Hercules

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#1 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:01 pm

Check it out, I found Hercules hanging out in my backyard today. Well, okay, a Hercules Beetle. I still thought it was cool looking enough to snap a photo of and post on the internet.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1104032/joe.jpg

According to a site I found, these things only eat wood and live in the trees which explains why when in my driveway, he kept flipping back onto his back when I tried repositioning him. I'll probably find a good tree for him tomorow and until then he's crawling around in a box on my desk.

bigtiger · #2 Post by **bigtiger** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:05 pm

First time heard of a beetle that feeds on wood.

here is the picture for those lazy as me.

img]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1104032/joe.jpg[/img]

Note from Moderator: And here's a broken link for those too lazy to adhere to the Rules of the Road about images with no warning and that are larger than the Rules allow.

#3 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:27 pm

I just reread some facts and it's actually the larvae that feed on rotten wood. The adults rarely feed but will eat leaves is what I just read.

http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg144.html

these bugs are also the largest beetles in the United States.

bigtiger · #4 Post by **bigtiger** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:32 pm

2.5 inch...That is huge. I hope they are not poisonous and do not bite. I am kind of bug-phobia.

#5 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:35 pm

They are harmless and not even considered a pest. In fact, they can actually be helpful in areas since the larvae help to break down wood.

I'm usually not too fond of bugs myself and nearly flip my lid anytime I see a cockroach or June Bug but this beetle was just way too cool to avoid.

christopher_wolf · #6 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:51 am

*Awesome* bug you got there, Alex.

Ever go out at night in the foothill/mountains, costal forest, or desert areas with a blacklight and light up scorpions? They have a neat modified chitin exoskeleton that will phosphoresce under a blacklight/UV lamp or the moon if it is full and out in force with little cloud cover

I wish I could go on a trip one of these weekends and catch a shot of that, but my Nikon is, sadly, out of commission. So I have to wait until I get a new camera and then go for them again. I am not going to try this with my RAZR's camera, if I am getting that close to a, preferably large, adult scorpion, I want to have a camera that will take hi-res shots in an *instant* the first time.

They don't move very fast, they just kind of stroll along; not generally in a rush to get anywhere or worried about anything in particular. Why would they be?

What would be *really* great is if I could manage to coat my Thinkpads in the same type of chitin that Scorpions have. Even better, if I could actually *grow* the Chitin, via some mutant fungi (fungi have quite a large portion of their cell walls composed out of chitin) that produces a lot of chitin, on the Thinkpad itself (given a proper food substrate for the fungus of course). Now that would be cool as well as highly functional and a form of regenerative protection; not to mention the glow-in-the-dark-or-UV/Blacklight factor.

Or maybe just get an industrial batch and put it on; Chitin has some pretty awesome properties as well as being a great exoskeletal/cell wall material; See

http://www.greatvistachemicals.com/bioc ... hitin.html

and

http://www.chinavista.com/business/blue ... itinen.htm

#7 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:24 am

Can't say I've ever actually been looking for scorpions per say. Regardless of whether or not those things are lethal in these prts, I really prefer to avoid them. Yellow jackets can be fun to play with though. Once you learn how to handle a yellow jacket (which is quite easy, you just have to be calm around them) you can really scare the tar out of your friends. Those click beetles with the distinct eyespots on them are also cool but there aren't too many in these spots and last time I saw one was on a trip over in Louisiana.

As far as chitin goes and getting it on your ThinkPad, you could be the only one on town who can honestly chant about having a ThinkPad made from the same stuff as cockroaches. NOBODY (except freaks) will want to even lay a figer on your laptop then which would be great security.

Well, anyways, I've moved Joe the Eastern Hercules Beetle out to a potted plant on my back deck since his box was stinking up my deskspace. He did provide at least an hour of viewing entertainment for me and my cat though. I'm expecting him to be where I left him since he has a habbit of knocking himself upside down. This thing obivously never spent any real time on flat ground and probably had fallen out of a tree when I found him upside down in my driveway.

christopher_wolf · #8 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:41 am

AlphaKilo470 wrote: As far as chitin goes and getting it on your ThinkPad, you could be the only one on town who can honestly chant about having a ThinkPad made from the same stuff as cockroaches. NOBODY (except freaks) will want to even lay a figer on your laptop then which would be great security.

Excepting, of course, a burn victim or somebody who has a cut. Think of it, you could help heal a cut on the lower palms of your hands by just typing on the keyboard putting your hands on the palmrest (papercut, anybody?). Also have far more durable, water buffering, scratch resistant, effective particulate filter (much like what the nose does), and extremely durable (not to mention inexpensive) material that can be grown and replaced in a short period of time with commonly available resources.

#9 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:46 am

you guys are all nuts..

#10 Post by **GomJabbar** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:17 am

bigtiger wrote:First time heard of a beetle that feeds on wood.

I am surprised. Wood-eating beetles are a significant problem where I am from. Mountain Pine Beetle

D.A. Leatherman, Colorado State Forest Service entomologist. wrote:Mountain pine beetles (MPB) are the most important insect pest of Colorado's pine forests. MPB often kill large numbers of trees annually during outbreaks.
------------------------------
Mountain pine beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae, is native to the forests of western North America. Periodic outbreaks of the insect, previously called the Black Hills beetle or Rocky Mountain pine beetle, can result in losses of millions of trees.

JHEM · #11 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:31 am

GomJabbar wrote:
bigtiger wrote:First time heard of a beetle that feeds on wood.
I am surprised.

Consider the source!

James

NS · #12 Post by NS » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:55 am

BillMorrow wrote:you guys are all nuts..

They are just another bunch of insect lover...

bigtiger · #13 Post by **bigtiger** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:57 am

christopher_wolf wrote:What would be *really* great is if I could manage to coat my Thinkpads in the same type of chitin that Scorpions have. Even better, if I could actually *grow* the Chitin, via some mutant fungi (fungi have quite a large portion of their cell walls composed out of chitin) that produces a lot of chitin, on the Thinkpad itself (given a proper food substrate for the fungus of course). Now that would be cool as well as highly functional and a form of regenerative protection; not to mention the glow-in-the-dark-or-UV/Blacklight factor.

What a brilliant idea! I like this. Do not let IBM know this, secretly patentize this idea asap.

About the tricks to play with a yellow jacket? what is that? I am a strong Yellow Jacket-Phobia and snake-phobia. If I can play with Yellow Jacket, my life would be much better.

Hercules

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