hornbug

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A very common North American beetle, Passalus cornutus, of the family Lucanidæ, of large size, elongate form, and shining black color with pitch-black legs, the elytra suleate with regularly impressed lines of punctures, and the head armed with a stout curved horn. Its whitish larva, found in decaying stumps and logs, has the third pair of legs rudimentary, but the two anterior pairs are well developed. Riley, 4th Mo. Ent. Rep., p. 139.

Wiktionary

1. n. zoology A large nocturnal beetle of the genus Lucanus, with long, curved upper jaws resembling a sickle, and whose grubs are found in the trunks of old trees.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) A large nocturnal beetle of the genus Lucanus (as Lucanus capreolus, and Lucanus dama), having long, curved upper jaws, resembling a sickle. The grubs are found in the trunks of old trees.