Large Green Beetle
August 25, 2009
Hello again. Thank you for your help identifying the interesting insects I find. I love your web page and have managed to identify most of my finds using it and bug guide. This large green beetle almost got squashed as it was sitting on the cement step. I found quite a few green beetles here and on bug guide but none seem to quite match this one. It’s about 1.25 -1.5 inches long. It crawled surprisingly fast up and down my arm as I was trying to take it’s picture. It was also flighted, though it seemed to prefer to walk. The second pic is just for size, my watchband is 1 inch wide where the logo is.
Jess
Rhode Island
Fiery Searcher
Hi Jess,
Your impressive beetle is a Ground Beetle in the genus Calosoma, the Caterpillar Hunters. The species is Calosoma scrutator, the Fiery Searcher. You can read more about the Fiery Searcher on BugGuide which states: “Life cycle is one year, but adults long-lived, reported to live for up to three years. Adults attracted to lights. Eggs are laid singly in soil. Larvae pupate in earthen cells. Adults can overwinter.“
What is this caterpillar
August 24, 2009
I live in Western Newfoundland. My grandson found the attached caterpillar in his back garden. what abeauty…The “horn” is at the back end. I put is in a container and addedafew shrub leaves which is quickley began to feed on. I’ve since given it its freedom (I may be sorry :O)
Keith P.
Wetsern Newfoundland, Canada
Laurel Sphinx Caterpillar
Hi Keith,
This beautiful caterpillar is a Laurel Sphinx, Sphinx kalmiae. We quickly located it on Bill Oehlke’s awesome website.
Thank you for your prompt reply and interesting literature. It certainly is a very beautiful creature. I’m in deep trouble with my wife if it decides to breed in the garden – we have Lilac L
Keith Piercey
Corner Brook
Hi again Keith,
WE will try to get you off the hook in the interest of preserving your marital bliss. Though a large Sphinx Caterpillar can consume a considerable quantity of leaves, this does not do lasting damage to the plant. By the time your Sphinx Caterpillars appear in a given year, the lilacs have finished blooming. We doubt that there would ever be more than a few Laurel Sphinx Caterpillars on a given lilac. Some moths lay all their eggs in one location, but Sphinx Moths tend to be more selective, and place single eggs on distant leaves.
Beetles Eating My Jamaica Dogwood
August 24, 2009
I was planning on using insecticide to control them ( between these, mealy bugs, and a massive scale infestation I’m getting desperate) but while I was taking these photos a Dingy Purplewing butterfly landed on the tree so I may just have to learn live with them.
Tad
Cutler Bay, FL
Little Leaf Notcher Weevil
Hi Tad,
We are relatively certain that this is a Little Leaf Notcher Weevil, Artipus floridanus. We did a web search of “white weevil florida and were quickly led to a BugGuide page.
Little Leaf Notcher Weevil
I didn’t realize it was a weevil, I kept looking at leaf beetles.
After a closer look it turns out to be this weevil:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2008/02/23/little-leaf-notcher-weevil-invasive-species-from-sri-lanka/
According to this document ” http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/ento/entcirc/ent412.pdf ” many of the host plants are in my yard.
Thanks again
¶ Posted 25 August 2009 § Weevils ‡ ° What’s this huge colorful grasshopper?
August 24, 2009
We found these large colorful grasshoppers in the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park, Texas. But identification stumped everyone we asked. We also saw a smaller, more tan/less colorful version that we did not get a picture of. Possibly the female?
Rebecca, Amelia and Sylvia
Big Bend National Park, Texas
Plains Lubber Grasshopper
Dear Rebecca, Amelia and Sylvia,
This beautiful grasshopper is a Plains Lubber Grasshopper, Brachystola magna. It is also called a Homesteader or Western Lubber Grasshopper according to BugGuide. BugGuide also indicates it has a : “Two-year life cycle, with eggs requiring two overwintering periods before hatching.” Actually, the female is the larger individual in most grasshoppers.
horned caterpiller
August 24, 2009
Hello,
Some friends and I were taking a walk in Hemlock gorge in Maryland and we came across a very strange caterpiller. It was on a chunk of tree bark which was on top of a large rock in a stream.
Jason
Hemlock Gorge Maryland
Hickory Horned Devil
Hi Jason,
We always enjoy posting the first Hickory Horned Devil photographs of the season, and your photo is neither the first nor the second we received, but it is the most detailed. Thanks for sending us this gorgeous Hickory Horned Devil photograph.
Orange blk spotted soft body insect
August 24, 2009
Found on Corn flower plant. Has a soft shiny body
Gary
New York
Potato Beetle Larva
Hi Gary,
This is the larva of a Potato Beetle in the genus Leptinotarsa. BugGuide notes that though the genus is collectively known as Potato Beetles, “but note, not all spp. host on Solanaceous plants.“
What kind of moth is this?
August 24, 2009
We found this moth at a lake in northern Wyoming. It has very feathery antennas. White wings with black spots. Its abdomen is white and black striped, with a fuzzy orange head and thorax. My images are not real clear. Thank you.
Allison
northern Wyoming
Hera Buck Moth
Hi Allison,
This is some species of Buck Moth in the genus Hemileuca, possibly the Hera Buckmoth, Hemileuca hera. You can see if the photos posted to BugGuide match your moth.
Almost artful display
August 24, 2009
Me and my wife were on the way to the hospital to get some metal stitches pulled from me tummy from a hernia surgery, and seeing as we had the nikon tagging along with us in the backpack, decided to go by the fountain situated in front of BLDG 2 at the Bill Hefner VA Hospital in Salisbury, NC. We truly couldn’t have come at a better time as as soon as we arrived there was also a pair of grasshoppers prolonging the species as it were. I almost thought it necessary to recommend a hotel, LOL! I will be probably be adding another post here since I truly don’t know where this other insect I found falls into the category. Several Butterflies (Swallowtails and others) were showing off before us along with the random wood boring bee.
This insect is approximately 9/16″ to 5/8″ in length and was kinda slow in moving selectively extracting pollen, and almost playing dead when we got too close. It has some markings that almost look as if someone had attempted to paint small flowers on each side… Absolutely stunning when you can zoom in. Let me know what this litter bugger is, me and my wife are dying to know!!!
Amateur Photographer, Can you tell?
VA Hospital, Salisbury, NC Next to waterfall
Ailanthus Webworm Moth
Dear Amateur Photographer,
This moth is known as an Ailanthus Webworm, but sadly, it only eats the leaves of the Ailanthus, or Tree of Heaven, and it doesn’t do much to remove this scourge from North America.
¶ Posted 24 August 2009 § Moths ‡ ° 
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