Beetle ID please

[NiGHTS]

I found this beetle the other night, sitting on my deck. The deck is elevated about 12 feet from the ground, so I'm not sure if he flew up, or just climbed up the side of the house. I live in Northern California (near Santa Cruz), so I'm assuming its a native species. Anyway, I've been keeping him in a cage and he apparently likes to burrow into the substrate. He is actually more brownish in color than what he looks like in the photographs. Anyone have any idea what type of beetle this is?

 

[Dark Raptor]

Family: Cerambycidae.
Subfamily: Prioninae.

I don't know american species but it is very similar to our european Prionus coriarius.

 

[NiGHTS]

Forgot to mention...this guy makes an awesome sound when disturbed. It sort of sounds like a squeaky, grating metal sound. Plus, its louder than the sound my hissing roaches make :clap:

 

[Dark Raptor]

Forgot to mention...this guy makes an awesome sound when disturbed. It sort of sounds like a squeaky, grating metal sound. Plus, its louder than the sound my hissing roaches make :clap:

This is very common thing among Cerambycidae beetles. They can stridulate using their head and pronotum (they've got special 'rasp' stuctures on them).

 

[Empi]

Very cool looking beetle. And big too!

 

[Galapoheros]

Yea, Prionus spp. .....a "Giant Root borer". There is one in Tx. that is pretty big. Larvae look pretty weird to me. Remind me of a parasitic worm.

 

[Dark Raptor]

Yea, Prionus spp. .....a "Giant Root borer". There is one in Tx. that is pretty big. Larvae look pretty weird to me. Remind me of a parasitic worm.

I believe this is P. coriarius larvae. Captured in old rottened stump.

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

 

[Malkavian]

We get those or a similar species over in NC, I saw a small one recently. Last year around the fall a huge one came tapping on my window until I went and caught it