Spiders are not my biggest problem.
I have an irrational terror of a certain order of beetles, ever since a holiday in the South of France. Anything belonging to Cerambycidae freaks the fuck out of me - look up Disteniidae, it may not be the same one but it's the closest I could find.

They're fucking enormous and they can FUCKING FLY.

_{And I'm going back out there in a couple of weeks' time for my summer holiday.}
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 11:49, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I have loads of flying beetles around my house
tricksy thinsg to catch
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 11:52, Reply)

They don't look so bad
I might not be as ambivalent if I had one coming at my face though. Is there an interesting story behind this?
(berk, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 11:53, Reply)

I was with my family, we were eating out on the balcony in the place we were staying.
It just sort of appeared on the far wall. My sister flipped out, and despite my father and I insisting that it was crawling away from us, and off the side of the balcony, she wasn't having any of it. My father, being the fearless entomologist, decided he'd best go and encourage it on its way.

That was when the beetle got a bit spooked and decided to take to the air. Try and imagine that fucker with its wing cases extended flying straight towards you. It fucking landed on ME. I can only imagine the girly scream I emitted would have put even Darth Foxtrot to shame. Fortunately it landed on my shirt, and so with a quick shake of that it fell off. But I've been terrified of the things ever since.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 11:57, Reply)

It's like the Dark Knight
but instead of becoming a symbol of fear to fight crime you've become a symbol of anal penetration to fight homophobia..
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 12:33, Reply)

It's a shame the batman symbol is already taken
It's a little more atmospheric than the endless BUMDER ALERTS.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:40, Reply)