Oil beetle

I noticed this huge bug crawling across the Duncan Hall parking lot in downtown Lafayette.  Never saw anything like this but after looking into it I think it's an oil beetle.  Meloe, possibly Meloe americanus.  Interesting that these bugs feed on plants of the buttercup family.  Most buttercups are poisonous or at least distasteful to humans and other animals.

Photo taken April 14, 2015.

Link to Meloe:

Link to Meloe americanus:

Link to oil beetles: