Hi Bugman,
Here’s another Baja Bug for your expert ID. Two horns on the hiney! What is that thing?
This looks like one of the Horned Powderpost Beetles in the family Bostrichidae. We will see if Eric Eaton has any additional comments.
Metallic Green Cerambycid Beetle, Plinthocoelium suaveeolens
Powderpost Beetle
Long Horned Borer
Hickory Horned Devil
Scarab Hunter Wasp?
This guy was on one of our fenceposts earlier today. It looks like a Scarab Hunter Wasp although it has lobes on the end of it’s antennae which don’t seem to appear in any of the Scarab Hunter photos I’ve seen. If it is a Scarab Hunter I don’t believe it is supposed to be in our area (northwest Washington), is that correct? Do you agree that it is a Scarab Hunter Wasp? At the time of the photograph it was very lethargic and could only fly a few feet and then it would sit still until prodded. Thanks,
Bill Scollard
Granite Falls, Washington
Hi Bill,
This is actually a Cimbicid Sawfly. It is probably in the genus Cimbex. Sawflies are related to wasps, but they do not sting.
Many legged Beastie
Hello,
We saw this bug in the south of France (in the Gorges du Tarn region) last October. There were two of them living together in a crack behind the front door. They weren’t at all scared when the door moved. We’d love to have any information about it.
Thanks,
Emily
Hi Emily,
We have countless images on House Centipedes on our website. We receive so many requests for their identification that we always have an image posted on our homepage to facilitate our readership. House Centipedes are harmless nocturnal predators.
House Centipede
House Centipede eats House Centipede: Survival of the Fittest
House Centipede
House Centipede
Metallic Green Beetle
Hi:
I found many of these under the bark of a fallen and decaying pine tree. I was looking for skinks, and found these bugs. I’ve never seen them before. They seem to be present wherever there were termites. They were about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long, moved quickly, and took off like a fly when you got to close. Any ideas? BTW, these are from southeastern Virginia.
Rowland Parks
Newport News, VA
Hi Rowland,
This is a Six Spotted Tiger Beetle, a predatory species. We are not certain if the termite colony is a food source, or if the beetles were there for another reason.
Black Widow?
WTB,
I have had this big spider living outside of my front door for over a week and then tonight I saw the red hourglass marking and thought it may be a black widow, but as seen in the picture it is not completely black. Is this still as dangerous as I think? Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
Black Widows are often not black until they attain adulthood. This Black Widow is immature or a male spider.
Male Black Widow and NOT Domestic Spider Eggsacs
Male Black Widow
Immature Black Widow
Male Black Widow
Golden Orb Weaver
Hi Bugman,
Hope you like this Golden Orb Weaver female from Queensland Australia.
Trevor Jinks
Gold Coast, Queensland. April 29 2007
Hi again Trevor,
The common name, Golden Orb Weaver, will probably get us in trouble as a very different spider has that common name stateside. Your spider is in the genus Nephila, though, since Australia has several representatives from the genus, we are not sure of the species. It is possibly Nephila edulis.
Dear Bugman,
Indeed you are correct with your ID of the genus of the Australian Golden Orb Weaver. A bunch of information is available here http://www.usq.edu.au/spider/find/spiders/116.htm Thanks again for your great site.
Trevor Jinks Queenslanmd Ausrtralia
Golden Orb Weaver eats Cicada in Australia
Golden Silk Spider from Australia
Bug of the Month: August 2006 – Golden Orb Weaver or Yellow and Black Orb Weaver
Golden Orb Weaver
clear winged butterfly from Ecuador
Hi Bugman,
I photographed this beautiful butterfly in the rainforest of eastern Ecuador, near the north bank of the Rio Napo, on Feb 23, 2007. I haven’t been able to identify it. Can you tell me what species it is? We’d love to be able to put a species name and common name with the photo on the web site. Thanks,
Stephanie Donaldson
Hi Stephanie,
Identifying tropical insects is often very difficult for us since there is not as much information available online or in text books as there is for North American or European species. We will post your image and try to identify it in the future. Additionally, many times our readers provide us with answers for unidentified species. Many Clearwing Butterflies, also known as Glasswings, are in the subfamily Heliconiinae, a division of the Nymphalidae.
Update: (04/30/2007)
We had a commitment today to supervise a computer lab. While the students worked, we whiled away the hours doing some web research. We did not positively identify this species, but we are nearly certain this is a Clearwing Satyr in the genus Cithaerias.
Clearwing Butterfly
Metallic Chrysalis from Costa Rica: Cream Spotted Clearwing Butterfly
Clearwing Butterfly from Guyana
Satyr Butterfly and Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
Picture from Microsoft Picture It!
We live in Mission Viejo, Ca. Our 3 yer old found this beetle and has been living in his bug house for over 2 weeks. Do you know what it is and what it eats? He just found another so now it has company. Our son LOVES insects. His favorite thing to watch is our 4 tape series called Insectia with George Brossard. Thanks for any information you have to offer.
Janet
Hi Janet,
This is an Ironclad Beetle. Hogue identifies a species that looks very much like this as Phloeodes pustulosus. They are thought to eat fungus laden wood.
(04/29/2007) Ironclad Beetle of 4-28-07
In regards to the Ironclad Beetle photo and response of 4-28-07…. I’m surprised you didn’t tell the woman not to let her three year old son live in a bug house. First, how did he fit in it? Second, couldn’t the child catch some horrible disease or something? After all, bugs don’t shower and they have a lot of anonymous sex…. I fell in love with your website last summer when after a partial hysterectomy (“kept the girls, got rid of the junk” I like to say) I could not sleep and spent my evenings in the front yard with a LED flashlight and my trusty camera. Wow! Talk about screwed up sleep cycles! But I digress…. I sure hope to get some good photos for you this year and God! Am I looking forward to the cyclical cicadas this year. (I live near Chicago.) I’m sure you will get a ton of “What the hell is this?” emails so I’ll keep you all in my thoughts and prayers. Pure hell I imagine, to open your inbox and see 45,763 emails with the subject “What IS this???” and crappy photos. I’ll try to send you a few awesome pix. I’m a professional drinker…er, I mean /photographer,/ and because of your web site I have fallen in love with photographing bugs ‘n’ stuff. I have a lovely tree cricket photo I’ll send in soon. My Canon camera (my “peashooter” as I lovingly call it) has a super-macro setting which focuses from 0 to 1.5 inches so all I have to do to get a good close up is remind myself that the chances of this bug actually killing me is slim to none. Warmest regards,
Joanne M. Pleskovich
Darien, IL
ps….I mention your website to my patients when they start freaking out about bugs or spiders etc. I’ll link to you when I get my site up and running, too. You guys (and/or gals) rock my world!
Hi Joanne,
We try not to give too much parenting advice on our website. In the past, we have raised the hackles on our readership several times due to our wry senses of humor. We look forward to any submissions you send our way in the future, though sadly, our image receiving ability is currently severely impacted.
Daniel and Lisa Anne
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