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Monster Beetle
Location: Western Pennsylvania
July 25, 2011 1:32 pm
I found this poor drownd beetle floatig in my swimming pool yesterday and I really want to know what it is because I have never seen anything like it before. It is huge, as you can see compared to the size of the fly. I have tried searching the internet, but couldnt find very much. Please note that I did not kill this bug. I was, in fact, trying to save its little life but it was dead when I found it.
Sorry
Signature: LadyStardust

Male Broad Necked Root Borer

Dear LadyStardust,
We cannot get the picture out of our minds of you attempting CPR on this unfortunate male Broad Necked Root Borer, our Bug of the Month for July.  The antennae of the male are much more developed than those of the female.  The backyard swimming pool is one of the most deadly traps for insects and other arthropods, and you need not fear this posting getting tagged as Unnecessary Carnage.  We understand that it was accidental drowning.  It appears as though the Fly might be a Blow Fly in the genus Lucilia, which included the Green Bottle Fly (see BugGuide).  Blow Flies are Stage One Colonizers of decomposing corpses in the increasingly popular field of forensic entomology thanks to all of the CSI style television shows (though Crossing Jordan may have set the stage for the field with “Bug” Ravi Kapoor) and high profile murder trials like that of Casey Anthony.

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