You never know what you will find on evening walks. This giant beetle, almost 2″, was seen along Jessup Grove Road near Proelific Park. It looks like a female Hercules beetle, given the shape and size.  See #35 on these pictures of the 151 beetles of North Carolina.  The females look very different from the males  (see here). Hercules beetles can be green, gray, or tan. They feed on and live in rotting wood. So, if you want to create a habitat for beetles, don’t clean all of the sticks and downed trees out of your yard.

There are about 400,000 species of beetles and they were around to pollinate even before bees; which is why they are the pollinators for magnolia trees. Why don’t you hold on to the above list of beetles of North Carolina and see just how many different beetles you locally this summer.

As for the above photo, that giant beetle sure looks imposing on the side of the road.  We confess the above was just the outer shell of the beetle. Perhaps she had moulted. During the walk, a 7 year old boy was in his yard with his mom and we gave it to him. It was a hit, because, he immediately ran to show it to his friend next door. Ahhhhh, making memories in summer.

Regarding the title question, we’ll never know why the beetle was trying to cross the road!