A beetle?

Not like any beetle I've seen. I'm thinking maybe borers ate out a tunnel, and some bugs are just using them for a home. It resembles an ant more than anything. I'm digging up more - if I see another, I'll try to get a pic.

It's not an earwig, is it? They tend their eggs and young.
Renee

I'm familiar with earwigs, so I know it's not an earwig.

Here's a great site for bug ID.
Renee

Here is a link that might be useful: What's That Bug?

I have read (on other forums) of crickets which chew onto rhizomes. Not that they live inside them, but I suppose that's possible also. So they could be crickets...

I shouldn't have said it looked somewhat like a cricket. It didn't have large back legs at all. It's just that the head seemed "boxy" and not oval or pointy like most ants. I think the insect was using the borer hole in the rhizome like a hermit crab as a nursery! The way it was zooming around inside the rhizome, trying desperately to protect the eggs, reminded me of an ant, too.

hosenemesis - You were correct after all! I'd never seen a female earwig before, only males. After googling for images, I'm sure the bug was a female earwig. Thanks for the tip!!!

Cool. I was dismayed when I found out what good mothers they were.
Renee