What is it? Wood Wasp/Horntail?
August 17, 2009
We live in Western Washington State, and we were just remodeling our new house that we bought which is located in a very wooded area. We had all the doors and windows open while working. Two of these insects flew in and my husband said they were very aggressive. He said they were going after him trying to attack. I’ve been trying to research what kind of insect it is, but can’t find an exact match. It looks a little like the pictures I’ve seen of wood wasps or horntails, but I’m not sure. It was about 2 in long! Do you have a better idea of what this is?
Laura
Covington, Washington
Wood Wasp: Urocerus californicus
Hi Laura,
We are exerting a bit of creative license and calling your native insect, Urocerus californicus, by the common name California Wood Wasp, There is only minimal information posted on the information page for this species on BugGuide, but Eric Eaton has the following information on an individual posting on BugGuide: “It is indeed a female U. californicus (orange wings, all-black abdomen). I’m envious. In all my years in Oregon I never once saw one of these alive. They must be like buprestids: emerge briefly in large numbers such that if you aren’t in the neighborhood that day, you would never know they existed:-)“ Wood Wasps cannot sting, and what appears to be a stinger is the female’s ovipositor.
giant black fly
August 15, 2009
I found this huge fly in a wooded area by my work which is in Ajax, Ontario (just east of Toronto). It was well over an inch long, as you can see in the photo. I managed to take a picture, but the camera at my work was not the greatest, so the quality isn’t the best, but you can clearly see just how big this fly actually is.
any way is fine
Ajax, Ontario
Black Horse Fly
Dear any way is fine,
This is a Black Horse Fly, Tabanus atratus. Females of the species suck mammalian blood, but the males, like the one in your photo, are harmless.
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Photo of slug with eyes showing
August 14, 2009
Hi Folks –
I love your site and thought you might enjoy this photo of a leopard slug in which I can even see the eyes! I found him/her in the undergrowth of my garden outside of Philadelphia, PA in August, where we’ve been having an incredibly wet summer.
Thanks for your good work!
Betsy
Merion Station, PA
Leopard Slug
Hi Betsy,
Thanks for sending us your photo of a Leopard Slug, Limax maximus, a species introduced to North America from Europe. Eyesight in Leopard Slugs is quite limited, as the primitive eyes at the stalks of the tentacles are sensitive to light and dark, but not much else. We found a nice Leopard Slug page with basic information, and the Bottlebrush Slug Page created by James K. Sayre has left us with a new appreciation for these lower beasts that proliferate in our garden and eat tender young plants.
possibly a skipper
August 15, 2009
Hello, this was on a eupatorium perfoliatium. I could probably look through books and find it but am being lazy. If you don’t have time I will understand.
thank you, Louise
Orefield, PA 18069 USA
Gray Hairstreak
Hi Louise,
Your butterfly is a Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus. According to BugGuide: “Food Caterpillar hosts: Flowers and fruits from an almost endless variety of (usually) herbaceous plants; most often from pea (Fabaceae) and mallow (Malvaceae) families including beans (Phaseolus), clovers (Trifolium), cotton (Gossypium), and mallow (Malva).
Adult food: Nectar from many flower species including dogbane, milkweed, mint, winter cress, goldenrod, tick trefoil, and white sweet clover.
Life Cycle Males perch all afternoon on small trees and shrubs to seek receptive females. Eggs are laid singly on flowers of host plant. Young caterpillars feed on flowers and fruits; older ones may eat leaves. Caterpillars are sometimes attended by ants–they receive a sugary solution from the dorsal nectary organ (Idaho Museum of Natural History, BugGuide photos). Chrysalids hibernate.
RemarksThe most widespread hairstreak in North America.“
Costa Rican Walking Stick
August 15. 2009Hi Bugman:
I traveled to Costa Rica this past winter with few expectations but with a clear objective to finally find a walking stick (family Phasmatidae). Our weather was pretty awful and despite two weeks of considerable searching I had no luck until the very last day when I spotted this Metriophasma diocles clinging to the underside of a leaf in Carara National Park. Even turning the leaf over for a closer look did not convince some of the people with me that it was actually a living creature. So I tapped it gently with my finger and was immediately rewarded with a spectacular startle display. It relaxed after a short while and resumed a more cryptic posture along the stem, but by this time a small crowd was gathering and it decided it had had enough. It flew away, very slowly but with surprising grace, and took cover on a higher branch. Regards.
Karl
Walking Stick from Costa Rica: Metriophasma diocles
Hi Karl,
Thanks for this wonderful contribution to the website. We found some other photos online for a link.
Walking Stick from Costa Rica: Metriophasma diocles
New Species?
August 16, 2009
I was on the back of a pickup when a friend of mine noticed a yellow jacket on the bed, so I stepped on it. It wasn’t dead, and my friend noted that it was an extremely weird yellow jacket. I took a closer look at it and noticed that it was not a yellow jacket, it was a praying mantis. They’ve been discovered around where I and my friends discovered this one before, and I could not find any information on this species on the internet. When I stepped on this insect, its claws came off, but I recovered them off of the bed of the pickup. Also, there was some damage done to the abdomen where a possible stinger may have been, if this is a crossbreed, but I cannot tell.
SZW
Idaho
Wasp Mantifly: Unnecessary Carnage
Dear SZW,
We hope that had your realized that this was not a Yellow Jacket, you would have refrained from stepping on it. It is a harmless Wasp Mantidfly, Climaciella brunnea, or perhaps a related species. It is related to neither wasps nor mantids, but is in the same insect order as lacewings and antlions. It is a beneficial predator and it cannot sting or otherwise hurt you.
Yes, had I known I would not have stepped on it. Since I realized that I made a mistake, I am attempting to preserve this insect. It died in the container en route home. That pin is not in the insect, it is keeping it standing strait so it does not curl when it dries, so I can put it in with my collection. Well, thanks for letting me know what it is. I’m off to type a label.
SZW
Fed Up With Flies
August 16, 2009
Hi,
About a week ago, we found maggots inside one of our outside trash cans. We disposed of the trash can and thoroughly cleaned the area around it as well. We are extremely clean people, so we never have food trash laying around the house, or feces, or any type of decaying matter. This is the first time we have had a problem with flies. A few days after this happened, we starting noticing swarms of flies in our basement. We have a finished basement and it is kept as clean as the rest of the house, so this was strange. Anyway, we killed all of the ones we could find with a handy dandy vacuum and newspaper. It seemed to have been over, but a few hours ago we had another bout of them, upwards of 30 or so. I did a bit of my own research online and identified them as blow flies. They are a green, blue metallic color. I also found that these flies have to lay eggs in rotting animals or organic decaying matter. We have looked EVERYWHERE in the house and around the house for possible ‘n esting sites’ yet to no avail. I am wondering where they could have come from the second time? Seeing as though there are no decaying animals or trash cans to lay eggs in, why are we getting a second round of these little guys? What can we do to make sure there’s not a round three?
Rebecca Schulte
St. Louis, Missouri
Common Green Bottle Fly
Hi Rebecca,
We believe your Blow Fly is a Common Green Bottle Fly, Lucilia sericata. We have gotten similar accounts in the past and the seemingly magical appearance of flies in ancient times fostered the belief in Spontaneous Generation. It is possible that there is a dead animal somewhere within your walls that is causing the flies to appear. It should also be noted that the maggots crawl away from the food source to pupate. The maggots might have migrated before you located the problem, and even if the source of the infestation has been located, the pupae are most likely in a different location. Once metamorphosis occurs, the flies seem to magically appear. We expect that you are probably at the end of this annoying household intrusion.
Common Green Bottle Fly
Albino Fly?
August 16, 2009
This bug was filmed in keystone heights florida. What is it? It looks like a fly, but not. I did save it after it died and still have it.
I couldn’t get a decent photo of it, but here is a movie
http://hartmanndesign.net/whitebug.mov
Clair
Northern Florida
Horse Fly: Chlorotabanus crepuscularis
Hi Clair,
This is Chlorotabanus crepuscularis, a species of Horse Fly. According to BugGuide: “Identification Body pale green, eyes and thorax yellowish green. The only green tabanid in NA. Range An eastern species occurring south of a line from Delaware to southern Texas. Habitat Larvae predaceous, usually in soil at edge of water and in floating vegetation, occasionally in forest soil. Adults in vicinity of larval habitats Season In Florida, flying from mid-March to mid-September with peak activity from May to mid-July. Food Females feed on mammalian blood Remarks As with all the blood-feeding tabanids, the females are responsive to Carbon Dioxide. I caught over 500 females in one night with a trap baited with dry ice in coastal South Carolina. Will also come to lights at night.
Regarded as a pest species in Florida“
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