Now, in my opinion, this thing is material for a science fiction horror film. Just make it as big as a house and you'll have people screaming hysterically and running for their lives to escape its giant mandibles. But in truth, it's only ferocious to other insects. This happens to be the larva of a species of Carabid beetle (family Carabidae, Ground Beetles). It's predaceous--but not towards humans. It feeds on armyworms, cutworms, grubs, snails, and even my beloved slugs. Personally, I don't have much affection for this creature. I'll be glad when it turns into the familiar, less fierce-looking black Ground Beetle.
That being said, I haven't been able to pinpoint the species of this larva. I'm not ruling out that it could belong to the Staphylinidae family (Rove Beetles) instead of to Carabidae. The main distinguishing characteristic for the larvae seems to be that those of Staphylinidae have crossed mandibles and Carabidae have straight ones. However, that doesn't seem to be a universal difference. Rove Beetle larvae can hold their mandibles straight, just as I'm sure Ground Beetle larvae can cross theirs. Also, the former's head is large in proportion to its body and its abdomen tapers more suddenly, while the latter appears longer in body, with a proportionate-sized head.
References (Rove Beetles)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/126
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/beetles/rove_beetles.htm
http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/plantclinic/documents/t-07-rovebeetles.pdf
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/plantclinic/resources/pdf/pls56rovebeetles.pdf
References (Ground Beetles):
http://bugguide.net/node/view/186 (Carabidae)
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG268/html/ground_and_tiger_beetles.htm
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/beetles/ground/ground.htm
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0025161 (discuss beetle larvae that take on amphibians)
http://www.bumblebee.org/invertebrates/ColeopteraD.htm
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