Wasp looking bug
Location: Knob noster, mo
August 6, 2011 4:23 pm
A cinder block was moved and we found this odd looking little guy. He seems very aggressive for sure, brings his back end up like a scorpion when he gets upset. He also has wings.
Signature: Creepedbybugs
Dear Creepedbybugs,
We hope that the information we will provide for you will make you somewhat less creeped out by bugs. This is a Gold and Brown Rove Beetle, Ontholestes cingulatus, which we identified on BugGuide, which indicates it is “Large for a rove beetle. Dark brown and hairy. Clumps of hair forms dark spots on much of body. Yellow hair forms “belt” under thorax, covers parts of last abdominal segments. Head wider than pronotum. Eyes large, prominently placed on sides of head. Found on carrion and fungi. Often turns yellow tip of abdomen upward when walking.” They are a harmless species and they are often associated with dead animals. BugGuide also notes: “Adults eat maggots, mites, beetle larvae. Larvae feed on carrion, fungi.”
This is also Platydracus maculosus, not Ontholestes cingulatus!
I found this similar bug in Lee’s summit, mo. It was dried up in the bottom of a box from storage.
I have seen 2 flying around me while sitting in backyard for the last week. They land in the grass and crawl around and go down in a hole. Late evening. They fly slow like they are almost too heavy to fly far. I thought it was a stinger on the butt but thankfully it’s not. Live in Cedar Hill in Jefferson County MO and am 53 years old and have NEVER seen one before.