What sort of beetle

[Deimos]

Should have taken my camera out and should not be turning this into an “identify my animal” section. However, today I say the largest beetle I’ve ever seen (apart from a massive assassin bug thing in a Costa Rican rainforest).

It must have been between 1.5 and 2 inches long and an inch wide. It was walking through the grass. From above it looked fairly flat. It was black, smooth black with no metallic sheen. Could not see any mandibles but did not want to disturb it (which I probably did as it walked into a deep rut and then seemed to hide there and I could not see it and did not want to “poke it out”).

Had a look on Chris’s site and certainly not a Lesser stag beetle (abdomen larger in proportion to thorax. In fact abdomen was the bulk of the body, thorax appeared quite small. Not dissimilar to the female stag beetle picky there but unsure about size (particularly as female is “smaller” and this was large).

Any thoughts ?

(left the blow torch indoors )

Regards

Ian

[chris pp]

Ian,  Not the best photo in the world but it's the best I could find that probably more or less represents the view you would have had. Colouration can vary quite a lot from maroon to black and as far as I know it's the only beetle in France that's anything like the same size as a Stag beetle, up to 4 cm. The male when seen side on has a curved horn on the top front of its head, the female which is similar in size only has a small tubercle, no horn. Not surprisingly it's called a Rhinoceros beetle Oryctes nasicornis.

I can't imagine that it could be anything else and they are around at this time of year, usually quite near to trees or wooded areas.

Chris.

 

[Deimos]

From looking at the pictures (and Googling stag and rino beetles I don’t think it was either. I don’t remember any mandibles and the thorax was minimal (or covered by wing cases). I suppose it was more like a black coloured large cockroach without antennae (large wing cases). If it was 4 cm long (I reckon longer having looked at a ruler but if you think something is big it always gets bigger later) must have been 2cm wide and oval shaped from above.

Apologies for my useless descriptions.

Ian

[chris pp]

Could it have been an aquatic beetle?

Try looking at Hydrophilus piceus.

Chris.

[Deimos]

Brilliant.  That looks like it.  I spent some time today looking through pictures of beetles but ignored all the “water beetle” links (as it was on land).  It was well onto dry land (do they do that) – must have been at least 30m from the nearest stream, walking through “lawn” (though not what most would call a lawn).

 

From Googling Hydrophilus piceus, there are actually quite a few French documents found.  I saw that it is quite rare in the UK but unable to establish how common/rare it is in France.  Species under threat or doing well.

 

Also reassuring it will not be eating my house for breakfast.

 

Many thanks

Ian