26 Giant Beetles Seized By Customs Agents In Philadelphia

[CJS]

What is wrong with these people shipping things like that into any area of the world, let alone where they are not known?!!! All I can say, there are alot of crazies out there and don't love and care for the country they live in. Florida is being overun with Burmese snakes, now beetles (possibly), where is it going to end.

[Mari]

Ignignokt wrote:

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Most introduced species are accidental , usually the result of someone setting a non native species free.
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Your reasoning is ridiculous . The beetles weren't sent here for terrorist purposes. LOL .

How do you know this?

[Ignignokt]

Mari wrote:

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How do you know this?

Because common sense tells me that inflicting damage upon an enemy would not involve injecting large beetles with anthrax and sending a few of them to their country via mail. Seriously .

[Joel from PA]

As a professional entomologist of over three decades, I can say with absolute confidence that the particular beetles that were involved in this case (large scarabs and stag beetles) pose NO THREAT WHATSOEVER to agriculture or anything else. They are completely harmless, have no chance at all of becoming established in the wild here in the US, and contrary to what reports have claimed, DO NOT feed on crop plants or living trees. These beetles are very popular as pets in Asia and Europe (where they have developed into a hobby similar to that of culturing tropical fish and birds). Captive breeding these insects is difficult, requires very special methods, and the larval cycles can require up to THREE YEARS in some instances.

As usual, the media and govt. "experts" have blown this whole story completely out of proportion, and made these unfortunate beetles sound as if they're some kind of massive threat to economic interests, which they certainly ARE NOT.

The world really needs to develop a much more positive attitude toward insects, which constitute a huge percentage of the life on this planet, and indeed, are what makes our entire ecosystem work.

[Ignignokt]

Joel from PA wrote:

As a professional entomologist of over three decades, I can say with absolute confidence that the particular beetles that were involved in this case (large scarabs and stag beetles) pose NO THREAT WHATSOEVER to agriculture or anything else. They are completely harmless, have no chance at all of becoming established in the wild here in the US, and contrary to what reports have claimed, DO NOT feed on crop plants or living trees. These beetles are very popular as pets in Asia and Europe (where they have developed into a hobby similar to that of culturing tropical fish and birds). Captive breeding these insects is difficult, requires very special methods, and the larval cycles can require up to THREE YEARS in some instances.
As usual, the media and govt. "experts" have blown this whole story completely out of proportion, and made these unfortunate beetles sound as if they're some kind of massive threat to economic interests, which they certainly ARE NOT.
The world really needs to develop a much more positive attitude toward insects, which constitute a huge percentage of the life on this planet, and indeed, are what makes our entire ecosystem work.

Indeed . Humans are not cognizant of which insects are a threat to their area .

[Ignignokt]

Let me preface Humans with the word "Most".

[luckyshed]

Ignignokt wrote:

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Indeed . Humans are not cognizant of which insects are a threat to their area .

You go girl....the best and most accurate info. The only thing I might question is who is responsable for the story getting twisted out of proportion. I would like to blame the government, but they just did thier job and reported the story to the media. Its the Media and the way they emphasise and twist certain parts of the report to make the story sound more dramatic than it is. I like the agriculture "experts" opinion of the beatles:) Take note, he is not an entimologist or even beatle expert. The rest of the blame goes to all of us who let our fears fill in the blank spaces of what WE think to be true of the report. After all, scientists are educated and where a nice white lab coat and hence the never make mistakes or misquotes. Right?

[14justice]

Geeez, the larvee is 59 grams...I just had a grapefruit sized tumor removed which was 59 grams!

[Captin America]

evolution ... things, especially nature, evolve to survive in their current environment. Maybe not the first or second generation .... but nature will adapt and evolve

evo·lu·tion
various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations

[Ignignokt]

luckyshed wrote:

<quoted text>
You go girl....the best and most accurate info. The only thing I might question is who is responsable for the story getting twisted out of proportion. I would like to blame the government, but they just did thier job and reported the story to the media. Its the Media and the way they emphasise and twist certain parts of the report to make the story sound more dramatic than it is. I like the agriculture "experts" opinion of the beatles:) Take note, he is not an entimologist or even beatle expert. The rest of the blame goes to all of us who let our fears fill in the blank spaces of what WE think to be true of the report. After all, scientists are educated and where a nice white lab coat and hence the never make mistakes or misquotes. Right?

One , I'm all male , two , it's beetles , three , it's entemology , and finally , not all , in fact few , wear a white lab coat.

[Ignignokt]

LOL. entomology . durrrrrrrrrrrrr.