What the hell is this thing

Pudsey Bear

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I was locking up the house last night and this thing scooted across the kitchen floor, I squirted a kitchen spray at it to slow it down.

I was about an inch and a quarter long, we've never seen one before, and am wondering how it got into the house as it's been closed up for weeks.

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I think it was the Devils coach horse.


 
Pity you harmed it with your kitchen spray, Kev. ☹️

Devil's Coach Horses are voracious predators of garden pests, such as slugs, weevil larvae, etc. 👍

They do bite when frightened though. 😳
 
Yes I just wanted to stop it going under the kitchen units.
 
I haven’t seen one of these for ages, so first there was this post and then I nearly trod on one walking the dogs this morning
unlike wagon wheels these are still as big as I remember as a child!
 
Nasty bite too it seems.
 
We recently found some in Portugal. First time in 20 plus years.
Evil looking bu99ers.
They're not keen on a size 8½ shoe.
 
No right at all, must be nice to never have killed anything though, but doubtful.
 
No right at all, must be nice to never have killed anything though, but doubtful.
It's not about never killing anything, more not killing anything unnecessarily. Stepping on a bug just because you don't like the look of it. Shooting a deer because you want a head on your wall. Killing wasps just because they can sting, but leaving bees even though they can too. We all inadvertently kill things when we drive or walk/run. But to kill something because it doesn't suit? Not really a nice thing to do.
 
No matter what I say you have made your mind up so I'll say no more except judging people is easy to do based on very little and is usually wrong.
 
Who is judging? It is my opinion that we should not kill something on a whim! That beetle is harmless. It is not about making up my mind, it is about doing the right thing.
 
I'm biased because I am fascinated by insects. I became hooked around 1974 when I was out walking in Surrey and first set eyes on a solitary strange looking thing hanging suspended from a slender branch just above my head. It had a beak and what looked like a sting in its tail. I thought I had discovered something quite new and dangerous, but I was wrong.

Image from YouTube:maxresdefault.jpg

It's really quite common, the beak cannot bite, and the tail cannot sting. It's a Scorpion Fly and the "sting" shows that it's a male and used as a clasper during mating. How could anyone not love it?
 
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