Eastern Hercules Beetle we posted earlier this morning.
Ed Note: Like ships passing in the night, T.S. wrote back as we were creating this posting.
Naturally I found out what SHE was after I wrote to you…I believe she was a Herculese Beetle
funny, we just replied to you and created the posting. Glad you were able to find your answer.
I found the answer on YOUR website which I might add is awesome!
What Kind of Beetle Is This?
Location: Charlotte, NC
June 23, 2011 10:25 am
Found this already stepped on in front of my gym. I brought it home and my girls wanted to know more about it. I have seen large Single Horned ”Rhino” beetles before, but never one with two big horns/pincers like this. It is about 2 in long and 3/4 in wide.
Signature: Daniel
Stag Beetle Carnage
Hi Daniel,
It troubles us immensely to learn about this senseless slaughter. This magnificent beetle is a Giant Stag Beetle, Lucanus elaphus.
1
Cool alien looking bug
Location: Lewes, DE
June 23, 2011 11:35 am
I found this bug on a mailbox (exactly where the picture shows it) and when I slammed the lid open and shut again it hadn’t moved a bit, so I know it has a good grip, but I was scared of being stung or bitten. Are these bugs dangerous?
Signature: Sherry
Immature Wheel Bug
Dear Sherry,
This predatory immature Wheel Bug has piercing and sucking mouthparts. It is capable of biting if it is carelessly handled, though we rarely get reports of people being bitten by Wheel Bugs. The bite is reported to be painful, but not dangerous.
1
Cicada Killer
Location: St. Louis, MO
June 23, 2011 10:52 am
Love the site! Found it several years ago while trying to figure out what ”those crazy centipede millipede silverfish things” were. (House centipedes FTW!) While it hasn’t solved ALL of my irrational fears (crickets!), it has certainly helped.
Anyway, I was going through some old photos and ran across this cicada killer with her dinner. Thought you might enjoy the photo. I found her on the tire of my car in July of 2007 and had never seen one before. I figured out what she was with the help of your site.
Enjoy and thanks for all the hard work on this site!
Signature: Tracie
Cicada Killer preys upon Annual Cicada
Hi Tracie,
Your photo is just a bit early to coincide with the annual appearance of Cicada Killers, but we are very excited that you have sent it to us. Some years we can get as many as three or five identification requests for Cicada Killers in a day, and they generally arrive in our mailbox during July and August. We have just posted our first image of a molting Annual Cicada in the genus Tibicen for the year, and as the food source for the developing Cicada Killer broods are beginning to appear, the predators should soon follow. We are going to feature your posting and we hope that informing our readers about this amazing Sand Wasp will help to curtail their slaughter. Often people are unnerved because thought Cicada Killers are solitary wasps, they tend to form nursery nests in colonies. Male Cicada Killers are perfectly harmless as they cannot sting, are nonetheless quite aggressive about defending territory. Female Cicada Killers are capable of stinging, be we have never in more than 13 years of writing What’s That Bug? been able to document a verified incident of a person being stung by a Cicada Killer. The few claims we have received are better explained by blaming other more aggressive wasps like Paper Wasps.
So glad you could use the photo! I certainly could see how people would be intimidated by such a large wasp. I was just so impressed by her I had to get some photos, but I certainly kept my distance! She was actually dragging the cicada up the tire of my car (looks like the photo on the site got rotated) and I ended up walking the couple of blocks home for lunch so I wouldn’t disturb her by driving off.
I do hope this will help people understand and be less afraid of these creatures. Hey, if I can learn why house centipedes shouldn’t be automatically smushed regardless of how alien they look I believe ANYONE can. Shoot, I was actually GLAD to see these guys in my new house. The cave crickets, on the other hand, are not welcome. I’ll send photos of those along if I ever muster up the courage to not immediately run from the basement when I see one.
Cheers!
Hi again Tracie,
Yes the image was rotated to maximize its size on the website. Cicada Killers will climb up trees and walls while dragging a Cicada. They can then glide some distance back to the excavated nest.
2
Cicada emerges
Location: Roanoke Virginia USA
June 23, 2011 8:50 am
I wanted to share this beautiful emergence of a cicada. I caught it right in the middle of molting. Thanks again for the awesome site!!
Signature: neanderpaul
Cicada Molting
Dear neanderpaul,
Thanks so much for submitting this gorgeous photo. Many of our readers write in wanting to identify the shed exoskeletons of Cicadas, and it is nice to have your marvelous documentation of the actual molting process. Your Cicada is one of the Annual Cicadas that appear each year, most likely a member of the genus Tibicen.
Cicada Molting
Daniel,
Thanks so much for responding! It is VERY rewarding to get a complementary response especially when I know how busy you are and how many emails you must get. We do have these every year. The cicada killers make quite a living here! lol! I submitted a pic in ’07 of a wheel bug that still appears on your site. I really hope you post this cicada pic. It is so cool to have a pic featured on such a cool site! Thanks again so much for your site and for responding!
Best wishes,
Paul Mays
aka neanderpaul
Update: August 29, 2011
Daniel,
My Cicada pic made it onto the local CBS news! Thanks for publishing it as that is how the reporter found it!
I now have some pics of a beautiful Garden spider. So huge and intimidating. He has a cicada all wrapped up for later.
And could “crop 1 Garden Spider 011″ be her mate? He was WAY smaller but I know males often are. He was in the same web.
Best wishes!
Paul Mays
aka neanderpaul
Golden Orbweaver eats Cicada
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the update and the great news about your previous photo. We will be creating a new posting for your Golden Orbweaver images.
7
longhorn borer?
Location: alamo, tn.
June 22, 2011 11:26 am
If you have the time will you please give me the exact name of this beauty. I was sooo pleased to see him this morning. He was 2 inches in size. Thank you, beth light
Signature: beth light
Brown Prionid
Dear Beth,
We cannot help but to be overjoyed to read of your enthusiasm at this sighting and to read that you consider this magnificent beetle to be a “beauty”, but we couldn’t agree more. It is a Brown Prionid, Orthosoma brunneum, and according to BugGuide it is found in moist forests in Eastern North America (Bugguide does indicate sightings in Texas) and it breeds in rotting wood found in contact with the ground. Prionids are a subfamily of the Longhorned Borers.
What kind of bug is it?
Location: Louisville, KY
June 23, 2011 10:06 pm
After the tornado activity in Louisville last night, I came out this morning to see this large beetle type bug just sitting on the post of the deck railing. It is about 3 ins. Can you help me with what it is exactly?
Signature: Eileen
After spending more time looking through your website, I think I discovered it was a Hercules beetle. It was the color that threw me off, but I read someone else’s post asking about color changes and there was a phrase about even seeing them in mahogany. So I guess that is what it is … a male Eastern Hercules Beetle. That is, unless you disagree and can tell me otherwise. Thanks, I appreciate what you do.
Eastern Hercules Beetle
Hi Eileen,
We are thrilled to hear that you were able to self identify your Eastern Hercules Beetle, Dynastes tityus, which is reportedly the heaviest North American beetle. Your individual is a male. Females do not have the horns.
Frightened and curious
Location: Victoria, B.C.
June 23, 2011 10:56 pm
Hey this spider has been living in the corner of our crawlspace for I don’t know how long. I found tons of dead ants and flies around its nest so it had plenty to eat. Also has two egg sacs. When I initially saw it I thought it was a Black Widow, but it has no hour glass on the bottom and its reddish-brown on the top side. What is this thing? I’m scared to kill it (we are moving and i’m sure the new owners won’t want a huge spider nest in their crawlspace), maybe its a new species, idk.
Signature: Not sure what this means but sign it well!
False Widow
Dear Not sure …,
This appears to be a False Widow, Steatoda grossa. Though they are not considered to be dangerous, BugGuide does note: “The bite of this spider can produce symptoms that are similar, but much less severe than those of a black widow bite. In some cases blistering may form at the site of the bite along with physical discomfort that lasts for several days.” We have also read reports that False Widows prey upon Black Widows, so that may be added incentive to allow them to cohabitate with you.
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