2018 October 23

 

   A lttle late for an “Alert” – but interesting enough to post anyway.  Victoria West photographed this huge beetle on Mount Douglas on August 29, 2018 at 9:44 pm.  She writes:  I was using my cell phone flashlight to navigate the pathway from the upper parking lot to the lookout platform when I saw this along the pathway. I believe it is a female, both because of its size and it appeared to be laying eggs with an ovipositor when I first saw it but it pulled it back in when the light was focussed on it.

   Thanks to Scott Gilmore for confirming its identification as a female Prionus californicus.  Scott writes:  Females tend to have antennae about half the length of the body while males are 2/3 body length. 

 

Prionus californicus (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Victoria West