Uninvited guest

Click it to biggit if you dare..

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This guy just showed up in my living room. He lumbered right past me, rather like a clumsy teenager who thinks Mom is asleep. Did the cats spot him? Uh . . NO! Ugh-h-h ... I am itchy. I Googled beetles of Illinois because of course Google knows all and I found some pictures that match my hard backed friend. It's some kind of stag beetle but the only ones I saw are from Russia. Okay, I'm late for bed and did not research for long, it was creeping me out. Now I have to make my lunch for tomorrow and go to bed. I'm afraid to look under my covers! I feel like I should curl up in a ball on top of some high Lucite surface and keen all night. Blech!





** Dani - if you notice the bug is under glass. Against my better judgment - I let him go outside. More because he was too big and would make horrifying crunching sounds if I tried to kill him than anything else. But he was alive when he left this house. And now I have the heebie jeebies!

NO - I couldn't sleep yet. I think this is our guy. E-e-e-w-w-w . . !!!!

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COMMON KENTUCKY STAG BEETLES

COMMON STAG BEETLE GENUS: Psuedolucanus Common Stag Beetles, also called "Pinching Bugs," are the 2nd largest of the stag beetles, after the Elephant Stags. There are four species of pinching bugs in the genus Psuedolucanus, and all are similar in size and appearance. Females of both the common and elephant stag beetles look almost identical, but males can be distinguished by the mandibles, which are considerably smaller in the male common stag beetle. Common stag beetles are reddish brown and grow to be 22-40mm in length. Like most other stag beetles, these beetles eat decaying wood as larvae; the adults eat little or nothing.