Weird Bug in Tucson Arizona
Location: Tucson AZ
October 19, 2011 9:11 pm
Hi, we saw this but outside an Ace Hardware store in Tucson Arizona USA. I have never seen anything like it here before. I took a few photos but didn’t want to get too close because it had huge pinchers. The thing finally flew away. It was about 1.5 to 2 inches long not including its antennae.
Signature: Meg
Hi Meg,
This is one impressive beetle. It is a Long Jawed Longhorn Beetle, Trachyderes mandibularis, and we have posted a few photos of this species in the past. According to BugGuide, its range is: “southwestern U.S. (TX-CA), south to Honduras, southern Florida.” The well developed mandibles indicates that this is a male.
Thank you so much. I can see how they got their name. Armed with the name of the insect I looked up more about them. Funny I had never seen one before in all my years living here.
Meg