Help ID a big, black antlike insect? (Long)

I collected a critter from the outside of my bathroom window's screen. I don't have a digital camera and it's hard to scan a living insect, so words will have to suffice. Seems to be a gigantic black ant, but it's HUGE. It's so big it's creeping me out - but I'm fascinated! :o) It's not a carpenter ant - I looked them up first, thank goodness.

If you can give me some ideas of what this could be based on my description below, I'll look up pictures and see if they match. When I find it, I'll post the picture in the photos forum!

I'll try to use the correct words so you more knowledgeable folks will know what I'm talking about! I used an online entemology tutorial as reference regarding parts:
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu:8050/course/ent425/tutorial/index.html

Size: 3/4" long

Color: all black

Body: 3 parts - head, thorax, abdomen. Abdomen is very large (~1/2"), and is covered in plates of decreasing size ending in a blunt tip. It has no stinger.

Head: Blunt, chewing mouthparts. Has either maxillae or labium (can't see which).

Antennae: Black. Not elbowed quite like an ant's, but more threadlike like a beetle. A little over 1/4" long and segmented with a gentle bend. ~7 segments from head to bend, ~5 segments from bend to tip.

Legs: Black. 6, with 2 sets attached to abdomen and 1 set attached to the thorax. Tarsus portion of legs have little barbs on them and end in two-tipped "feet".

Wings: Appears to have small wings beneath protective outer ones. About 1/2 the length of the abdomen.

I've looked at pictures of various beetles and this doesn't look like them. It looks like a giant ant, but I can't find an ant that looks exactly like it, either! I'm in central Ohio. This is driving me nuts! Aaaaaaargh!

Do you have an State Agriculture agent? I am lucky enough to live by the U of WI and was able to take a speciman in for an id. Most states have ag agents-do not know if they want it alive of dead. I sure would want to know what that is with that chewing mouth.

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gw, I spent some time this AM trying to find a site that might help you. I found a few that had descriptions and a few photos, but not many. Here are some of the better ones that I found:

link
link

Hope you find these useful.
Heidi

This message was edited Thursday, Apr 12th 1:39 PM

Thanks for the replies. I still don't see this fella, but I'm still looking through the pictures on the two websites given by Heidi. And,yep, our county extension agent is right in my town. I volunteer on the gardening hotline there, so I'll bring this critter in with me next time I work. I learn so much from those guys - they're great to have right in town!

I do hope you get this critter identified (sure sounds like a carpenter queen to me)......and get some pictures posted so we can all be educated. Good luck to you!

Is the abdomen striped at all? We use to have jerusulem crickets by the hunbreds when I lived in the bay area. They look like giant ants, but the abdomens are striped. Some could get pretty big, about 2 inches in length.

I posted close-up scans on the photo forum! It was much more compliant today...It's, errrr, dead.

It's a blister beetle...When threatened, it secretes a nasty substance that causes painful blisters. It can be dangerous, even lethal, for livestock which inadvertantly eat even dead beetles in their alfalfa hay (the beetles feed on alfalfa flowers). Well, we have no livestock other than a couple of cats and a dog, but I'm still glad I only saw one!

Here are some sites with more info for any of you whose interest has been piqued:

http://www.herper.com/Bug.html

http://www.forages.css.orst.edu/Topics/Pests/Insects/Beetles.html

http://www.aes.purdue.edu/AgAnswrs/1997/9-30Could_AKiller.html

EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! yuck...glad to see you have him and i don't....LOL good thing you only had one.... :)

Hi GW,
I carpool with a guy who is a staff entomologist with the Dept of Defense. I showed him your description of the unknown insect. He said it may be a rove beatle, family stephalinidae, but it only a guess. Without actually seeing it, it is only a suggestion. Goos luck with the id.

This message was edited Monday, Apr 16th 9:41 AM