Mr. and Mrs. Stag Beetle in my Kitchen Sink
Location: Chelmsford MA
July 7, 2011 1:37 am
Hi Folks,
I live in Chelmsford, MA. Thanks to your website, I was able to identify these enormous critters in my kitchen sink – I think they are male and female Reddish Brown Stag Beetles.
I have found at least two or these beetles in my kitchen sink every year at about the same time of year (early summer). Yesterday there were three of them in my sink. They must be coming up the drain, because anything that large flying in the house would drive my cats wild.
My questions are:
– Why do they come in to the sink every year?
– Is this normal stag beetle behavior?
– Should I be worried about the condition of my foundation or plumbing?
Your website convinced me that these bugs were worth saving, so I gently set them down in my yard.
Thank you so much for any insight you might be able to give!
Sincerely,
Frances Killam
Thank you for your help,
Frances Killam
Stag Beetles in the Kitchen Sink
Hi Frances,
This is most perplexing. We read your email just prior to closing the offices for the night, and we felt we needed to be rested and refreshed before we tackled a response. After a good night’s sleep, we still don’t have a conclusive answer for you. Stag Beetles do spend their larval stage feeding on rotting wood, so there must be a suitable habitat nearby. We found this marvelous British website Stag Beetles for Everyone that may provide you with some insight. We can’t imagine that the Stag Beetles are entering your home through the drain and we would suspect that they have flown in. Perhaps they are attracted to lights, and if a female arrived first and fell into the sink, her pheromones might attract willing male suitors. The sink is a trap for many creatures, and once inside, they are stuck. Perhaps other Stag Beetles have entered your home and those became cat food. We would also encourage our readership to provide their opinions in our comment section.
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Flower eater
Location: Punjab, India
July 6, 2011 1:08 am
Hello! I found these giants busily eating my okra flowers. Any idea what they are?
Signature: Jerah
Blister Beetle
Hi Jerah,
We are really running late for work, and we need to meet with architects this morning, but we had to find time to post your exciting photos of Blister Beetles in the family Meloidae. Handle with caution. We also found a species name, Mylabris pustulata, on the Science Photo Library website.
Blister Beetle
Prionus beetle in Connecticut
Location: Mill Pond Park, 864 Willard Avenue, Newington, CT 06111
July 5, 2011 5:22 pm
About 1 week ago, I captured a black beetle, about 2 inches long, in Mill Pond Park, Newington, Connecticut. (Mill Pond Park, 864 Willard Avenue, Newington, CT 06111).
The beetle was actually flying near the pond, trying to escape a house sparrow that was attacking it. The sparrow flew away and I went to see what the bug was. I captured the beetle as it tried to dig into the grass. The beetle had minimal damage, apparently from the sparrow. After I photographed and released it, it flew off into the bushes bordering the pond.
An entomologist I know who works at UConn said she guessed it was a Prionus sp. I’m just curious what species.
Signature: Chris Dubey
Broad Necked Root Borer
Hi Chris,
This year, most of the images we received of Broad Necked Root Borer, Prionus laticollis, have been females. Thank you for supplying us with a new photo of a male who can be distinguished by his antennae. Your first hand observations of the sparrow attack is a great addition to our archive of information.
1st Ever Longicorn Beetle (Sawyer?) Sighting
Location: SE Michigan
July 5, 2011 5:48 am
Dear Bugman; Yesterday, I almost squashed this beetle by accident, when I went to turn on the outdoor faucet. I was so surprised to see that it was a Longicorn beetle–I had never seen one before! (And the only reason I knew what it was in the first place, was from photos posted on your site.)
I ran into the house and grabbed my camera before it disappeared.
It was quite calm, rather slow moving and allowed me to take many photos, as it rested on an aborvitae branch.
I am not sure, but I think it is a White Spotted Sawyer. Can’t get over the eyes, which wrap around the base of it’s antennae. He/she looks like a little alien from the profile.
Signature: Christine
Longicorn
Hi Christine,
Though we don’t know the identity of your Longicorn, we can say that it is NOT a White Spotted Sawyer. We will enlist some expert advice and update this posting when we get an identity.
Longicorn
Eric Eaton provides an identification
Nice! This would appear to be a specimen of Goes pulverulentus which is not that commonly seen. It would be a Bugguide record if the person would agree to post it there. Great find!
Eric
Dear Daniel and Eric: Wow! Thanks so much for determining that this Longicorn is not what I thought it might be. It was so exciting to read that this beetle is not all that common. (COOL!) Glad I was able to snap some clear photos of it. Please feel free to use/post my pics. of this little guy as needed. If Bugguide would like to post it, they are also welcome to use the photos. I have several more good shots of this beetle from other angles—dorsal view, side close-up, if anyone would like them for better identification, or explanation purposes. ( I’m now going to look up Goes pulverulentus, to learn more about this intriguing beetle.)
What is this bug???
Location: Seabeck, WA
July 4, 2011 10:18 pm
My sister found this really neat looking bug on one of the outside plants. Looks like it could be some type of beetle. I liked the way it sounded as it flew away.
Signature: Manda G.
Western Sculptured Pine Borer
Hi Manda,
This is a Sculptured Pine Borer in the genus Chalcophora, and based on your location, it is the Western Sculptured Pine Borer, Chalcophora angulicollis, the only species that BugGuide has recorded in the Pacific Northwest. According to BugGuide: “Eggs are laid on bark of large branches or trunks of conifers, especially fir (Abies), or western yellow pine (Ponderosa Pine, Pinus ponderosa). Larvae hatch and cut through to inner bark, where they form tunnels.” BugGuide also indicates that they fly noisily when alarmed, much as your letter indicates. Many members of the family it belongs to Buprestidae, have iridescent or metallic coloration which has led to the common name Jewel Beetles.
Western Sculptured Pine Borer
unidentified beetle
Location: Wassenaar, Zuid Holland, Netherlands
July 4, 2011 12:44 pm
I took this photo outside my front garden. I live in south Holland, Netherlands, Europe.
When I poked it gently with my door key it made a noise, I think coming from its rear but not sure.
It was not interested in moving and I found it again trying to dig into the dry dirt. It was about 3.5 – 4 centimetres long.
Signature: Rosie
June Beetle
Hi Rosie,
This is sure a pretty Scarab Beetle, actually one of the June Beetles. We located it on the Photo Gallery of Beetles website, and had to view all the thumbnails, where we learned it is Polyphylla fullo. There are some nice photos here, and BioLib also has a good photo. According to the Free Dictionary: “The beetle is distributed in middle and southeastern Europe; in the USSR it is found in Byelorussia, the Ukraine, and the Volga Region. The beetles fly in July evenings and nights; they feed on the leaves and needles of trees. The females deposit their eggs in the soil. Development continues for three years; in extremely dark places, development may take up to four years. Young larvae feed on humus and the roots of herbaceous plants; older larvae gnaw through the roots of shrubs and trees and cause desiccation of the plants.”
Big iridescent green beetles in Maryland
Location: Northern Carroll County, Maryland
July 3, 2011 1:36 pm
Dear Bugman,
Today a hundred big beetles are buzzing around the top of the newly cut grass. Don’t remember ever seeing them, and certainly not in such numbers. The attached do not do justice to the sheen they glow in the sun. I’m stumped! Thanks for any help you can give.
Signature: Yours, Bucky Edgett
Green June Beetle
Hi Bucky,
This is a Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida. According to BugGuide: “The adults can often be seen in numbers flying just inches over turf. The larvae may be considered pests because they destroy the roots of valuable plants.”
Dear Daniel,
Thank you for such a prompt reply. Unlike mine!
Okay, I’ve read up on them and since our yard is mostly dandelions, plantains and clover, I’ll just let the grubs feed. Maybe the aeration will even help.
I don’t remember ever having seem them swarming they way they did this summer. And I don’t remember Green June beetles. I’ve always thought of Junebugs as brown. Interesting. Live and learn, eh? Thanks for your help. Nature will take its course. Maybe we’ll now get a lot of the parastic wasps eating the grubs!
Yours truly,
Bucky Edgett
A Black LadyBug with two red spots
Twice Stabbed Lady Beetle
A Black LadyBug with two red spots
Location: Cheney, Kansas
July 2, 2011 9:26 pm
I found quite a large group of Black LadyBugs ,a few larvae, some unhatched pupae as well as hatched pupea on my Crabapple tree today.
The Bugs have a red underbelly and are solid black except for the two red dots on their back.
I’ve tried researching on-line and came up with ”Chilocorus kuwanae . No common name yet for these bugs.
Signature: Chris Harris
Twice Stabbed Lady Beetle Pupae
Hi Chris,
We are positively thrilled with your documentation of much of the life cycle of a Twice Stabbed Lady Beetle, Chilocorus kuwanae. All of the stages of metamorphosis that you have documented match similar stages depicted on BugGuide which indicates it was “Introduced from Japan and Korea, originally to California as Chilocorus similis Rossi. Now established across North America.” We needed to crop out your signature on the photos in order to increase the size of the insects in our posting.
Twice Stabbed Lady Beetle Larva
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