Gary said, “AAAAAaaa! AAAAAAaaa! What is this? I am scared.”
I’d say termite, but it’s too hard and shiny for a termite.
What the HELL is this?
Putting the TMI in absentminded
Putting the TMI in absentminded
Gary said, “AAAAAaaa! AAAAAAaaa! What is this? I am scared.”
I’d say termite, but it’s too hard and shiny for a termite.
7 responses to “What the HELL is this?”
earwig.
Earwigs. Ugh. We get them in our basement bathroom, and they are guaranteed to cause complete hysteria in the female offspring.
I believe it’s a type of rove beetle – a rather impressive predator of other insects like earwigs.
S.
Shauna’s on to it – earwigs only have the faux ‘decoy’ pincers on the arse end. This guy’s got some serious weaponry, and on the business end…be afraid.
It’s definitely NOT an earwig. According to the Audubon field guide to insects, N.American earwigs have huge pincers on their rear ends.
Rove beetle is possible. There are 2,900 varieties of rove beetle in N.America, but no one of them is very common, so finding a photo of your bug may be difficult . You can make a definitive id by looking at the hard wing-covers (elytra) most beetles have – the rove beetle’s elytra are very short, covering only the first few abdominal segments. Also, when a rove beetle runs, it curls its abdomen up like a scorpion’s stinger. It can and will inflict a painful bite with the mandibles in self-defense.
If it’s not a rove beetle, it may be some kind of tree borer (not related to termites).
Rove beetles come a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
(Actually, I’m personally leaning toward some type of tree borer.)
Becs – I know they don’t eat peoples brains I know they don’t eat peoples brains I know they don’t eat peoples brains.Mare – Sure, they’ve seen Night Gallery.Shauna – I find that comforting.~~Silk – The troubling thing is that on researching rove beetles I discovered that in MAY after it RAINS termites will procreate and then their wings fall off. Not only is this a metaphor, it explains why this guy had no wings. It’s like he’s a tanned outdoor post-coital termite. At any rate, I have to call the termite people this summer anyway.