Friday, July 3, 2020

The Female of the Species is More Chunky than the Male

A couple of nights ago, I was working in a building without glass panes in its doors, and I left the main door ajar so I could keep one eye on things outside. This was a bit of a mistake, as several insects, attracted by the light, decided to enter the building to flit about. Among the flitters was a clumsy flier, a beetle as long as my pinky finger. This sucker would actually clatter as it hit an occasional wall. I got a decent picture of it when it finally landed:




As far as finger-length, reddish brown beetles in New York State go, there are two candidates, and I was immediately able to rule out one of them. The remaining bigass beetle local to the area is the Broad-Necked Root Borer (Prionus laticollis). The female Broad-Necked Root Borers are too chunky to fly, being about twice as massive as the males. Also, the lack of the prominent yellow ovipositor is a dead giveaway that this clunky flier was a boy.

I ended up turning off the lights in the building when I went on my tour of the facilities, which led to my insect companions, both competent fliers and this guy, to leave for the brighter environs of the streetlights, about one hundred meters away.

Post title inspired by this gloriously demented pop ditty.

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