I have a strange bug
I found him in my backyard, in Murrieta California. Do you know who he is?
Linda

Hi Linda,
My is this photo positively gorgeous, and the beetle itself is equally stunning. We finally located a matching image on BugGuide from Arizona, Tragidion annulatum. Margarethe Brummermann posted the following comment: “If I read the source correctly annulatum was the original name and is still used for the Southwest population, whereas peninsulare is a later split-off for the California and Baja populations.” We then followed a link to an image of Tragidion peninsularum. We are happy identifying your specimen as Trigidion peninsularum unless we are proven wrong. It is also the end of the month and time to select a Bug of the Month for February. We like to post timely sightings for that honor that will help readers with seasonal identifications. This species is a first for our site, and perhaps there will be additional sightings in California this year, so we are thrilled to make your Tragidion peninsularum the Bug of the Month for February 2008. We will write to Eric Eaton in the hopes that he will confirm this identification, and perhaps add some relevant information.

Hi, Daniel:
I can’t make a call on the longhorned beetle, other than to say the genus and gender are both correct….
Eric

2nd contribution
Dear Bugman,
I stumbled across your website last week and I love it! Well done for creating such a website – I spent most of my weekend going through your archives. I am so happy to see that there are many other bug lovers out there! I am going to send you a collection of bug photos that I have taken over the years – I love bugs, but I don’t know enough about them to identify them so here are some bugs for you from South Africa to identify J. I’ll send them to you separately: 2. Beetle Some kind of a colourful beetle we found – also quite big, approx 6cm long Cheers,
Steph

Hi Steph,
First we must say that we are warmed by your enthusiasm. Second, we are impressed that you actually thought to send each of your requests as a separate email, which makes our posting much easier. Trying to keep What’s That Bug? even marginally organized is a daunting task, especially since the staff is organizationally challenged. You should see our office. Also, finding the time it takes for us to post even one letter with all the “real” obligations we have is not easy. With that said, we can only broadly identify your beetle. This is a Longhorned Borer Beetle in the family Cerambycidae, but we are not sure of the genus or species. Larvae of the Cerambycids, or Bycids for short, are wood boring grubs. Researching insects from many parts of the world, including South Africa, is not always easy, and there is a noticeable dearth of identification websites for many locations. Our request is that after about a week, any letters that we did not post, please resend them with any helpful information, and please don’t send them all at once.

Help…
What is this insect ?? Thanks for your help ! I do Brasil
Eduardo Miguel Simon

Hi Eduardo,
This strikingly gorgeous beetle is known as the Harlequin Beetle, Acrocinus longimanus. It is one of the wood boring beetles in the family Cerambycidae. The God of Insects site selected this species as the Bug of the Month in June 2006 and writes: “A fantastic Neotropical longhorn beetle, conspicuous for it’s large size, beautiful colors and the amazing length of the front legs on the male. These elongated limbs (much reduced in the female) are a secondary sex characteristic, used in mating. It should also be noted that it aids them in traversing the tree trunks on which they can be found. Females seek out old trees, such as Ficus, that are infested with bracket fungi. An incision is made in the bark and an egg deposited. Larvae bore into the timber for 7-8 months and then pupate for the remainder of the year, to emerge and start the cycle anew.”

Myan Beetle
Found this guy just south of Cancun, Mexico
Doug

Hi Doug,
This is a Hardwood Stump Borer. We expect to hear from David Gracer that the large grubs are edible and were eaten by the Mayans. Those mandibles look like they can do some damage and we are curious why the Mexican tourism board does not picture this magnificent Beetle in their brochures. Eric Eaton wrote in with this information: “Daniel: The “hardwood stump borer” from Mexico is actually Callipogon barbatus. It is a male, as females do not have such enlarged jaws. I’ve never seen an image of a live one before! Very cool. Eric”

Hey folks, one from Suriname for you.
Haven’t sent anything in a while – a tribute to your site. However, on a recent trip to Suriname, a 3-4 inch long beauty found me at the airport. Interesting creature in the middle of the airport at the start of rainy season.
Taran Rampersad

Hi Taran,
We are happy to hear you are able to easily identify most of your insects through our site. This is a Giant Harlequin Beetle, Acrocinus longimanus. It is found in many South American countries. Your specimen is a female. The is a marked sexual dimorphism found in this species, with the forelegs of the male beetles being nearly twice as long as those of the female.

Very cool, Daniel – thanks! I blogged about it: http://www.knowprose.com/node/18076
WhatsThatBug.com Scores Again: Giant Harlequin Beetle
When I saw this insect at the Paramaribo Airport on the way out of Suriname , I was intrigued. 3-4 inches long, and very interesting patterns on its back (click image to see larger version) – I was curious to know what it was, guessing it to be some form of soldier beetle . I couldn’t find it on the web anywhere, so I decided to write What’s That Bug? and within 24 hours – despite being swamped, they identified it as a Harlequin Beetle, Acrocinus longimanus . Apparently, this is the first bit of information on it on the web, as searching for Harlequin Beetle and Acrocinus longimanus turns up absolutely no results at the time of this writing other than noting that it is missing in the Wikipedia . Go figure. In searching around for information on it, I found out that longimanus is ‘????????? “Macrocheir (Latin =Longimanus)”‘ through the referencec on Artaxerxes I of Persia , which is related to the disparity in length of appendages. Interesting stuff.

crab spider and white spotted sawyer
I sent these pics in some time ago, though I know you’re behind. Just in case the recent net troubles led to their loss, I’ve sent again. The sawyer was in my back yard in Duluth, Minnesota. The crab spider I spotted on the side of the road, again in Duluth, Minnesota. I was walking past, and thought I spied a wasp, only to look closer and find it in the clutches of this beautiful spider. Love the site!
Heidi

Hi Heidi,
Generally, the way we post letters now is to try to quickly (though it is never a quick process) the letters that come in on a given day at the end of the day. Then we select the most interesting letters and try to post as many as possible. Some days, it can be as many as 7 letters, though most days we are lucky if we can post 3. Sadly, many interesting letters with wonderful images never make it to the site. We are posting your Spotted Sawyer image, and even though the Crab Spider photo is quite wonderful, we already have numerous Crab Spiders and their prey on our site. Thanks again for your interest.