We need help in identifying this beetle, the biggest we have EVER seen:
(Please click image for a bigger, better view.)
Well, it's been quite an afternoon for nature study! This bug was spotted just minutes after the toad sighting we described earlier today. There we were, back at the windows, finishing our lunch and watching the birds and squirrels beneath the spruce tree, when Bookworm exclaimed: "Hey what's that big beetle out there?"
Now, my first thought was: How on earth can he see a beetle from way up here? My second thought was - upon spying said enormous beetle, from which, mind you, the squirrels and chipmunks fled: What on earth is that bug and should I grab the camera or call animal control?
No, no, I'm kidding. Really. I did in fact grab my camera and, as the specimen was trucking though the bark mulch, I started snapping pictures. It was hard to focus in on a moving target so finally I got him onto a piece of paper and barricaded him in with a few bricks (humanely of course; I never touched him). I placed a quarter next to him for size comparison, because let me tell you - he was BIG. Never seen a bug so big - other than a butterfly or moth.
So, any ideas on what we have here? We spent a bunch of time poring through field guides and came up with some kind of long-horned beetle - a prionus like this one seems to match, but we can't make a firm i.d. Any advice would be great!
Oh, and just so you know, we let him loose after his photo shoot, and, just like the toad did earlier today, he ran straight under the family room addition. Heaven only knows which species would be the worse for wear at that meeting!
