I’m not generally a head-in-the-sand kind of guy, but until now I’ve been happily ignorant of the existence of giant water bugs (family Belostomatidae).  These guys can grow to 4 inches, eat prey 50 times their own weight, and are reputed to deliver the most painful insect bite in the world.  One of their common names is “toe-biter.”  I was also happily ignorant of the fact that they occasionally fly into my house until one was drawn to the light of the fire in the beehive oven.

  Friend and bug expert Jenn Forman Orth helped me with the ID, but did little to calm my alarm.

My individual was about 2 inches long, that was only a modest comfort; perhaps they sent one of the kids out exploring and papa is waiting for me in the stream.

I’ve also learned that these guys are regarded as delicious snack foods in some parts of the world, so perhaps its appearance on my hearth was not entirely coincidental.