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Monthly Archives June 2009

Lime Hawkmoth from England

It looks like a fighter plane
Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 12:55 AM
this was spotted in london last night whilst filling my car with fuel. it looks like a mini stealth fighter plane with a thick scorpion like stinger on its back. it wasnt bothered by me being there and remained totally still.
very creepy, never seen anything as aggressive looking as this, it had defined camouflage patterns and a a streamlined look.
what is it, how rare is it? should i have put it in a jar and kept it?
David
London, England

lime hawkmoth david 300x282 Lime Hawkmoth from England

Lime Hawk Moth

Hi David,
This is a Lime Hawkmoth, Mimas tiliae, and according to the UKMoths Website it is:  “A reasonably common species in the southern half of Britain, it was most frequent in the London area, where there are still extensive tree-lined avenues. In recent years its distribution has spread northwards and is now regularly found well into North Yorkshire and beyond. “  The larvae, which are known as Hornworms, feed on lime, alder, birch and elm tree leaves.  We do not believe you should have put it in a jar and kept it.  Though we are not opposed to keeping insects in jars long enough to observe them, we believe they are best when left in the wild.  We have had other members of the Sphinx or Hawk Moth family Sphingidae referred to as stealth bombers because of their appearance.

Posted 21 June 2009 § Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths ‡ Comments (1) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Male Dobsonfly

locust like with very long pincers
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 6:38 PM
We found a live bug in the trees of the North Georgia Mountains. It is 4 and 1/4 inches long with long, external, transparent wings, marked with black “sketches” to look like birch bark. It has what appears to be two sets of small mandibles, one set it straight and the other curved. It also has a pair of very long, thin, 2 inch mandible like peices that resemble calipers and cross in front. Its head is large, thick and ziggurat shaped. The bug also has a strong rotting oder. (It is very alive and kicking however–not dead!) I appologize for the condition of the photo–I don’t have a great zoom on my camera. Thanks so much for your help!
Heather Johnston
Elijay, North Georgia Mountians

dobsonfly male heather 300x255 Male Dobsonfly

Male Dobsonfly

Hi Heather,
The descriptiveness and entertainment value of your letter more than makes up for the blurriness of your photo. This is a male Dobsonfly who can be distinguished from the female by his caliper-like mandibles. Though they look quite fierce, they actually are incapable of biting. The female is the biter. The mandibles of the male are used, according to what we have read, in the mating process or in the competition for the mate. We would love to see photo documentation of that. We have just recently posted several photos of female Dobsonflies and a photo of the closely related Giant Fishfly, so your letter is a welcome addition to our site. The Dobsonfly is one of our most common summer identification requests.

Thank you for your response.  It is particularly good to know that the dobsonfly does not wield those mandibles on hikers!
Much appreciation,
Heather Johnston

Posted 20 June 2009 § Dobsonflies and Fishflies ‡ Comments (0) °

Giant Ichneumon

Horse Hair Tail Insect
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 5:49 PM
These weird looking bugs are hanging around tree stumps, which have many holes in them. I don’t know if these insects made the holes or if they are trying to lay eggs in them, or get at the bugs in the dead stumps. The tail is almost like a strand of horse hair, about 4 inches long. The head, front legs and tentacles are bright yellow. It has a narrow body (black) about 1 1/2 inches in length and the wings are purple in color, 1 inch in length. As you can see in one of the pictures, the tail turns into a light green circular thing and the tail looks like it is rolled up in it. Then it will lose this thing and again have the horse hair like tail again. They also can fly. What the heck are these things?
Linda Mueller
St. Paul, Minnesota

megarhyssa atrata linda 163x300 Giant Ichneumon

Giant Ichneumon

Good Evening Linda,
You have Giant Ichneumons, Megarhyssa atrata, non-stinging relatives of wasps.  Giant Ichnuemons parasitize the larvae of wood boring insects like the Pigeon Horntail.  The female Giant Ichneumons locate the grubs deep inside the wood, and then use their stinger-like ovipositor to deposit an egg inside the tunnel inhabited by the larva.  When the egg hatches, the larval Giant Ichneumon locates the wood boring larva and parasitizes it. The holes you saw were probably produced when the wood boring larvae emerged as adults, or possibly by the Giant Ichneumon when it emerged.

megarhyssa atrata 2 linda 197x300 Giant Ichneumon

Giant Ichneumon

Posted 20 June 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Scoliid Wasp

Bee fly
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 9:55 AM
I racked my brain trying to figure out what species bee this is, only to find out it’s not a bee at all. I’m still having trouble determining which genius it is. It has a very bright orange color. And is about the same size as a Bumble Bee.
Sincerely, Audrey Wilkison
Long Island, New York

scoliid audrey 300x217 Scoliid Wasp

Scoliid Wasp

Hi Audrey,
This is a Scoliid Wasp, a family of wasps that parasitizes the grubs of Scarab Beetles, especially June Beetles.  Scoliid Wasps are large, robust, hairy wasps. Your photos are quite blurry, so we are not certain of the exact species identification, but we believe this may be Scolia nobilitata which is pictured on BugGuide.  According to BugGuide, its “Range Includes southeastern United States. Noted from Illinois, West Virginia, North Carolina, south Florida.”   We would have eliminated the larger Campsomeris quadrimaculata because BugGuide indicates it is found “Throughout Southeastern United States,” yet there is  one report on BugGuide from New Jersey and it was in June.  Again, your photos look too blurry to be certain, but we believe your specimen looks more like Campsomeris quadrimaculata, and the sighting from New Jersey makes that a distinct possibility.

scoliid audrey 2 300x235 Scoliid Wasp

Scoliid Wasp

Posted 20 June 2009 § Scoliid Wasps ‡ Comments (0) °

Immature Florida Predatory Stink Bugs communally feeding on Bumble Bee

Red and black what I think is a beetle eating a bumble bee
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 1:42 PM
I was outside working in my yard when I looked up on my awning and saw what I thought was a bumble bee holding a flower, but then I saw some liquid drop and I decided to look closer. When I did, I saw that it was a bunch of small red and black beetles eating the bumble bee. I was kind of shocked. I just moved to northern North Carolina and have seen some strange bugs, but these ones eating the bumble bee is the strangest. If you could, please tell me what this is.
Angelica
Reidsville, NC

stink bugs eat bee angelica 300x185 Immature Florida Predatory Stink Bugs communally feeding on Bumble Bee

Florida Predatory Stink Bugs eat Bumble Bee

Hi Angelica,
These are immature Florida Predatory Sting Bugs, Euthyrhynchus floridanus, sometimes called Halloween Bugs because of the black and orange coloration of the adults, which are winged. According to BugGuide, they are: “Predatory on other insects, including caterpillars, beetle. Nymphs, and to some extent, adults, are gregarious, and may attack large prey in groups.” Your photo nicely illustrates this. Despite what your photo illustrates, the Florida Predatory Stink Bug is a beneficial insect because of the caterpillars and beetles it consumes. We are guessing Bees, since they can easily fly away, are not commonly eaten.

Update: From Eric Eaton
Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:12:31 -0700 (PDT)
The predatory stink bugs appear to be scavenging the remains of a dead carpenter bee (it is missing both hind legs, so who can say for certain…). Many hemipterans, even plant-feeders, will scavenge dead insects on occasion.
Eric

Posted 20 June 2009 § Bumble Bees § Stink Bugs and Shield Bugs ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Giant Stag Beetle

Red, possible rhino beetle of some sort.
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 4:55 AM
A friend that lives in Atlanta, GA found this bug above her apartment door, on June 19, 2009. I did a bit of searching, and it looks much more similar to a Rhino Beetle than any other I could quickly find. I’m not sure if any are native to this area or not though.
Jenn
Atlanta, GA

stag jenn Giant Stag Beetle

Giant Stag Beetle

Hi Jenn,
This is the first image of a Giant Stag Beetle, Lucanus elaphus, we have received this year. Stag Beetles are only distantly related to Rhinoceros Beetles.  BugGuide has this information posted:  “Eggs are laid in crevices of moist, decaying wood. Larvae feed on decaying logs, stumps, where adults can be found in spring, early summer. (Presumably males battle there.) Larvae take one or more years to develop. Adults can be found at lights in early summer. Adults live two or more years, but one generation per year.
Remarks There is some conservation concern about this species. The related Lucanus cervus , of Europe, is threatened. See: Staines, C. L. Distribution of Lucanus elaphus Linnaeus (sic) (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) in North America. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 2001, vol. 55(4): 397-404. “

Posted 20 June 2009 § Stag Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Mason Wasp

Wasp with purplish wings???????
Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Please help me identify this creature that is eating my deck
thank you
Windsor Ontario Canada

mason wasp ontario 234x300 Mason Wasp

Mason Wasp

This is a Mason Wasp, Monobia quadridens.  According to BugGuide it:  “Usually nests in wood borings, but sometimes burrows in dirt banks. Sometimes takes over abandoned nests of carpenter bees or ground bees, also Sceliphron (mud dauber) cells. Nest is provisioned with caterpillars, and cells of nest are separated by mud partitions.”  We do not believe this Mason Wasp is damaging your deck, and you do not neet to fear that it will “eat” it to the point that it is structurally compromised.  The advantage of the caterpillars from your garden that will be used to feed its young far outweighs any damage done to the deck.

Posted 20 June 2009 § Wasps and Hornets ‡ Comments (0) °

Cicada and shed skin from Oregon

Is this a Cicada? Good or bad bug?
Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 9:49 PM
Thank you! Enjoying this bug site very much! We just started a veggie garden in a de-commissioned Christmas Tree farm… pulled out the trees in Jan. and had a large tractor pull stumps, then rip the roots out. We tilled, amended, limed and cover cropped the soil, and now there are pencil sized holes EVERYWHERE! This creature emerged from one hole this week, seemed damaged and dazed… lived in a jar for 2 days while I tried to identify it! Cicada?? Yesterday hubby found ANOTHER in his truck grill. There are shells (of the nymph?) on soil surface, too. Really want to know if this is a good or bad bug! The kids and I have so much fun taking time to ID all the critters we find! Thanks for the help! – Sonia R.
Sonia, Reagan Acres Farm
Estacada, OR.

cicada oregon sonia 300x193 Cicada and shed skin from Oregon

Cicada and shed Exoskeleton

Hi Sonia,
This is indeed a Cicada. We believe it is in the genus Okanagana, possibly Okanagana bella which can be viewed on BugGuide. We will check with Eric Eaton to see if he is in agreement with our identification. Cicadas are plant feeders. The nymphs live underground and feed off of the sap in the roots of plants. BugGuide indicates: “Despite their numbers and large size, cicadas do little damage to crops or trees.” We suspect that the large number of Cicadas on your farm were feeding from the roots of the Christmas trees.

Update from Eric Eaton
Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:12:31 -0700 (PDT)
Yes, it is indeed a species of Okanagana, which is by far the most common genus found up there).
Eric

Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 9:32 PM
Thank you! I read about this bugger… not supposed to be found in our area though? What could that mean… the neighbors (for that matter, the whole local valley here) for years have had unexplained Christmas tree “flagging” and death… a possible cause? Also, isn’t this a “periodical” that shouldn’t have emerged yet? By the way, many more “emerged today” and they were caught in garden in the act of “coming out of the ground” (are the big holes we found their “in” or “out” holes?) and emerging from their larval shells. We notice that they start out light, bright green and soon turn darker as they dry their wings. Where have they gone now that they have emerged? Thank you again and I so enjoy the site and your good information.

Hi Sonia,
Eric Eaton has confirmed our identification and has indicated that Okanagana is the most common genus of Cicada found in Oregon. The Periodical Cicadas in the genus Magicicada are not found in your area. Most Cicadas are annual, living underground as nymphs for about three years, and then emerging. Cicadas not of the periodical type emerge as adults in the same location each year.  There is no “inhole” so to speak. When the Cicada eggs hatch, the newly hatched nymphs burrow, but they are so small, they do not make noticeable holes. The holes you have found are the emergence holes. Many insects darken after metamorphosis when their exoskeletons harden. We do not believe the tree die-off is in any way related to the Cicadas. After emergence, Cicadas seek out a mate and reproduce. Eastern Annual Cicadas, known as Dogday Harvestflies, are more often heard than seen. The mating call can be very loud and is most often heard in the latter half of the summer.

Posted 20 June 2009 § Cicadas ‡ Comments (0) °

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