# What big bug is this?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-big-bug-is-this/583541>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 28, 2011, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-big-bug-is-this/583541 "2011-05-28T07:18:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ograbme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Ograbme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ograbme)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-big-bug-is-this/583541/1 "2011-05-28T07:18:57Z")

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The damn thing escaped before I could get the camera, but it was brown or black and looked like an earwig without pincers…except it was 2 1/2 inches long! Sorry for being so vague, but can anyone guess what it might have been? Is is in southern California.

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**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-big-bug-is-this/583541/2 "2011-05-28T10:41:36Z")

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Potato bug? [Jerusalem cricket - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket)

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**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-big-bug-is-this/583541/3 "2011-05-28T11:50:40Z")

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Some kind of big desert beetle? We have them, and they can be surprisingly huge.