# Giant insect name?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 20, 2013, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290 "2013-09-20T07:46:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/1 "2013-09-20T07:46:25Z")
This summer I heard one of those big flying insects go by, I would like to know what they are. My friend calls them “beezers”, but my google-fu is weak.
I saw one a number of years ago in south-west New Mexico, not too far from Deming. Its body was 4~5 inches long (I was about forty feet away, so I have to estimate), wide in front (maybe as much as two inches) tapering to a rounded end. Solid Kraft caramel color with, obviously, large wings that were somewhat colorful but mostly black. It was hovering over a thistle blossom, which offered the only frame of reference for estimating its size. These things make a lot of noise flying by.
Does anyone know what these things are?
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### Author:  [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/2 "2013-09-20T08:46:39Z")
IANAE (I am not an entomologist)
Hmmm, try doing a google ‘image search’ for cicada, and see if you can spot a match.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/3 "2013-09-20T11:48:24Z")
4-5 inches long? Hovering over a flower? New Mexico?
Did it look anything like [this](http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/38/3813/ATPIF00Z/posters/jack-michanowski-a-rufous-hummingbird-hovering-at-a-thistle-flower-selasphorus-rufus-new-mexico-usa.jpg)?
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/4 "2013-09-20T12:35:01Z")
> [@For You](#):
>
> Its body was 4~5 inches long (I was about forty feet away, so I have to estimate), wide in front (maybe as much as two inches) tapering to a rounded end.
I’m going to guess that was an over-estimation. Any of [these](http://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-state.asp?thisState=New%20Mexico) look familiar? My best guess would be a wasp or moth, even though you appear to be describing a beetle.
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/5 "2013-09-20T14:53:00Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> I’m going to guess that was an over-estimation. Any of [these](http://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-state.asp?thisState=New%20Mexico) look familiar? My best guess would be a wasp or moth, even though you appear to be describing a beetle.
Thanks, that helps a lot. It appears to have been a sphinx moth of some sort (probably tersa or vine), which do get that big and some fly during the day.
[picture](https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9w0n9amkrbjcqs/IMG_0249.JPG)
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/6 "2013-09-20T17:52:54Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> 4-5 inches long? Hovering over a flower? New Mexico?
>
> Did it look anything like [this](http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/38/3813/ATPIF00Z/posters/jack-michanowski-a-rufous-hummingbird-hovering-at-a-thistle-flower-selasphorus-rufus-new-mexico-usa.jpg)?
Don’t discount this post as a joke. Hummingbirds in NM do look an awful lot like giant bugs rather than small birds.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/7 "2013-09-20T18:42:54Z")
In San Diego, we had enormous beetles that flew and made a loud buzzing noise. To my knowledge, they didn’t hover over flowers (but did sound a lot like hummingbirds when they buzzed you). I’m not sure what they are called, but at a guess [figeater beetles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figeater_beetle). The picture doesn’t look like my memory of them, but since my memory is mostly concerned with hitting the ground while screaming in terror, it’s possible I didn’t observe closely. (Edit: [this link](http://www.sdnhm.org/archive/fieldguide/inverts/coti-mut.htmldoes) does look like my memory of them.)
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/8 "2013-09-20T18:49:06Z")
> [@leahcim](#):
>
> Don’t discount this post as a joke. Hummingbirds in NM do look an awful lot like giant bugs rather than small birds.
Me? No. But hummingbirds hum, these things make a noise like they are beating the air. I think the large dragonflies around here make a similar noise.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-insect-name/669290/9 "2013-09-20T19:16:04Z")
Probably a [Palo Verde Borer](http://bugguide.net/images/raw/1H7H3H2HRREH3HML8ZRLPZ8L9ZGLBZ8LRR2HAZ4LNZNHLRILWZIL9ZXLYHXLLRWHFH2HYHIHVHQL.jpg).