Why is this beetle ignored?

[Lori]

I was a war baby, bought up in Sth London in a slum area, all brick tenaments, bomb sites and
overcrowded terraced houses, many not even having a yard let alone anything resembling a garden.




Nevertheless, I was an avid nature lover and took a keen interest in anything live. I've lived in

Australia for 25 years and am happy to say I now have an abundunce of insect and animal life around

me. I don't allow poisons or pesticides on our ten acres and thankfully our nearest neighbours are

also very aware of the importance of food chains and the environment.




For years I've looked on the internet trying to identify this particular beetle and today I'm giving it one more try via this forum will someone please indulge an old woman with a mission.




The creature I've tried to locate I first saw slowly ambling along beside a wall in

Peabody Buildings, London, SE1. It was a striking creature, very large, black and boxy and nothing like any

beetle I've seen in my searches on the net. I was probably about 5 years old at the time and managed to

persuade my busy mother to come look at it. She said it was a Devils Coach Beetle and she hadn't

seen one for years. I always kept an eye out for one again but this never

happened until I was at senior school. I saw a group of children around one and didn't get home

until late as I was so worried that they might destroy it if I left before they did. The next

encounter was in the High Street at Catford when I was in my early twenties. It was laboriously

making its way along the wall side of the pavement. I picked it up and put it into a front garden of

a derelict house. Each time I've seen the beetle it has been high summer.




I quite understand how it got the name my mother knew it by, it really did resemble an old

fashioned box coach. For such a large beetle, I'm amazed that despite my asking dozens of people

the UK if they had seen one, no one has. They all think I'm referring to The Devils Coachhorse

Beetle which I have looked up on the web and it is nothing like it.



I'd so much like to know what it is exactly and more importantly, that it is doing well. Certainly, it

seemed to have managed to survive in the most urban area. I think my husband and children are beginning to

think I imagined such a magnificent creature. If you can help, I'd be very grateful.

Lori

[Wild-Woman]

Just an idea-could you sketch it out for us and take a shot to load up on the archives?
If you're able to do this, collectively we may be able to point you towards a positive identification.
Hope this helps.

Just to add..can you give us some dimensions.

[Paul mabbott]

One large beetle which used to be fairly common in residences is
Blaps mucronata, the cellar beetle however, I've never heard of it out in the open.

Other big beetles would be the greater and lesser stags (only the male of the former has big jaws) and large ground beetles - in an urban area I think you'd only be talking Pterostichus spp.

[Lori]

Here goes the second attempt to post.

Thank you for the replies but unfortunately my beetle isn't any suggested.

I have no idea how to post a drawing but I can tell you that he was approx 2 inches in height and a little more in length. He was a charcoal black. Slow moving due to his boxy body. I wonder if he is classified as a beetle as the box body had no indication of an abdomen.

Please ask any colleagues you feel might be interested or can direct me where to search in hopes of finding out more.

Thank you again for the posts.

Lori

[serendipity]

Things always seem bigger than they were when you look back. Take cream eggs and wham bars for example!

[Bub-les]

Originally Posted by serendipity

Things always seem bigger than they were when you look back. Take cream eggs and wham bars for example!

and wagon wheels!

[Pudding4brains]

From the description my first guess would have been Blaps too. Oh well ... what about
- should fit the 'rather boxy' and 'high' bill??

On second thought - what about a Cockchafer

- boxy, I'd say

[Rob65]

My guess is Coleoptera Staphylinidae - Ocypus olens

Regards,
Rob

[naturegirl]

Hi, could it possibly be a Diving beetle?

Naturegirl

[Lori]

I've spent the morning searching through some old exercise books I kept notes in years ago as I knew I'd written something about the beetle there.

I found a brief note to ask Mum if she could remember if she'd seen the beetle more than once in her childhood. I notice I'd written it as the devils 'stage coach' beetle and indeed he resembled a rather square stage coach. Mum is 91 soon and I'm sending an email to my sister to quiz her on it.

I then trawled through any site offering a picture of a stagecoach but realize that in the UK you only have to receive a few Dickensian style Christmas cards to know what that looks like, you don't need me to explain.

The beetles you suggest as possibles do not resemble the beetle in any way. I totally understand your scepticism as to size, I can only assure you that I'm not given to exaggeration. It may be over forty years ago since I saw him last but I was over 21 then and a married woman. I didn't factor in the head or antenna when giving the length nor the legs when giving the height, none of which were pronounced. Its very the size and shape that has me stumped as to why it hasn't appeared in any insect doco's on the weird and wonderful. I thought when I first went online I'd have the mystery solved in minutes merely by looking under 'largest native beetle'.

You must try to remember what my home area was like immediately after the war. There were no parks near Roupell Street, SE1. Any small public garden areas were adorned with a few ugly shrubs and tiny patches of grass with their 'DO NOT WALK ON THE GRASS SIGNS' The nearest trees to us were those in Paris Gardens and the entire area beneath was asphalted. There were practically no private gardens, small yards were the norm and for those of on living Peabody or Guinness Trust Estates not even that. Bombsites were everywhere and mostly unlevelled, and used as rubbish tips by those from homes still standing and were barely able to support even a few weeds. There was no water anywhere near other than bomb sites which had been surrounded by a brick wall and used as emergency tanks for fire fighting. These were also used as rubbish tips and didn't support any life.

Our wildlife consisted of occasional brown haired moth caterpillars appearing on weeds in summer as did the odd ladybird. Other than these, it was pigeons, sparrows, rats, mice and feral cats and house flies.

My greatest fear is that due to the beetles rather diabolical look and slow progression the last of his breed has been wiped out by morons unable to appreciate him. At the second sighting I knew the kids would have killed him, thats why I stayed around until he was safe and the man who stopped to look at him in the street on the third sighting thought him horrific may have have done the same.

I'm going to post in the Se1 site in hopes of a recent sighting, at the worst way there must be someone living who has also met with this character and can therefore verify that I'm neither exaggerating nor completely gaga. I would ask you to remember that I have no agenda other than curiosity and concern. I'm not trying to have some imagined creature named after me. Australia has thousands of insects and spiders not yet classified, my property has some prestine areas which would likely turn up something new and of interest should I feel inclined to investigate.

Please keep an open mind regarding my large box beetle. If you have elderly relatives, especially if they lived in London would you ask them if they ever saw such a creature. Once seen, never forgotten.

Lori