Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Hercules

While in Oklahoma this summer, I found the largest beetle I'd ever seen! It was amazing! I didn't even have my camera, so I had to borrow one and just got these photos emailed to me yesterday. (The beetle is sitting on a paper plate.)

Here she is! Isn't she amazing? (I sometimes feel like the Crocodile Hunter for bugs.) She, and I do mean "she", is an Eastern Hercules Beetle (also known as the Elephant Beetle or Ox Beetle). I'm a disappointed she wasn't a "he" as the males have those incredible horns! But, this was still very exciting.


You can read a little more about this beetle here, which is a site I just found that has great information on Texas insects.

3 comments:

Barb said...

This beetle beats my beetle by a mile as far the "ick" scale in my opinion. It is so huge and I can't believe it looks you are touching it.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom
PS Your buttons look great.

Robin said...

I am creeped out to the maximus at the size of that beetle! Ugh! Man! You are brave for touching it. I've gotten better about bugs, thanks to GB's obsessions, but I draw the line at physical touching.
Hopefully, I'll never see one of these ladies in person, but it is interesting to see it here. I'm always curious about what sort of critter you will feature on your blog.

Beck's Bounty said...

These are huge indeed. We found one earlier this summer in our master bedroom - it had gotten in through a torn screen. YIKES !! They seem like a creature from dinosaur days - prehistoric nearly. But fascinating !!

God Bless.
MomToCherubs
http://www.becksbounty.blogspot.com

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