Moth, beetle, & spawn in southern Ontario
Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 4:44 PM
I have three bugs I’d like identified. All photos were taken today in my backyard (date is on the photos). I live in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada).
… 3)Spawn.jpg – This year almost all dandelion leafs and weeds in my area are covered in this foam with a small yellow slug-like bug in the center! Whenever I go to pick some greens for my Guinea Pigs my hands get covered in the stuff. This is the first year I’ve seen such a thing and they were even present at a park 50km away that I visited last week.
Help in identifying these 3 bugs would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Luke.
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Spittlebug
Hi Luke,
As we have already indicated, multiple unrelated species in the same letter is something we avoid posting, but we were really interested in sharing two of your images with our readership. This is a nymph of an aptly named Spittlebug in the family Cercopidae a group of free living Hemipterans. According to BugGuide: “After the nymph molts for the final time, the resulting adult insect leaves the mass of ‘spittle’ and moves about actively. The ‘spittle’ is derived from a fluid voided from the anus and from a mucilaginous substance excreted by epidermal glands. Spittlebug nymphs wander away from their spittle masses, and either start new ones, or enter those of other nymphs. Aphrophora nymphs hold the record, of one spittle mass over a foot long containing about 100 individuals! (Comment by Andy Hamilton). ”
Moth, beetle, & spawn in southern Ontario
Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 4:44 PM
I have three bugs I’d like identified. All photos were taken today in my backyard (date is on the photos). I live in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada).
… 2)Beetle.jpg – I found this one on my patio, it also chose not to fly, so I took photos of it then released it. Has orange and black stripes. … Help in identifying these 3 bugs would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Luke.
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Swamp Milkweed Beetle
Hi Luke,
Posting letters with multiple photos of unrelated species is something we frown upon because of all the extra labor involved and also because of the problems with our archiving and categorization process. Your beetle appears to be a Swamp Milkweed Beetle, Labidomera clivicollis, one of the Leaf Beetles. This is a beetle with much variation in the markings, but one photo on BugGuide looks nearly identical to your specimen. According to BugGuide: “Part of the orange and black milkweed mimicry complex, which inlcudes Monarch butterfly, Red Milkweed Beetle, Milkweed bugs, and at least one assassin bug. Both larvae and adults of this species cut several side-veins of a milkweed leaf prior to feeding, to reduce the sticky latex that would otherwise be produced at their feeding sites. ”
P.S. Your other requests are a Virginia Ctenuchid Moth and Spittlebug.
Update: from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
The swamp milkweed beetle ID is right on. I don’t have the time at the moment to research the plant bug beyond family level, and that is also correct (Miridae).
Eric
gorgeous orange moth
Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 5:19 PM
Dear Bugman,
This beauty appeared on the window screen of our maintenance facility this week (mid-June). It was there for the whole day, oblivious of photobugs (two-legged variety) and an occasional prod to determine whether it was alive (affirmative). The facility is the the midst of an oak-maple forest adjacent to an extensive salt marsh in northern Massachusetts. It was a warm sunny day. I was not able to make any headway in identification, probably because the wing pattern would be different when it opened its wings. I would love to know what it is — other than spectacular! Thanks.
Susan
Essex County, Massachusetts
Huckleberry Sphinx
Hi Susan,
First, we want to apologize for our tardy response, but we were away for a week and the emails really piled up in our absence. We are selecting letters to read based on the subject line, and we are spending way more time than we should in trying to post as many older emails (while being mindful of newly arriving emails) as possible. Sadly, many wonderful letters will go unanswered and many wonderful photos will go unposted because of time constraints. With that said, we were thrilled to open your letter. We believe this is a new species for our website, the Huckleberry Sphinx, Paonias astylus. We quickly matched it to photos posted to Bill Oehlke’s fabulous website. Bill Oehlke writes this: “Huckleberry Sphinx females call in the night flying males with an airbourne pheromone emitted from a gland at the posterior of the abdomen. Both sexes rest with wings parallel to the resting surface, with the upper lobes of the hindwings protruding above the forewings. The lower abdomen of the male arcs upward toward the head, while the abdomen of the female hangs strait down on a vertical surface. “ That would indicate that your specimen is a male due to the abdominal position. Oehlke also indicates: “Blueberry and huckleberry ( Vaccinium ), cherries ( Prunus ) and willows ( Salix ) are the favorites as larval foodplants. “ We are going to include Bill Oehlke in our response to you as he may request permission to use your photos on his website and also because your sighting is north of what is typical for the Huckleberry Sphinx.
Huckleberry Sphinx
Beetle in Costa Rica
Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 9:49 PM
Hi,
I was walking my dog today in the mountains above the central valley of San Jose, Costa Rica when I came across this beautiful beetle. Can’t tell you too much about it other than it was about 1.5 inches in length and that the ends of its legs were beautiful. I’ve been scouring the internet to find out more about this thing (is it some sort of weevil?) but having limited knowledge in entomology I think I’ll leave this to an expert.
Thomas W.
Bebedero (Escazu), Costa Rica
Unidentified Weevil from Costa Rica
Hi Thomas,
We are still sifting through our backlog for our week away from posting, hence the delay in responding. This is a beautiful Weevil, but we haven’t the time at the moment to try for a species identification. Weevils are in the family Curculionidae, and according to BugGuide, it is the: “Largest family of beetles in the world with more than 40,000 species worldwide, and 2,500 species in North America.” We hope one of our readers had an opportunity to identify your Weevil and can supply us with an answer.
Update from Karl
August 6, 2009
Catching up on weevils (3 in 1 – sorry about that)
Hi Daniel:
The first part of this is just FYI – a great internet resource. I found a little time to go back and catch up on some wonderful weevils that caught my attention as they were posted. One of my favorite resources for this sort of thing is the digitized version of the Biologia Centrali-Americana (58 volumes!). It is a little difficult to navigate through, but what an incredible storehouse of information! The volumes on insects were originally produced between 1879-1915, but they still stand up as an incredible body of work. The two Costa Rican weevils were identified from this site. Cheers. K
Daniel:
Re: Unknown Weevil from Costa Rica (Beetle in Costa Rica) – Jun 13, 2009
This weevil is in the genus Cratosomus (Curculionidae: Conoderinae [=Zygopinae]), probably C. punctulatus. The species is quite wide spread; particularly common in Mexico, but ranging south to Peru, and east to Trinidad. The species is apparent highly variable in appearance and ranges from 13-23 mm in length (i.e., big). Regards.
Karl
Awaiting Papilio rutulus or Papilio multicaudata?)
Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 3:42 PM
After a refreshing 10 month nap…the swallowtails have emerged. It looks like they are Two-Tailed: you were so right. The tell-tale (tail 
) sign was the _/*thinly*/_ ringed blue/green spot inside the yellow eye spots…the Western looks almost the same but the ring is thicker. Thanks again…and, no, we still can’t tell the boy butterflies from the girls.
(ed. note: We believe this would be from Montana)
Two Tailed Swallowtail
Dear bigskybugkids,
Thanks so much for sending us the photos of your newly emerged Two Tailed Swallowtails. We will be posting them today as their own posting as well as an update to the caterpillar photos you sent in April.
Two Tailed Swallowtail
Colorful orange bug found in Tennessee
Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 9:12 AM
Hi there. I just found your fantastic website. I love it! I dug out this old photo of a bug I saw when walking on a mountain Trail in Tennessee one summer several years back. This bug was about an inch and a half long, moved very slowly and so bright orange that I could not miss it. What do you think?
MB, Butler, PA
Tennessee Mountains
Freshly Molted Wheel Bug
Hi MB,
We are certain that this is an Assassin Bug, and are nearly certain that it is a newly metamorphosed Wheel Bug, Arilus cristatus. When Wheel Bugs first metamorphose into adults, they are orange, but as the exoskeleton hardens, it darkens to dark gray or black. We found a matching image on BugGuide to support our identification.
Hummingbird moth?
Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 9:16 PM
Hello bugman,
This moth flew into my friends sun room last week. It was pretty big, about the size of a hummingbird. It sounded like one, too. I was thinking it could be some type of hummingbird moth, but I’m not sure. Please let me know what type of bug this is. Thanks.
Danielle
Denver, Colorado
Nessus Sphinx
Hi Danielle,
Moths in the family Sphingidae are commonly referred to as Hawkmoths or Sphinxes, and Hummingbird Moths are a common name for the Clearwing diurnal moths in the tribe Dilophonotini, a subcategory of the Sphingidae. Your moth is a Nessus Sphinx, Amphion floridensis, which despite its name, has a much greater range than just the state of Florida. The Nessus Sphinx is also a diurnal species and it is frequently mistaken for a hummingbird, as are many of the Sphinxes, especially when they hover near flowers gathering nectar. You may read more about the Nessus Sphinx on Bill Oehlke’s awesome website.
1
Is this a bee or fly?
Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 4:53 AM
Nearly everyday I come home from work to find one or two of what look like skinny bumblebees on my front porch clinging to the screens. The porch was just recently screened in and doesn’t have a door yet which is how they are getting on the porch. The bees/flies are pretty docile and easy to catch. I’ve been able to catch them in wads of cloth and then I just open the cloth outside and they fly away. I have a large flowerbed right outside the porch with lots of blooming flowers which is probably what is attracting them in the first place. I see plenty of the regular fat bumblebees in the garden all the time. I live in central florida and this has been going on for about a month now.
Just in case the pictures are not clear enough you can also see them in my photobucket acount, which is as follows.
Kara
central Florida, Citrus county
Bee Killer
Good Morning Kara,
What a magnificent image of a Southern Bee Killer, Mallophora orcina, a species of Robber Fly that is a very convincing bumblebee mimic. Souther Bee Killers prey on insects, including bees. Its proximity to your flower bed can be explained if that flower bed is frequented by bees. BugGuide also has information on this species. BugGuide indicates this of the genus: “Large, fuzzy, bee-mimicking robber flies. Resemble Laphria , another genus of robbers that mimic bumblebees, but is even hairier and has antennae with a very thin terminal final segment, whereas Laphria has thick antennae.” Your specimen has very thin antennae.
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