Mystery beetle

[billybuntus]

Hi chaps,

Anyone seen one of these before? It was outside our house this afternoon. Looked like it had damaged its wings as it unfolded its outer shell and its wings appear then fluttered then it just kept repeating.

Apologies for the rubbish picture my new phones camera is rubbish (and I thought the beetle might be a flesh eating monster :shock: so I didn't want to give it chance to spit venom into my eyes and consume me in the middle of our street)

 

[billybuntus]

ps, it was about 2 inches long

 

[billybuntus]

pps, the orange bits on the front of its head looked like pincers (May be used to cut the flesh out of humans before eating us?)

 

[Michael7]

It could be one of those little flesh eating scarabs that were in the film "The Mummy"

 

[ColeyS1]

I didn't want to give it chance to spit venom into my eyes and consume me in the middle of our street

Not overreacting at all then :lol: If in doubt jeffing leg it !

I saw a slow worm earlier on me travels and was imagining Steve Irwin wresting with the ferocious thing. Stared it at for a good few seconds, just to convince myself i was scared of it- I was.

Good luck with identifying your ghastly creature.

Simon

 

[paulm]

Sorry to dissapoint, but I think it's a maybug, or cockchafer beetle, they are out at this time of year, had one flying about in the bedroom a couple of nights ago, don't half make a racket when they are bashing against the window !

But the pic isn't great so it could still be one of those flesh eating bugs :shock: :lol:

Cheers, Paul

 

[Shane]

cockchafer beetle

Sounds well dangerous :shock:

 

[barkwindjammer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk35zer0T10

 

[t8hants]

Found one dead in the garden this morning, haven't seen any for a couple of years must be a good year for them.

As for slow worms our new cat has decimated my carefully nurtured garden population, and she keeps leaving them in the bath when she has finished playing with them.

The older cats can't be bothered with such low entertainment.

Gareth.

 

[WoodAddict]

cockchafer beetle

Sounds well dangerous :shock:

So childish yet so funny at the same time! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[gerrybhoy70]

Do they use that beetle to make the lining in swimming shorts??? :lol: :lol:

 

[matt]

Looks like it was on the road? Must be a Volkswagen Beetle.

 

[billybuntus]

Good hunting, it does appear to be a cockchafer

Apparently they were almost wiped out years aho by pesticides but not with the new anti-pesticide regime.

Cockchafer? I dare not consider how that name came about, however it won't get past the bottom of my foot in future

 

[jimi43]

You can tell if it's a cockchafer as it has a clutch and accelerator as antennae....

Mmmm...maybe it IS a VW Bug!!!

:wink:

Jim

 

[Benchwayze]

The BUG!

Now for the real story!

http://www.stoke.gov.uk/ccm/museums/mus ... 6YLuTwRPGf

John

:wink:

 

[Ikisumu]

Nice bug. One look at the incredible diversity of the insect fauna and there's no trouble to realize where them movie special effects designers get their best ideas.

Looks like international harbor cities can sometimes provide quite a surprises in this field, too. Some years ago me and some of my pals were hanging out in the evening of the Amsterdam, enjoying the views of the city. While walking slowly along the street, suddenly something almost a small bird size slammed against the face of one of my pals. It was the biggest moth we had ever seen live. It was clearly something tropical, and we concluded that it probably had emigrated to the country in some ship.

The species identification failed though, because right after it collided with my pal, he slapped both his hands against his face and smashed the moth all around his face. The result was pretty hilarious because that flaky coating from moth wings gave him quite of a tranny make-up. It was surprisingly sticky, too. We thought that Great, if our team runs out of money during the evening, this is The City where we can always cash out with him.

Samu

 

[big soft moose]

hummingbird hawk moth or poplar hawk moth - they are native to the uk and norther europe.

 

[Ikisumu]

hummingbird hawk moth or poplar hawk moth - they are native to the uk and norther europe.

It is sometimes amazing how past mysteries may open up by just randomly mentioning about them.

The latter one would indeed fit the description by it's suggested size range, and this one was certainly one from the upper end of the scale. It was one incredibly bulky and fluffy moth.

Samu