biting beetles?

General Questions
#1

For quite some time my wife was waking up in the morning with swelling on her toes and ankles (usually around a joint) they were definitely bites. At first I thought mosquitoes because she swells up that way when she is bitten. Upon further examining we noticed a double bite mark much like spiders leave behind so I moved my theory to spiders.

Now I often sleep shirtless and one night I was woken up (I’m a light sleeper)by something walking on my back and then biting me. I swiped at my back half asleep and it went away, then I was woken up again and was pissed this time, I swatted a wide area with my hand and heard a small thud against the headboard with no further disturbance that night. I concluded by feel and sound that the culprit was approximately 1 inch long and had a farely dense body based on the sound it made on the headboard.

This morning laying on my stomach I felt I very sharp pinch and raised-up to find a small beetle waddling off. I caught the damn thing and drowned it…

My question is… why the hell is this thing coming back again and again in the night after me or my wife? Do beetles use blood for gestation or food?

Here are some pictures of the thing, they are poor quality and I have no name for this thing.

Beetle1

Beetle2

The first thing came to mind was a click beetle, but based on body type I’d say it’s built more like a stag beetle with much smaller, stream-lined pinchers.

Any helpful understanding of why this is happening or what this thing is would prove useful, thanks

#2

Not a bed bug

#3

Lesser Stag Beetle?

Dunno though; there’s something about the arrangement of the legs (could just be the death posture) that makes me wonder if your specimen is even a beetle at all; I feel silly saying that, but it sort of looks ant-like in some ways.

#4

Is is a stag beetle? Here’s some pictures to check out - http://bugguide.net/node/view/3103/bgimage

I tried to look through them, but I just had a massive attact of the willies. Your turn.

#5

mhhm, no I don’t think so- I definitely felt this thing on my back and definitely felt it biting me.

Anyway, it says on the link -that you don’t feel bed bugs biting and that they have a “beak” and as I mentioned the bite left behind was a double-bite mark like fangs might make …or possibly pinchers. Thanks for playing though :smiley:

#6

Well Devena,
thanks to your bug guide, I’m definitely moving towards it being a stag beetle- btw, I’m sure it’s a beetle it only died the way it did cause I tortured the hell out of it first.

If it’s a stag beetle it’s going to be a female; the pinchers are too small for it to be male- the thing that keeps bothering me is how skinny it is.

It’s as thin as a tiger beetle, but it’s sectioned/built like a stag beetle and has very little if any striations on it’s thorax. It’s completely black as well.

#7

Wait… how about Ground Beetles ?

#8

Here’s this info…

#9

Ooh, I think you’ve got a hit there; look at the ones right at the bottom of the page; they have the same leg arrangement/posture as I mentioned was bothering me about the OP’s photo.

#10

Hahaa! - Ground Beetle :smiley: … I remember it assuming this defensive position as I slowly tortured it to death. I didn’t want to squish him as it’s been a major nuisance to our sleeping hours… now to figure out why it would want to pinch us night after night to begin with… :dubious: