At work last night, my co-worker and I noticed a very large and intersting insect. It was well out of reach, prehaps 14-17' above our heads, but in a lighted area. It was resting, like it was diurnal (is that a word... like it was a day creature). It seemed sluggish and unresponsive to stimulation (my co-work was trying to knock it down with a pole).

I live in West Virginia, I'm 26 years old, and I have never seen an insect in this region (or any) like this, but I am sure someone has seen one, somewhere. I have been searching the internet for any link to a database and/or photo library (of insects), but I fear none exists on the internet.

My co-worker managed to scare it off with the pole, so we do not have it for referance. I made a scetch of it a few hours after we first seen the creature, but it is not very detailed, or very accurate. I am sure I could ID the alien from a photo, but memories get fuzzy with time. The sooner I find out what this thing is, the better I will feel. If anyone could recommend a good resource for identifying insects, I would appreciate it.

I will describe it, just to let you know what I am looking for:
* It was every bit of 6" in length, likely 7".
* Dark brown or black coloration, prehaps mottled black and brown, but very dark in color.
* Long like a Preying Mantis, with similar shape.
* Large wings. Exposed like a fly; external.
* It was straight, not perked-up like a mantis in waiting, w/ a low profile. It did not hold itself up with its legs... prehaps only a resting postion.
* It had large "tusk-like" appendages that, while resting (before we disturbed it), were angled at 90 degrees, pointing outward from its body. After it was disturbed, its "tusks" were moved to a forward postion, appearing to be pincers or elephant tusks. The "tusks" were very similar to those on some beetle species (rino. beetles).
* It moved slowly when engaged by the end of the pole, and it flew away with a somewhat awkward and slow, but deliburate flight path...

I think that's about it. Any help would be appreciated.

FrostedOne

It belongs to the genus Corydalus. It seems to be at the VERY large end of the scale, but everything else is a prefect match, from looks to enviroment!