A few mornings ago when I was set up in the side yard, busily cutting some trim material to go around the kitchen window, this formidable looking beetle came marching across my outdoor work table.
I sat the circular saw aside and bent down for a closer look. Viewed head-on, he looked like the starring creature from some 1950s-era horror flick.
Oh, ho! The thumb-sized fellow reared-up, mandibles spread, threatening to do me immediate bodily harm. A wholly unwarranted attitude, I thought—after all, he was the trespasser. Not that I feared having a finger lopped off…but had I been foolish enough to give an investigatory poke, a reciprocal pinch would have been painfully swift.
Nope, I've been bitten, stung, and otherwise savaged by more than my fair share of critters over the years, and didn't need laceration-by-beetle added to the list. I was perfectly satisfied to admire this nasty customer from a safe distance while taking the time to make a few portrait snaps—even while he continued to act downright unneighborly.
Afterwards, I scooped him onto a sycamore leaf and relocated him to the other side of the yard. "Go intimidate a squirrel, or try biting the groundhog up by the driveway," I said as he lumbered off.
Frankly, I'm not sure even the neighbor's pit bull is safe with with this bad attitude bug on the prowl!
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8 comments:
He was probably more likely to emit a foul smell when you picked him up. We have some a bit like that and that is what they do as a last resort.
I guess the beetle believes the best defence is an offence. It's antennae look like they could pull in lots of over-the-air tv channels.
Neat post!
Penny…
Don't know whether rendering a squirt of foul scent is part of this beetle's arsenal, but no doubt whatsoever that given a chance, he'd have pinched.
Out To Pasture…
Seen face-on, isn't it just the strangest most alien looking creature ever? Sort of goofy looking…like a wired-for-reception miniature moose!
Hi Grizz - the pictures are so real, it made my skin crawl and I kept saying "eeeeeewwwww".....great shots and amazing share - you really do care for all God's creatures -
Love GVail
peace......
My "Field Guide to the Insects of North America" indicates that the menacing arthropod was a stag beetle. Here's what the guide has to say about this family of beetles: "Most adult stag beetles feed on sap flows; larvae live in decaying logs and stumps and apparently feed on juices of rotting wood. The greatly developed, sometimes branched, mandibles of the males of a few species give these beetles their common name. Adults of most species are found on the ground in woods, others on sandy beeches. Adults of a large reddish-brown eastern species frequently fly to lights at night."
Gail...
Hey, glad you enjoyed seeing the little beast! I think one shot was made on my iPhone and the other with a Nikon, but I'd have to check to be sure. I certainly enjoy most wildlife and try to respect it...which isn't a conflict with the fact I also like to fish and occasionally hunt. And I do get a kick out if critters and treat them like the very fellow citizens I believe they are. I will admit that I care about some creatures more than others, or at least from a safer distance. š
Scott...
Thanks for the info. I actually wrote that I thought it was one of the stag beetles, but apparently edited that out by accident before posting. I've seen similar but even bigger forms of stag beetles around here on occasion. Formidable looking beasts!
Some years back, I was riding my motorcycle down through Kentucky on the way to eastern Tennessee and a couple of weeks of tooling around the Smokies. It was about midnight, and I was doing maybe 60 mph along a country road, heading for a ferry crossing on the Green River, when a huge stag beetle, the one some call a rhinoceros beetle, came zipping up my headlight beam and smacked me in the chest like a pro-pitched baseball! I managed to not wreck, pulled off the road...and that giant was still alive and promptly "bit" me when I removed it from my tee shirt. I had a welt on my chest the size of your fist! Hurt like the dickens, too.
Anyway, good to hear from you. It's 91 here and sweltering. Hope you're faring better.
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