What's that bug?

Question

Last night, my husband found this huge bug in our basement. The bug was half dead in my husbands work area where he has been cutting wood. I took a few pictures and found out it is called a Brown Prionid. I tried to find some more info. on this bug but all I know is that it feeds on dead wood....hence laying in the wood scraps. If anyone has any more insight on this nasty bug...let me know. Will it lay eggs, has it already?

Answer 1

That is one ugly beetle, but apparantly harmless from what I read. It is a boring beetle, i.e. it bores in wood (it may be boring too but I never talked to one.)

It breeds in poles and roots in contact with wet ground, but other than that I have not been able to find any information about it's breeding habits.

Will look around some more.

Found additional information about wood borers. From what I read, you don't need to worry. Yours is a roundheaded borer (Cerambycidae) mentioned in the article below.

Wood Borers
Wood borers are the most frequently observed insects infesting firewood and house logs. Most common are roundheaded borers (Cerambycidae), also known as longhorned borers or sawyers. Adult stage is a medium to large beetle (1/4 to 2 inches), often with long antennae that may exceed the body length. Common roundheaded borers are gray-brown with black speckling (sawyers) or deep blue-black (black-horned pine borer).

Adult flatheaded borers (Buprestidae), also called metallic wood borers, generally are smaller than roundheaded borers. Flatheaded borers commonly are gray, bronze or blue-green with a metallic sheen and have inconspicuous antennae.

Borer larvae are slender, white, segmented grubs with brownish heads and rather prominent jaws. These larvae produce the chewing noises and piles of wood-colored sawdust that frequently cause alarm. This sawdust material may be relatively fine or coarse and fibrous.

These borers also are responsible for the wide zigzag or meandering tunnels seen beneath the bark and deep in the wood. The tunnels of both groups are oval in cross-section, not perfectly round. Wood borers are primarily a nuisance. The noise and sawdust they produce is suggestive of termites and thus, disconcerting.

Because of their long life cycle, borers may be present in wood for a year or longer. They do not emerge and attack healthy trees. No Western species normally recycle in the same wood that produced them. Furniture, wall framing or other seasoned woods are not suitable for wood borer attack. Despite producing what may seem like great quantities of dust, borers rarely tunnel extensively enough to cause structural failure. Adult borers found inside the home may look ominous and pinch the skin if handled but are not dangerous

Answer 2

Its a harmless root or wood boring beetle, thus breeding occurs along the same lines. It belongs to the Coleoptera Order. So if you want more information about it search for Coleoptera or Take a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle