Grub ID

[xhexdx]

If anyone has any ideas on this grub, I'd love to hear them. Very interested in knowing what it is.

Thankies.

 

[BeetleExperienc]

Hard to tell 100% from photos, but looks like a Strategus. What was it living in?

 

[xhexdx]

Hard to tell 100% from photos, but looks like a Strategus. What was it living in?

Dirt.

Found in Brooksville, FL.

I had these pics in another thread, but the thread was initially about E. floridana so I thought I'd put them here.

This is from that thread - thought I'd include it here:

The grub looks similar to Dynastes tityus, but something seems off. At that size there are only a few other options in your area, to my limited knowledge.

 

[BeetleExperienc]

I think you might be too far south for it to be D. tityus. My guess would be Strategus antaeus. It also looks like it might have a red head capsule - which would also point to Strategus. I found these a lot in central FL when either someone was digging up a lot of soil (like, before laying down sod) or by flipping over things that had been laying on the ground for a while (logs, flower pots, paving stones).

Check this:http://bugguide.net/node/view/367614


Steven

 

[xhexdx]

I think you might be too far south for it to be D. tityus. My guess would be Strategus antaeus. It also looks like it might have a red head capsule - which would also point to Strategus. I found these a lot in central FL when either someone was digging up a lot of soil (like, before laying down sod) or by flipping over things that had been laying on the ground for a while (logs, flower pots, paving stones).

Check this:http://bugguide.net/node/view/367614


Steven

Hey Steven,

Thanks a ton for the info. Comparing the two grubs, I still think mine looks more like Dynastes than Strategus. The head capsule, as you said, looks red. That picture looks like red = Dynastes and orange = Strategus.

We have a lot of these guys around that area:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/26940

But I can't find any pics of grubs, and I doubt they're as large as this one is.

I'll keep looking around. Thanks again for your help. Any other opinions/info is welcomed.

Also gonna try to go back there and dig around some more, see what else I can find.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Thanks for the comparison shot, Beetle. Is it just the angle, or is the clypeus/labrum area more pronounced on Strategus?

 

[xhexdx]

I did a little more looking around for pics of Strategus antaeus, and yeah, we have those here too. Not as common, but I've never seen a Dynastes, so I suppose the possibility is certainly there that it could be Strategus.

Hopefully it'll pupate and we'll know for sure.

 

[bugmankeith]

I just made a thread about a grub like this found in NY many years ago, and this is the closest I can see that looks like the grub I saw (I have no pictures only by memory) Mine was in the stump of a dying tree that was cut down but the grubs died before pupating. Again, it's very large no idea what beetle in NY is that big?