The larva of this monster beetle develops in rotting wood and I’ve read that they prefer the rotting wood of sycamore trees. I don’t find Southwestern Hercules Beetles very often and located this one on a routine pest control job in Lake Montezuma, which is an area that happens to have sycamore trees. He is very impressive and at first glance you would think he could pinch you very hard with his claw looking apparatus. He uses this horn to joust with other males when he competes for a mate, and to scrape away the bark of the tree to produce sap for the female to come feed on. So I guess they show off their muscles and then take their date out to dinner.
They are really no concern for a home owner and there is no pest control method recommended but i thought he was impressive enough to share with everyone.
