[icarus]

Originally Posted by DOK

Don't get me started on these horrible things! If anyone is from Fort Mac they are known as "Tar sand beetles". They live deep in the ground, so when the trucks are excavating they dig these terrible things up. They'll also be brought up when digging for a house foundation. We lived with them in between the insulation and the plastic, could hear them scurrying on the plastic at night with no way to kill them. Squishing them only pressed them into the soft insulation, shudder. They are harmless, but look like a terrible sin, poor buggers have it hard looking so freaking nasty.

Yep, same as the Spruce or White-Spotted Sawyer...

Although the White-spotted Sawyer can be very abundant at times it is not generally considered a pest except to logging companies. People who own newer log cabins, however, do occasionally have larvae in the logs. The larvae make enough noise when chewing their way through the wood that it sounds like a distant saw, hence the name. When adults emerge inside the cabin they can be rather disconcerting.

In Fort McMurray, Alberta, this beetle is referred to as the Tar Sands Beetle. Evidently the beetles tend to swarm around any place where the bitumen is exposed. One theory as to why they swarm is that the bitumen gives off terpineols, the same substance that recently damaged trees give off, and this is what attracts the beetles. The Athabasca River, which goes right through the middle of Fort McMurray, cuts a deep channel through the surrounding landscape and exposes the bitumen-rich layer, which, particularly on hot days of summer, releases the terpineols.

Although White-spotted Sawyer Beetles are capable of biting, this is a rare occurrence, and the bite is not in any way dangerous because it is a simple mechanical bite without the use of any poisons or digestive enzymes. These beetles only bite when they feel threatened or they are trapped, so panicking just increases one's chance of being bitten.

http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/nat...faq/sawyer.htm