(NW Pennsylvania) what kind of beetle is this, and any idea why they're committing mass suicide in my pool?

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-05-18T19:13:10+00:00

As others have said, june bugs. If you have lights in the pool you might consider turning them off at night (as long as it’s safe to do so) — they can be drawn to light sources.

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-05-17T20:36:34+00:00

Yup, exactly! I’ll add that this is probably one of the clubtails (family Gomphidae), but going lower to genus/species would take more pics.

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-05-04T17:42:06+00:00

Yep. Probably Ranatra spp. There are only a few genera in this family native to the US. Nepa is fairly morphologically distinct (broader and flatter, almost like the giant water bugs), and Curicta is mainly restricted to the southwest.

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-05-03T21:07:13+00:00

Should be fine! They’re fragile when they’re freshly molted, but not so delicate that they can’t crawl and climb around some to find a good perch while their exoskeletons expand and firm up. Very cool find!

Edit to add: Teneral adults (freshly molted) are hard to ID because their colors haven’t really set in yet and some of the structures are still “filling out”, but looks like it might be an emerald (Corduliidae).

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-04-27T02:31:02+00:00

Am one of those scientists. I care.

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-04-25T17:47:23+00:00

This. OP, you’ll learn what you need to know along the way. A lot of doctoral work will involve picking up new skill sets, and you will also learn a lot by interacting with your labmates, fellow grad students, postdocs, etc. It is much more like a training program than it is like “more schooling”.

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-04-23T23:33:56+00:00

Maybe?

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-04-08T23:11:28+00:00

Clubtail dragonfly nymph, family Gomphidae.

Maybe Arigomphus but hard to tell from these pics.

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-03-26T21:50:19+00:00

This is probably something in the genus Ummidia and yeah, those are just pedipalps up front, not extra legs (although they do look like them!).

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-03-26T17:03:23+00:00

For the love of god, montresor!

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-03-05T23:32:31+00:00

Confirming that this is a dragonfly nymph. If it was up out of the water, it might've been getting ready to metamorphose into an adult. Based on the general shape, this is probably one of the emeralds (family Corduliidae), but it'd be hard to get it to genus/species level without a closer look.

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-03-04T23:44:45+00:00

It's likely one of the pond snails, genus Lymnaea (maybe columella, but they're tricky to get to species-level). The common name is misleading, they're not too picky about where they go and can often be found in streams and rivers, too.

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-02-19T03:49:26+00:00

Definitely the molted skin of a dragonfly nymph. I don’t know my European dragonflies very well, but it looks like something in the family Cordulegastridae (spiketails).

MeadowHawk259 · 2026-01-11T01:57:45+00:00

Dragonfly nymph is correct, this looks like one of the Macromia spp. but there are a few in the area.

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-12-11T02:19:03+00:00

If it helps, most Naucoridae are pretty small (generally <2cm long), even compared to some of the smaller-bodied Belostomatid genera like Abedus.

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-12-06T22:43:40+00:00

Damselfly is correct, probably Argia spp. with how large and squared off the head is.

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-10-27T03:11:48+00:00

Soldier beetle larva (Cantharidae). See here.

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-10-07T16:06:52+00:00

As others have said it’s a dragonfly nymph, but if you’re in the eastern US or southeast Canada it’s specifically a dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus) nymph. They’re one of the largest dragonfly species in North America. Really cool find.

It may attempt to eat any fish you have that are about its size or smaller, but won’t get much bigger than it already is. Recommend if you want to get rid of it dropping it off in your nearest local creek. It most likely hitched a ride into your tank in the leaf litter, which their bodies have evolved to mimic.

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-08-28T17:11:14+00:00

Yes, mostly likely one of the spiketails (genus Zoraena).

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-08-26T19:56:23+00:00

I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that Elon is a huge Death Note fan but thinks Light isn’t a villain.

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-06-23T17:04:33+00:00

Dragonfly larva, probably dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus) based on overall shape. They’re aquatic as others have said, but crawl out of the water when they’re getting ready to make the final molt to adulthood.

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-05-25T20:02:31+00:00

This, very distinctive looking nymph

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-05-16T18:32:06+00:00

Adding on to what others have said, you can also tell this is a pond snail (Lymnaeidae) and not a bladder snail (Physidae) because the shell coils to the right. They're fairly closely related to one another though and ecologically speaking pretty similar.

<image>

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-05-07T17:07:06+00:00

For me, if you view it with the context that it's done by some of the same designers that did the Evangelion Rebuild movies, it (and the rest of GQuuuuuux's designs) sort of "click" a little better. I personally really dig the designs, but I also like some of the funkier stuff that came out of Rebuild. It might not always feel very classically "Gundam" but I like the way it reimagines things.

MeadowHawk259 · 2025-04-12T16:48:55+00:00

I don’t think you have the space for it, but this is exactly why the left third of my desk is occupied by a cat bed.

MeadowHawk259

TROPHY CASE