thanks all

A remarkable Indonesian beetle species, Eutrachelus temmincki, the largest member of the straight-snouted weevil family Brentidae, with males reaching up to 75 mm -





Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/orionmystery/

cooper1203 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:10 pm hi all long story short i have issues with my drains/ stack pipe. apon trying to flush some water through this bug was washed out with a very small trickle of water. https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/J ... C6ewOJBURZ

what is it is it something that will do damage and is it safe to go poking about if there is more of them...

It's a Rove Beetle -

https://www.ukbeetles.co.uk/staphylinidae

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rove_beetle

They are not harmful, and are mainly scavengers. It was probably just inside the pipe looking for food/water/shelter.

From the rather blurry video, it appears to be a rove beetle, family Staphylinidae. Likely came in from outdoors. Not a worry, completely harmless.

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5 ... 6&dpr=1.25

hi all long story short i have issues with my drains/ stack pipe. apon trying to flush some water through this bug was washed out with a very small trickle of water. https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/J ... C6ewOJBURZ

what is it is it something that will do damage and is it safe to go poking about if there is more of them

Awesome animals. I went to a reptile show and someone had a giant centipede, it looked a foot long. The asking price was 1k. I've got a
picture of it, but no context.

Haha sorry Chuck, I misread your post. When you said you were unaware of a single dark MST, I misread that as “aware.” My bad.

eurytides wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 9:47 pm

I am not aware of any melanic MST. Chuck, would you care to elaborate?

I have zero knowledge of a melanic MST. Never seen one, never read of one, never saw one in an institutional collection, never stumbled across a photo of one.

Actually the Great Plains tiger beetle (Amblycheila cylindriformis) is not the biggest tiger beetle in N. America. A. hoversoni, native to south TX, is slightly bigger and is the largest tiger beetle in the Western Hemisphere. As the saying goes, "Everything is bigger in Texas". Here's one I spotted scurrying along a dirt road while driving slowly with the bright lights on:

I find these sort of video's at best --- amusing.
The hosts of said video's almost always delve into
some sort of "sensationalism" to reach the audience.
Science and a real knowledge about the subject along
with a "sensible" educated delivery equally does well.

The host of this video says its all of those rear legs
which (somehow) inject venom. Never heard or read
of that ! Do tell, what are those obvious fangs at the
head used for ? He NEVER pointed those out....

And to top it all off he calls it (early on in the video) a bug !!
Just another video-guy with no REAL educated knowledge of
his subject.

These creatures along with other assorted would-be video
"nasties" like tarantulas, scorpions, pepsis wasps etc. are
reasonably benign unless they are (outright) provoked or
are placed in a situation of confinment --- such as a travelers
shoes or sleeping bag.

Some of these creatures do reach impressive dimensions. In
exotic locals this is common knowledge. I'd say this Red-headed
centipede is likely the largest of any Scolopendra (stateside)
however, this species is easily dwarfed in numerous countries
around the world.

Centipedes can AND do run (upwards) of 12 -13 inches in length
with a 1 inch+ width in countries of S.E.Asia, the Andamen Islands,
a few South/Central American countries and even parts of the
Caribbean.

Below, is a specimen which I personally captured in the desert
region (Pedernales province) of the Dominican Republic 1990.
It was crossing a desert road (early morning) on its way back
to a nearby cave at a hillside.



It was ambling along (just like the one in the video) --- rather
nonchalant until I tried placing my net in front of it. That's
when things "ramped-up" and a bit of coaxing with a stick and
net at the ready --- secured it !

I was later told by a hotel worker where I was staying that he
had seen one EVEN larger (once) when he was a boy....

I do appreciate the video's here but, I think the subjects of these
video's are sensational enough without the added element of
sensationalist "danger" and irrational human behavior added.

Yet another "The Wild Files" short video on an uncommon topic:



Check out this "Wild Files" channel for more interesting/entertaining & sometimes funny videos...

https://www.youtube.com/@thewildfilesofficial

John K.

Yet another short, educational video from "The Wild Files":



John K.

Another interesting short video from "The Wild Files"... is everything really bigger in Texas?



John K.

In Butterflies of Canada, they mention the rare all black female canadensis found in NFLD. They reference Morris but I have never read the original source of this info, nor have I ever seen pictures of this. This sounds more like an occasional mutant than a distinct colour form that you can consistently encounter.

I am not aware of any melanic MST. Chuck, would you care to elaborate?

Chuck wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 12:12 pm
That yellow female is distinctive with the deeply scalloped black on the HW between blue and yellow. I have nothing that comes close to that.

Hey, check this out! I did a look on iNat from Houston toward the east, and there's a whole bunch of yellow females that have the scalloping on the black. Here https://www.inaturalist.org/observation ... n_id=60551

An Interesting short video on what is supposedly (can anyone else confirm?) the largest Robber Fly in America:



John K.

boghaunter1 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 5:10 pm Chuck says "Notably, both appalachiensis and canadensis have a rare dark female form". I would love to see a photo, more info, etc. on a dark fm female canadensis... that would be a real rarity IMHO.

John K.

Perhaps @paulk or @eurtyides will chime in as they'd be more familiar. IIRC one was captured on Point Peninsula. I've heard reports of others, and I believe it's not just anecdotal, I remember reading about it.

Given that many animals have rare (or not) melanic aberrations, I wonder what the difference would be between an aberrant melanic Tiger and a "regular" dark female.

Chuck says "Notably, both appalachiensis and canadensis have a rare dark female form". I would love to see a photo, more info, etc. on a dark fm female canadensis... that would be a real rarity IMHO.

John K.

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

58chevy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 20, 2023 10:19 pm Here are a couple of female glaucus from the TX gulf coast. They are both very large. I assume they are not maynardi because they are not from Florida, but they closely resemble my maynardi specimens in size and appearance. I too would like to see a genetic comparison between glaucus & maynardi.

That yellow female is distinctive with the deeply scalloped black on the HW between blue and yellow. I have nothing that comes close to that.

On another note, in maynardi the blue in the cells is separated by black veins, while glaucus the blue tends to flow more contiguously over the veins; from that perspective these appear to be nominate glaucus.