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Can you help with this caterpillar found in Beaumont, Texas. I’m sorry I don’t know from what vegetation it was taken.
Emmeline Dodd
Hi Emmeline,
This is a Banded Sphinx Caterpillar, Eumorpha fasciatus.
Banded Sphinx Caterpillar: Saved from drowning!!!
Banded Sphinx Caterpillar
Banded Sphinx Caterpillar
Banded Sphinx we believe
Hi,
I have been scouring the internet trying to find out what this creature is that we found. If you can help me with identification, that would be great. If not, I would appreciate anything you can tell me to lead me in the right direction to find this information. What I can tell you is that this creature was found in Hillsborough County, Florida on a blackberry bush. It is approximately 2 – 3 inches in length. It appears to me that the bigger end with the “eyes, nostrils and teeth” is not the actual head, but the tail end. The other end with the smaller triangular shape, appears to be the head. This end latches onto the blackberry as if eating. This end is the end that appears to direct movement. The circle on the top of this “head” is interesting in that it appears to blink or have some type of movement like a flicker of a tongue or something. Thank you so much for your time.
Michele Petys
Hi Michele,
The Gaudy Sphinx Moth Caterpillar is a very effective snake mimic, which helps to deter birds.
Ant Mimic Spider
Hi Bugpeople,
It moved like an ant, and waved its front legs like antennae. I didn’t even realize it was an arachnid until I looked real close. I spotted it in Zakynthos, Greece last summer. Does this intriguing little spider have a name? As always, thanks for your time, your wealth of knowledge, and for providing the great resource that is What’s That Bug?.
Christina
Hi Christina,
Not surprisingly, your spider really is called an Ant Mimic Spider. Though we can’t tell you the species you have photographed, we can tell you that Ant Mimic Spiders are in the family Corinnidae.
Unknown Australian Spider looks like Ant Mimic Spider
Ant Mimic Jumping Spider
Ant Mimic Spider
Ant-Mimic Jumping Spider
Luna Moth
Hello Bugman,
Thank you for your wonderful website. I found a match for identifying a moth that my sister and nephews found in their backyard in Norman, Oklahoma. Sincerely,
Penny Andrews
Hi Penny,
Thank you for adding to our collection of beautiful Luna Moth images.
unknown fruit fly??
In the photos attached are some sort of fly that attacks my artichoke plants. they wander around the artichoke heads and stick their ugly egg laying thing into the creases of the flower head that is trying to grow. then their maggots eat holes (i believe) and ultimately damage the crop. Please help me identify this pest. and any methods i can use to trap them. I want to rid my garden of pests without the use of chemicals. Thanks Bugman.
Chris McCrea
Vallejo, California
Hi Chris,
Fruit Flies in the family Tephritinae, as depicted on BugGuide, often have ovipositors like the specimen in your photo. They also tend to have banded wings which your specimen does not have. We couldn’t locate a convincing match, but we will contact Eric Eaton to see if he has any ideas.
Update: May 22, 2011
In preparing for a lecture at Theodore Payne Foundation, we are finding images that we need for our PowerPoint, and in so doing, we are finding many unidentified insects buried deep in the archive, including this introduced Fruit Fly that feeds on artichokes, most likely Terellia fuscicornis based on BugGuide. The jury is still out whether this is an Invasive Exotic species that will decimate the artichoke crop in California, or if it is a beneficial import that may help control the spread of cardoons in open spaces.
Unknown Solitary Bee may be Mining Bee
Last Chance to Get Tickets!!! Bugman at Theodore Payne Foundation Saturday Afternoon
Black Ground Beetles
Mediterranean Fruit Fly in Mt Washington: but is it eating the Olives???
Dull Firetip Skipper and website suggestion
Hi. THANKS for your great site. It is my favorite website on the internet. I have a photo of Dull Firetip Skipper (Pyrrhopyge araxes) that I think you might like. It was photographed at Harshaw Creek, AZ. I believe that this is a new species to your site. I also have a suggestion. I think that a page devoted to Black Witches on your site would be good. Thanks.
Noah
Hi Noah,
We really appreciate your kind letter and the photo of the Dull Firetip Skipper, which we are guessing was photographed in 2005 based on the file name. Often when we get website suggestions, we cringe because people are trying to suggest things that are incredibly labor intense. Your suggestion of a Black Witch page is easily manageable. We will need to find old entries from the archives, but amusingly, a new letter with photos just arrived.
Panama Leaf Footed Bug and Red-Faced Firetip Skipper
CORRECTION: Guava Skipper from Mexico
Longtailed Skipper and Checkered Skipper
Long Dash Skipper or Peck's Skipper
What was that bug?
Hi Bugman !
I was recently visiting my folks in Maine, this cocoon(?) was in a maple tree in the yard. It is probably about 5 inches long. What do you think? Pondering in Portland,
Jim
Hi Jim,
This is a Cecropia Moth Cocoon. The small hole in the second photograph indicates that it may have been parasitized since it seems to small for the adult moth to have emerged.
Cecropia Moth Cocoon
Cecropia Moth Caterpillar parasitized by possibly Brachonid Wasps
Cecropia Moth Cocoon
Cecropia Moth Caterpillar parasitized by possibly Brachonid Wasps
Interesting caterpillar
Here are some photos of a very small and strange looking caterpillar we have in our backyard. It has a large and noble head with the two horns. It looks like nothing else on your neat site. The caterpillar spent the night evidently going around in circles on the top of a bucket. When I placed it on a plant it inched off. Tried a striped ivy and now he is climbing a hackberry. Does it look familiar to you? Thanks so much.
Randy and Jan
San Antonio, Texas
Hi Randy and Jan,
If this is not a Hackberry Emperor Caterpillar, Asterocampa celtis, then it is one of the other Emperors in the same genus.
Hackberry Emperor
Hackberry Emperor
Sap Feeders: Hackberry Emperor Butterfly, Green June Beetles and Eyed Elater
Metamorphosis of the Hackberry Emperor
I like This
