Elliott Back's Blog - Latest Comments in Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

eeee — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:56:27 -0000

It's a paloverde root borer

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Judy — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:16:36 -0000

I just had one on our patio, also in Yuma. When my dog went outside, the beetle raised it rear end up and went after my dog. It looked like a stinger on the end. Its in the glory land

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Cheri — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:47:42 -0000

we had the same one on our deck last night! We put it in a jar...what in the heck is it...and are there more????

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Talous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:22:29 -0000

...I wanna name him Quiggles. ;-;

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Talous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:22:01 -0000

My boyfriend just found one of these (or something very close to it..but the one that my boyfriend found has a much rounder rump. XD ) on the porch of the trailer that we sleep in.

It sounds like it'd been attracted by the porch light that we'd turned on. After reading through this and looking at the links, the one that I found is the Prionus californicus beetle. The palo verde borer beetle looks similar but isn't the right one. I'll wager they come from the same family of beetles though.

Personally, I'd wanted to know if it was dangerous to have/be around which was why I'd kept reading.

Looks like it can bite out of self defense and that it'll play dead so we'll ignore it. I feel like putting it in a jar or something but my boyfriend told me I couldn't keep it. x: Guess I can't add a bug to my pet collection.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Colin Vogel — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:16:53 -0000

This looks like a longhorn beetle of some variety. there is a major problem with the Asian longhorn beetle which looks like this but is red with white spots. They spread like mad and breed down in the roots of the trees and dead decaying wood matter. I do not beleive they are toxic (poison bite)... but looks like they could hurt you. When I ran into other such large insects I brought them to a local College where I was able to gain knowledge from their free research. Turns out I also had Mexican killer bees living in the walls of my old basement. Be glad they are just beetles and not something deadly that will put your kids into a coma.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Teresa Ray — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:42:05 -0000

WE live in the south part of Salem, in the country, cleaning out the garage we found one of the hudge beetles, I have never seen anything that big ever, I have lived out there for 40 years! It has been really hot though, it sounds like the ones everyone is talking about, last night taking the curtians down there was a dead one in the mix of curtains it was dead and hudge my daughter was with me she screamed and then asked if it was a scoripion? I said no it was the same one I found the other day, They do make noise I think I thought I had crickets but it is not the same noise. Hope this helps seems like their everywhere. Im going to take one in to have it checked find out what it is for sure Will let everyone know when I do.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Linda — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:07:38 -0000

http://bugguide.net/node/view/74948
My sister sent this link and it looks like the same bug! She lives near the canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah, and says her cats have brought several of these home and left them for her on her stairs - yuck!!

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Linda — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:04:17 -0000

http://bugguide.net/node/view/74948
My sister sent this link and it looks like the same bug! She lives near the canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

James — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:32:21 -0000

I found a bug like this today on my ranch in Western Washington State (near Seattle). It was seemingly dead, just lying on the driveway. We thought it was a cockroach, but they aren't too common around this area. We just went through really hot period, in the low 90’s (that’s hot for our area). I wonder if that’s what brought this bug into the open.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Tiffany — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:35:25 -0000

Hello,
Thanks for all of this info. My husband and I saw this same type of bug on our window tonight. We live in Utah but our extended family just left about 5 days ago to go back home to Tucson. Do you think that this could have traveled with them from there via, camping trailer or truck? Has anyone ever seen this beetle in Utah?
Thanks

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Len — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:29:50 -0000

There are many species of beatles that have similar characteristics of the one in the photo, so they could be confused with the Palo Verde (shown above) depending on where you find them. The larvea live deep in the ground under Palo Verde trees, for up to three years, feeding on the roots. During a wet monsoon year they morph into an adult beatle, emerge from the ground, breed, lay eggs & die. There is no way to get rid of them, because they live to deep in the ground. If they infest a tree, they can kill it. The only thing you can do is water and fertalize, to keep the tree heathy enough to survive the infestation.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

trevor — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:14:38 -0000

i found one last night (philomath oregon) and when i put it in a jar i noticed all these tiny little scorpions climbing out from under its wings. there was a bunch of them. ive spent all morning trying to identify this beetle. ive come up with a few ideas but none are definate. i did find out what the scorpions are though. theyre called "book-scorpions" theyre eating the tiny parasites that live on the beetle i guess....

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

ryanne — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:04:59 -0000

i found the same bug in my bathtub and it tryed to bite me then i captured it in a cup it started hissing and clicking.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

kelsi — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:26:06 -0000

WOW THAT LOKES WIRED!!!!!!!!

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

ed tapia — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:28:41 -0000

I saw somthing like that in our back yar, didnt know what it was but it was huge

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Brian — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:38:09 -0000

I dont know what it is but they are big as hell was riding home on my bike it hit me felt like a small bird hit me thought what ever it was just bounced off so i ride about five more miles get home take off back pack and there is this thing on my back yeah about shit a brick stepted on it twice kicked it off the porch and the next morning it was still alive :P

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Alex — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:20:42 -0000

That's Derobrachus geminatus, the Palo Verde root borer beetle. I found one in Las Vegas, NV, just outside Rancho High School.
I was able to catch it easily, because it appeared to be dying. Took me a few weeks to figure out what it was.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

walkin7 — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:57:38 -0000

I live in Switzerland. Yesterday early evening, sunshine, dinner outside, and a huge type beetle landed on the table near my plate. My husband said, "What the hell is that?" Iridesncent green, huge antennas, six legs, and wanted to go up my glass of wine after it checked out my plate. Well, it did figure out how to get up the glass, after falling off a few times. It went around the glass and worked its way up. Then it smelled the wine, tried to lower itself into the glass by hanging on on one of its six legs. Looked like it got a bit high and then went around the glass, still with the one leg for leverage, to where my lip print was and looked like it fed on that. My husband said it looked like and Alien. I know someone who is into this stuff, so I said as soon as I saw it, "Hi Lance". He is a CEC which means Chief executive Cook and his Alien friends love Alcohol. Found out today that this creature inhabits the Southern part of California. He now lives in Beverly Hills. A sawyer beetle of sorts so I have read? We had a good laugh and a lot of entertainment last evening, but the creature was highly intellengent, knew what it wanted, and neither one of us have seen such a thing in the past 35 years. Hope someone can give us some insite and/or you have just enjoyed this true story. J.

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

genevieve — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:40:06 -0000

i have this same kind of beatle in a fish tank at my house. i live in phoenix az

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

rob — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:41:38 -0000

i have those beetles in my yard. they are broad necked root beetles. the so called stinger on back is for laying eggs. 3 to 5 hundred eggs. they feed off the roots of your trees and eventually kill them. three of them stole my dog! im crying right now so please bear with me. if you see my dog he is a yellow lab about50 pounds and answers to the name buddy. please xcall the police. or better yet the army they are big ass bugs. makes the ghetto roaches look like lady bugs. wtf? how do i kill these things? cant see them unless you catch them laying eggs. please help. if you do see my dog he might respond to you with woof! woof! ty

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

zane — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:26:16 -0000

that is a paloverde bettle they are not poisonous but it can bit so whatch out

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Jamee Plumley — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:23:23 -0000

Does anyone know how to get rid of them? I have about 10 palo verde beetle holes in my backyard in a corner. A new one pops out almost every day, I found out that if you pour water down the holes that pisses them off and they come out with their jaws open...

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

Nicolette_19 — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:54:19 -0000

it isnt a California Prionus or a root boror i found the same thing on my porch last night and if you look at the California Prionus or root boror you can see that their mandabols arent big at all on the picture of this better it is rather big i have about 5 pictures of the same beetle howeveri cant tell you what kind of beetle it is i will keep looking

Re: Unidentified Insect / Beetle / Bug — Elliott C. Back

lori bell — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:26:58 -0000

I have never seen something so huge.
I was taking out the trash with my oldest cat when I felt something hit me.
and the cat was a few feet away.
I jumped up and down and shook. And then I noticed it on my screen door. And then I screamed. lol
It was so big my cat didnt even mess with it. I grabbed the ant and roach spray till it fell over with legs up. I think I used a half a can. Only been here in Las Vegas for 4 weeks we dont have those in Los Angeles. YIKES!!!!!!!!!
Next day it was gone maybe it played dead...