longhorn beetle! while they look like they were born from hell's pyres, their bites aren't bad at all; it can break the skin, like a crab pinching you, but just put a bandaid on it and you'll be fine if bitten
IMPORTANT EDIT: while largely harmless to humans, many longhorn beetle species are invasive in much of the US; the asian longhorn beetle can kill trees and produce falling branch hazards in forested or rural areas (information courtesy of u/BantedHam, corroborated by the USDA)
In Illinois we got a smaller version of the longhorn beetle.
One night, I was asleep and was shocked awake by the jolt of pain. As I thrashed out of sleep I heard buzzing and wings hitting my wall. I have a weird fear of wasps and the house I lived in at the time would get swarmed by those, so I figured it was one of those assholes and mustered up the courage to get out of bed and get to swinging once the light was on.
I turned the light on, and it was a Longhorn beetle on my wall. I felt a lot of relief. And then I smashed it so hard with a shoe it left a stain on the wall.
I had a German shepherd at the time too and he was looking around to see what got me all worked up at 2am lol.
2.1k
u/overdramaticpan 8h ago edited 4h ago
longhorn beetle! while they look like they were born from hell's pyres, their bites aren't bad at all; it can break the skin, like a crab pinching you, but just put a bandaid on it and you'll be fine if bitten
IMPORTANT EDIT: while largely harmless to humans, many longhorn beetle species are invasive in much of the US; the asian longhorn beetle can kill trees and produce falling branch hazards in forested or rural areas (information courtesy of u/BantedHam, corroborated by the USDA)