Coleoptera

I saw this bug yesterday on the patio near my freezing-cold office when I went outside to warm up in order to keep typing.

I'm no entomologist, but I'm pretty sure it's a beetle. Beyond that I've no clue. Suggestions are welcome. I've never seen anything quite like this one; it was sure pretty, though. And big -- it was not that much smaller than the palm of my hand.

It was not iridescent. You can't quite tell on the photos but it sort of fades from a yellow-orange to a yellow-green over the back of its carapace, and its head is a brighter orange but with some green as you move around to the underside.

I was just looking around on the net to see if I could identify it (no luck just yet) and I found out that fireflies (also called "firebugs" around here) are also beetles. Who knew? I guess I never really thought about it.

The light was kind of wacky and I had to mess with the color levels on the photo just so you can see anything at all, so the colors are not precisely accurate. It was breathtaking in its vividness and beauty, this beetle. I didn't have a tripod and I had to stand on a tippy little plastic chair to get close enough to even see the thing.

If you like bug pictures, check out Twistyfaster's Varmint Center over at I Blame the Patriarchy. She seems to have a lot more time for bug-watching, and Texas probably has better bugs.

UPDATE: It's an Eastern Hercules Beetle (Dynastes tityus)! Or, to be more complete:

phylum: Arthropoda
superclass: Hexapoda
class: Insecta
subclass Pterygota
order: Coleoptera (Beetles)
family: Scarabaeidae (Scarab Beetles)
subfamily: Dynastinae (Rhinoceros Beetles)
genus: Dynastes (Hercules Beetles)
species: Dynastes tityus (Eastern Hercules Beetle)

Thanks to BugGuide.Net.