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Photo#153227
Large grub in San Antonio compost pile - Strategus aloeus

Large grub in San Antonio compost pile - Strategus aloeus
San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, USA
October 21, 2007
Size: 3.5" long ~1" diameter
We have a compost pile we started a year ago. We went to get out some compost and found 20 or so in about 2 cubic feet of soil that we looked through.

Images of this individual: tag all
Large grub in San Antonio compost pile - Strategus aloeus Large grub in San Antonio compost pile - Strategus aloeus

Moved

Moved
Moved from Scarab Beetles.

 
Beetle Larvae
Can anyone tell me how to get rid of the Hercules beetle larvae? I tried planting Live Oaks in my front yard. After the third Live Oak died, I was able to pull the tree out of the ground with minimal effort. The thick branch like roots were all that was left. There were 6 of these grubs woven into the roots along with a large number of pupae. I figure they killed my trees. I would like to plant some trees but I want to kill the grubs first.
F

Grub mystery solved
After an almost 2 hour search on the internet, I finally found this site and behold, a picture of the mysterious creature we found in our compost (live oak leaves) this afternoon. Thanks, joeinsanantonio, I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Thanks for helping I.D. gigundo grub in NJ
Thanks for posting these wonderful photos.

The comments accompanying them lead me to suspect that the grub that was dug out of a friend's 2-year old compost pile in Whippany, NJ on 10/20/07 is actually that of a Hercules beetle. The pile contained a lot of oak leaves along with grass clippings and debris from an organic vegetable garden.

One interesting feature of the Whippany grub: It had about 4 small tufts of light reddish bristles on its "shoulders" behind its head. When I saw them, I figured I'd better not touch it. For what it's worth, a pet turtle cavorting in the warm sunshine wouldn't go near it, even to check it out. It's not clear whether this was because the turtle was enjoying being outdoors, or knew something we didn't. He may have been thinking, "Never try eating anything larger than your own head." Anyway, I'm glad he left the grub alone.

The grub became very active, and crawled around looking for a place to dig in. Not knowing what it was, I moved it out of the vegetable garden and over near the driveway, where it soon disappeared into the grass or a low rock wall. Had I known it was a Hercules beetle I'd have put it back in one of the older compost piles to overwinter... We're having unseasonably warm weather here in the NYC area this fall, and I hope this grub finds a nice safe place to pupate/hibernate...

Thanks again for the photos and information. ;-)

Grubs
this big might be ox beetles such as strategeus or maybe even Dynastes tityus. Tityus prefers decaying oak while I have raised ox beetles on anything from rotting fruit to wood chips to grass roots. Nice find.

 
I agree with Scott, looks lik
I agree with Scott, looks like an Ox grub (probably S. aloeus). D. tityus larval head capsules are usually darker red to brown and are a lot rougher than Strategus, especially at L3. Strategus are usually brighter red and are smooth (like the one in your photo seems to be).

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