Last summer I found a male and a female palo verde beetle (Derobrachus hovorei) on the same night (hooray!) and decided to photograph them together:
Palo verde beetle (Derobrachus hovorei) battle of the sexes
In the flurry of motion that ensued moments after putting them together, during which time this photo was shot, the female (on the right) sadly lost both antennae and two entire legs to her overeager and highly abusive suitor. This image was captured in the heat of the battle.
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The Dragonfly Woman 
Poor female. Interesting to watch, though, I bet! I love palo verde beetles. My husband brought one home from work in a cup one night. His coworkers thought either he or I must be nuts.
That sounds about right! The prof in charge of the outreach program I’m working with this semester polled our students yesterday and nearly every student from AZ admitted to being terrified of these beetles when they were kids. I know I was! They’re just so BIG! i’m sure there are plenty of adults who find them terrifying too and those people just don’t get the people who willingly pick them up. :)
Did you put them in a bottle with a paddle? Dr. Seuss would be proud (a beetle battle in a bottle with a paddle…on a poodle eating noodles…)
Fabulous! Love it.