On November 8 2015 I found these two monsters underneath a large piece of bark on the garden tiles.
They are larvae of the Devil’s coach-horse beetle, the largest rove beetle (STAPHYLINIDAE) in the Netherlands. The adult shown on the picture below I had found in the garden on August 30 and has been added to my gardeninsect collection. Judging by the flat and damaged state it looks like somebody has stood on it. It measures 2,5 cm in length.
Larva 1 is a monster of almost 3 cm with an impressive head bearing a set of equally impressive jaws.
Larva 2 was a little smaller version of 1,5 cm. Both sat next to each other underneath the bark and were accompanied by a large supply of wood lice…. which are Rough woodlice (Porcellio scaber).
