What this insect? Pest or good one? Thanks.

[openoffice]

What this insect? Pest or good one? Thanks.

 

[Chuck]

What this insect? Pest or good one? Thanks.

It looks a lot like the Black Oil Beetle. Not particularly beneficial or destructive. They are a type of blister beetle.

 

[openoffice]

Thanks Chuck,

seems okay to keep them in the garden.

Oil beetles are not considered a bad thing in the garden or lawn. They cause little damage to plants and the larva can control other pest insects.

https://uconnladybug.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/oil-beetles-on-parade/

 

[Marck]

What this insect? Pest or good one? Thanks.

This is a Giant Rove Beetle (Ocypus olens, Staphylinidae), also known as a Devil's Coach-horse Beetle. This species is native to parts of Europe and North Africa, but has been introduced into other parts of the world including western North America. Large specimens can be over 3 cm. long. This species is a predator not an hebivoer, so I guess it's a 'good one'. (I like it anyway.) They can bite and spray a noxious fluid if threatened, but will not deliberately try to bother or harm a human or large animal.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Devil's coach horse was my immediate reaction too, definitely a good one to have. Some one once pointed out to me that on the whole the predators move fast and the herbivores move slowly, it's not a hard and fast rule, but it can be a good general guide.