Are these butterflies the same species, even though they look so different?
Sat, May 16, 2009 at 9:34 PM
Hi there; I was in the Smokey Mountains yesterday (May 2009) taking pictures and happened upon these little guys. At first I thought they were two different species and thought it was strange they were just kind of hanging out together in the gravel. Even when I walked up to them, they never moved more than a few inches from each other. I did a little digging around online tonight and now I think they may be Pipevine Swallowtails. One with its wings down and the other with its wings up. I was surprised at the difference in appearance from the top of the wings to the bottom of the wings, if in fact that is the case. Please let me know when you get a chance. Thank you so very much.
Tammy/TN
Cades Cove/Smokey Mountain National Park/Tennessee
Pipevine Swallowtails Puddling
Hi Tammy,
You are correct that these are both Pipevine Swallowtails. You are also correct that the upper surface and underside (revealed when the wings are closed) are quite different. The Pipevine Swallowtails in your photo are puddling, or drinking moisture that contains minerals, a common practice of many swallowtail butterflies.
orange moth in costa rica
Fri, May 15, 2009 at 5:07 PM
I found this moth in costa rica on the eastern coast near panama, what kind is it?
jes
gandoca, costa rica
Acraga coa
Dear Jes,
We are relatively certain we posted this species or a very similar species in the past, but alas, we have not been able to locate an image in our vast archives. We suspect this may be an individual in the family Lasiocampidae that includes the Tent Caterpillar MOths and Lappet Moths. Hopefully, one of our readers will write in with a correct identification.
Acraga coa
Update: Sun, May 17, 2009 at 9:04 AM
Hi Bugman:
It’s a beautiful shot, but a little hard to identify because of the head-on view. I believe it is in the family Dalceridae (Dalcerid moths), a relatively small family of neotropical moths. Orange coloration and very fuzzy legs are typical for the group. The Dalcerids are related to the Megalopygidae and Limacodidae, and the three families are sometimes collectively known as “slug caterpillars”. Whereas many of the Megalopygidae and Limacodidae possess stinging hairs, Dalcerid larvae are covered in gelatinous tubercles which probably deter attacks from predators. I think Jes’s moth may be in the genus Acraga , possibly A. coa . Regards.
Karl
Hi Daniel:
I just found the previous post of this moth on WTB (I should have checked first). Excellent photos and an identification by Dr. Scott Miller at the Smithsonian Institution.
Karl
Thanks Karl,
It is a little sad that we could not quickly locate this identification in our own archives.
ID for this Tortoise Beetle
Wed, May 13, 2009 at 8:59 PM
Hi guys,
This one has me beat. Looks like several tortoise beetle species except that the prothorax doesn’t cover the head. Any ideas? Found feeding on wattle leaf.
aussietrev
Queensland, Australia
Tortoise Beetle
Hi Trevor,
Sorry for the delay, but Wednesday is the worst day of the week to write to us since we don’t get home from work until nearly 11 PM. Then we get backed up with several days worth of letters. We haven’t had a chance to try to identify your Tortoise Beetle, but perhaps by posting it, someone will write in with an identification.
Tortoise Beetle
Correction: Mon, May 18, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Hi Daniel:
I believe aussietrev’s tortoise beetle (Coleoptera:Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) is in the genus Notosacantha (formerly Hoplionota); probably N. dorsalis. The species appears to be limited to Queensland. The larvae of all Notosacantha species are leaf-miners. Regards.
Karl
Link: http://www.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/katalog%20internetowy/notosacanthadorsalisfig.htm
Large Spotted Moth
Fri, May 15, 2009 at 10:24 PM
This month (May), we found this large moth on our backyard fence in the piney woods of East Texas. The wings were tan, with orange stripes and yellow spots. The body was large and orange. The entire moth was as large as the palm of my hand. My neighbor tells me she’s seen these around before, but I had never seen one.
Cheryl
East Texas (Lufkin)
Royal Walnut Moth
Hi Cheryl,
This is a lovely Royal Walnut Moth or Regal Moth. The caterpillar is the equally impressive, but frightening, though harmless, Hickory Horned Devil.
Beautiful Butterfly you might be interested in
Sat, May 16, 2009 at 4:58 AM
I found this guy resting on my azeala bush a few days ago, thought he was beautiful and grabbed my camera. I have never see a butterfly like this in Long Island, NY and possible ideas?
Mary R.
Long Island
Black Swallowtail
Good Morning Mary,
We hated cropping your beautifully composed image of a female Black Swallowtail because it was such a lovely photograph, but our readership is more interested in seeing the insects as large as possible, so we eliminated much of your azalea and the fence in the background. Female Black Swallowtails have blue markings on the lower wings while the male has only yellow spots. The male is also smaller.
amazing Bug
Tue, May 12, 2009 at 6:46 AM
Hi, I’ve found this kind of bug at Brasilia/DF (BRAZIL), and I’ve never found this in another place. This insect has +/- 5mm and lives on the fences around the grass.
thks
Rui José
Brasília/DF- BRAZIL
Tree Hopper Nymph with Ant (bicho e formiga)
Dear Rui José,
This is an immature Homopteran, probably a Tree Hopper in the family Membracidae. They exude a sweet substance known as honeydew which attracts the ants.
Correction: Mon, May 18, 2009 at 1:46 PM
Hi Daniel:
The Membracid nymph from Brazil is in the genus Membracis, probably M. lunata (= foliata). I’m clueless on the ant, Regards.
Karl
Link: http://www.cerambyx.uochb.cz/membracis2.htm
Wow Karl,
The adult on the link you provided is equally as impressive as the nymph.
Fuzzy Gray & Orange Beetle?
Thu, May 14, 2009 at 3:24 PM
I found this crawling on the back of my neck. I don’t know if it flew in or crawled up. It is fuzzy and gray with orange coloring. It is about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch long. It is sitting on my dustpan and I just put it outside so it could go on it’s merry way. I can’t find any similar pictures online and was hoping you could tell me what it is.
Pamela W.
Midwest City, Oklahoma
Elm Borer
Hi Pamela,
We don’t recognize your Longhorned Borer Beetle or Longicorn in the family Cerambycidae. We haven’t the time to research this at the moment, but perhaps one of our faithful readers knows the identity. We will also try to contact Eric Eaton for his opinion.
Update:
Hi Bugman:
This looks like an Elm Borer Beetle ( Saperda tridentata). Regards
Karl
http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/okwild/misc/elmbor.html
the curious case of the hornet in the daytime
Wed, May 13, 2009 at 11:33 AM
I was at a bus stop and saw this winged insect which came walking along pulling what appears to be a caterpillar or larvae. It kept walking for a whole block with it in tow. At one point, the end of the green insect caught on some debris and stretched as if stuck or clinging. I’m curious to know what these insects are, what they were doing, how it was being carried, and where they could’ve possibly been going. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!
Jongela
Czech Republic
Sand Digger Wasp dragging Caterpillar
Dear Jongela,
Though we cannot tell you the exact identity of the Wasp nor the Caterpillar, we can tell you that many wasps prey upon caterpillars to feed them to the larval wasps. This is behavior often seen in social wasps like hornets and yellowjackets. Many times the wasp will skin the caterpillar and fly off to the nest with manageable sections of the caterpillar. The wasp will “cut” the caterpillar into chunks small enough to fly away with. The fact that this particular wasp is dragging an entire caterpillar inclines us to suspect that perhaps the caterpillar has been paralyzed and will provide a living food source for a developing wasp larva. The adult wasp may provision a nest with living paralyzed caterpillars, laying an egg on each. Perhaps additional research on our part or the input of one of our readers will provide an accurate identification and explanation. A few minutes of searching led us to the Garden Safari Wasp page that revealed this to be a Sand Digger Wasp, Ammophila sabulosa.
I like This
