What is this insect??

quinnerz86

My Pre-School class and I came across this insect when bug hunting. Finding it really hard to source its name! It's about an inch long and bends up it's tail when you move it. Kinda scary....

Ziphius

Rove beetle of some kind.

Perhaps a Devil's coach horse: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_coach_horse_beetle

Mickeroo

Yeah pretty sure that's a devils coach horse beetle.

quinnerz86

Thank you, that's definitely it!! I wonder if they are common in Ireland, I've never seen one before

Mickeroo

quinnerz86 wrote: »

Thank you, that's definitely it!! I wonder if they are common in Ireland, I've never seen one before

Very common as far as I know. I've seen them a lot, think they tend to come into houses when the weather gets colder. I woke up to find one crawling across my bedroom more than once.

dodderangler

I came across something like that in a small stream. But was around 3 inches long. Huge jaws on it.

kylith

dodderangler wrote: »

I came across something like that in a small stream. But was around 3 inches long. Huge jaws on it.

Likely to have been a dragonfly larva if it was in a stream