A Katydid?
March 17, 2010
Hi Daniel,
Eric Eaton sent me to you and he believes the picture I am attaching is a katydid. At first, thought it was some sort of kissing bug because I live in Antigua Guatemala and woke up one morning to this bugger on a spray bottle in my kitchen. It was huge and scared the daylights out of me! I’m also attaching another picture of a spider my husband found (he works in the Peten in the middle of the jungle.) Was wondering if it is a species of Wolf Spider? (it was the size of my husband’s hand.) Any help would be appreciate.
Natasha
Guatemala
Katydid
Hi Natasha,
We will address you identification requests in different postings. This is definitely a Katydid, but we do not know the species. It is a female. We will contact katydid expert Piotr Naskrecki to see if he recognizes the species.
Hi Daniel,
This is a female of Nannonotus alatus (Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae), a species common at mid- to high elevations (especially in Alajuela and San Jose Provinces), where it can be found under bark of tall trees.
Cheers,
Piotr
orange spider
March 17, 2010
My name is Brianna. I was wondering what kind of spider this was. it has large palps. its legs are black and its body is a neon reddish orange color. I found it hanging of the railing of my open porch.
Bri
Clinton, TN
Dwarf Spider
Hi Bri,
This really is an unusual looking spider. We are posting the photo before we attempt to identify it. We are a bit busy now and we hope one of our readers will be able to provide an answer.
I think I may have found out what the spider is. Ceraticelus minutus. I’m keeping him as a pet. Some people have dogs. I have a dwarf spider. =] He actually looks alot different now. Hes paps are black and he is turning tan and tangerine. -Bri
Hi again Bri,
Thanks for the follow up information. We found some photos on the Spiders Electronic Field Guide website.
¶ Posted 17 March 2010 § Spiders ‡ ° Loved this Longicorn
March 17, 2010
Hey there, I can’t find a picture of this longicorn anywhere to ID it. I fell in love with him.
Colour is drab, but cute factor is enormous (see pic 2)
Body 17mm, antennae 25mm. (one appears to be broken short)
Lived in my flat for a week. After looking up a similar bug to find what habitat he would like I realised how obvious it was – his markings and antennae shape are perfect camouflage for aussie leaf litter.
Photos are my attempt to coax him onto paper with moist woody bits . Instead he just dragged some onto himself. Ah, gotta love em.
Lisa
Sydney Australia
Feather Horned Longicorn
Hi Lisa,
Just over a year ago, we received two requests to identify this awesome Feather Horned Longicorn, Piesarthrius marginellus. The Csiro Science Image website has a photo for comparison, as does the Worldwide Cerambycidae Photo Gallery.
Feather Horned Longicorn
Dear Carlos
Thankyou so much for your reply, it was incredibly helpful. When I looked at the previous request you directed me to, here in this vast Australian continent, I was amazed to see the post was from my suburb.
Lane Cove, although close to the city, extremely built up and urban, is lucky to back onto Lane Cove National park – a diverse old ecosystem. Perhaps this odd variety evolved there, the coincidence is extraordinary.
Highest regards
Lisa
Ed. Note: We can’t help but to wonder who Carlos is.
Hey Daniel …Carlos.. whatever.
I rolled around laughing at your succinct reply.
I am sure who Carlos is.
Unfortunately, he is a rather nasty criminal who was being blabbed about on the news when I was writing that email!
The phonetic association with your surname must’ve sprung a coil in my very huge and tightly wound brain.
Humblest apologies. But gee I enjoyed the gaffaw.
Hope if sometime I write to you again, there’s a report on Einstein or Gandhi in the noise space.
Dear Albert…
Lisa
..must go fix that darn loose cranium spring…mutter mutter.
Canadian or Eastern Tiger Swallowtail?
March 15, 2010
This picture was taken May 2009 in upstate NY (near Albany). I’ve narrowed it down to either a Canadian or Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly and wondered if you could help with a specific identification. Thank you!
Naomi
Albany, NY
Which Tiger Swallowtail???
Hi Naomi,
We haven’t the necessary skills to differentiate between the various Tiger Swallowtails without doing research. Perhaps one of our readers can supply the answer in the event we cannot immediately turn our attention to the answer. In the meanwhile, we are experiencing lilac envy. We planted two lilacs in our garden last year that were bred to bloom in Southern California which does not have the necessary cold winter for the most lilacs. We are still awaiting the spring growth, and at this time, we are uncertain if we will be getting any blooms.
please identify this bug
March 15, 2010
I found this in my jacket! I don’t want to kill it if it is harmless or useful.
Celeste
Charlotte, North Carolina
False Bombardier Beetle
Hi Celeste,
This is a False Bombardier Beetle in the genus Galerita. According to BugGuide, the False Bombardier Beetles can be distinguished from the true Bombardier Beetles by the “Large size, blue/black striated elytra, brown pronotum, legs, palpi. Head black, unlike the bombardiers, Brachinus, which have a brown head, and are usually smaller (4-15 mm).“ False Bombardier Beetles are beneficial predators with a unique defense mechanism. According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the United States of America website: “The carabid beetle Galerita lecontei has a pair of abdominal defensive glands that secrete a mixture of formic acid, acetic acid, and lipophilic components (long-chain hydrocarbons and esters). Formic acid, at the concentration of 80%, is the principal constituent. The beetle ejects the secretion as a spray, which it aims accurately toward parts of the body subjected to assault. At full capacity, the glands store 4.5 mg of formic acid (3% of body mass), enough for upward of six ejections.”
Tiny aquatic insects
March 15, 2010
About a three weeks ago I noticed, what can only be described as, a “raft” in tiny insects floating in a bucket of rainwater at my front door. They are about 3-4mm in length and, when disturbed, dart around in the water before coming back togather again.
Ann Sutherland
Longhope, Island of Hoy, Orkney, Scotland, UK
Springtails
Hi Ann,
These are Springtails, primitive insects that are believed to be the most common arthropod on the planet. Springtails are highly diverse in their habitats depending upon the species. Some species are found on the surface of the snow and are known as Snow Fleas, and others are found on the surface of the ocean. Springtails similar to the ones you found are sometimes found in great numbers on the surface of swimming pools. Others are found in damp soil and in moldy conditions indoors.
March 16, 2010
Lefty and Digitalis laid eggs on February 24, and the hatchlings began swimming on March 2. They have been swimming for two weeks, and there seem to be about 100 fry. They are not all growing at the same rate. I feed them newly hatched brine shrimp and frozen baby brine shrimp at least twice a day, and on days that I don’t have to work, I feed them four or five times a day. Since the young have been swimming freely for two weeks, I expect that their chances of survival are good. Last weekend, I took 12 of the largest fledgling Angelfish that were born last summer to Tropical Imports and traded them for $30 of food. If the current youngsters grow at about the same rate as their older siblings, I will need to move them out of the aquarium they currently share with the parents and into the grow out aquarium in about a month. At that time, I may need to have traded in all the older siblings.
Digitalis and Fry
Big Costa Rican Beetle
March 15, 2010
A friend of mine is in Costa Rica and found this on his tool box yesterday (March 14, 2010. You can see that it is quite large! I am so curious–what is it, what does it eat, do they bite humans? How long do they live
Kat D.
Costa Rica
Elephant Beetle
Hi Kat,
This magnificent Elephant Beetle, Megasoma elephas does not bite. Encyclopedia Britannica is a source for the common name Elephant Beetle. The grubs feed on rotting wood, and the adults . The Natural Worlds website has some nice photos, and according to the Absolute Astronomy website: “For their diet, Elephant Beetles eat the sap of particular trees and ripened fallen fruits such as pineapples. They also eat longan, lychee fruit, and bark from certain trees like the poinciana.”
Thank you so much! I love Whatsthatbug.com. Very cool!
K
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