Moth? Butterfly? Fly?
April 19, 2010
Hey WTB,
I have an orchard in a rural part of Northern California. This weekend there were probably a hundred of these small black and white butterflies or moths darting around. They have insanely long antenna which seems to make it difficult for them to fly. Can anyone tell me what they are?
Kevin
Near Willits, CA
Fairy Moth
Hi Kevin,
This is a Fairy Moth, probably Adela trigrapha, which may be viewed on BugGuide.
Mystery swallowtail
April 19, 2010
This has been a banner spring (2010) in Virginia for tiger swallowtails, our state insect. Both yellow and dark morphs have been crawling all over my azaleas, lilacs, and crabapples. But late in the day on April 6, this critter flew to my Sargent crabapple and caught my attention… and luckily my camera was handy. I can’t find any photos of swallowtails that have such prominent “eye spots” on the upper wing. The swallow-tails are blurry in the photo, but they were prominent; are there butterflies with swallow-tails that aren’t Swallowtails?
Winston
Louisa County, Virginia, USA
Tiger Swallowtail
Hi Winston,
This is a Tiger Swallowtail, which you point out has females that can be either light or dark, but occasionally an individual arises that can’t seem to make up its mind if it is light or dark, and an intermediate morph is produced. This is one of those rarities. We received another example back in August 2008, and it had more light coloration than your example, but it is similar. Thanks for sending this wonderful anomaly our way.
Extremely cute mystery beetle – help?
April 19, 2010
Hi, WTB!
I have no idea what this bug is or where it came from. I was sitting on our front porch when he (I’ll assume it’s a he) came strolling across the banister. I ran in the house, grabbed the digital camera, and stood there fumbling with it while Mystery Bug stood around waiting for me to get ready. He was extremely cooperative throughout the process and didn’t seem to mind the profanity spewing forth out of me as I attempted to operate the camera and deal with the fact that it refused to let me zoom in on anything and that its “macro” setting lies like a dog (but makes flowers ten feet away look AMAZING).
In any case, the pictures do this little bug no justice. It was about the size of my pinky fingernail and it had little pink eyes set very far apart on its head like a cow. It seemed to flutter its wings nervously now and then, but didn’t fly away even when poked at. In fact, I wasn’t altogether all that sure it could fly at all until it finally did, after I was done, very quickly.
In addition to the three pictures I have enclosed here, I also have some very lovely snapshots of our porch and flowerbed with a comically out-of-focus bug in the middle of them if you are interested.
Any help you could provide in identification would be greatly appreciated.
Love Always,
Ben
Spartanburg, SC
Treehopper
Hi Ben,
This is a Treehopper, and we are relatively certain it is Smilia fasciata based on images posted to BugGuide.
Treehopper
Large, furry, moth with leaf like wings?
April 19, 2010
My bug loving children squealed for me to grab my camera when they spotted this beautiful gal in the driveway just now. She’s so brightly colored and furry. I’ve never seen anything like this and would love to know if she is a moth. She’s about two inches long. Her wings look like leaves. Her beige antennae are an amazing feathery detail. Her legs are furry and red while her body is white. Any help is appreciated. I tried to get detailed photos to fully capture her beauty.
Resa in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
Luna Moth
Furry Moth…one more thing…
April 19, 2010
Whoa! I just noticed in my photos that the moth’s wings changed colors from the yellowish on the ground to a bright green when she walked onto the stick. Are they still developing or do they have ninja skills?
Sorry for duping the pics. Seems I can’t just send a whoa revelation without a pic.
Luna Moth
Hi Resa,
Your Luna Moth is freshly metamorphosed, having just emerged from its cocoon. Its wings are not yet expanded for flight. That should take a few additional hours, and it should be ready to fly after sunset.
infestation of red/black bugs in neighborhood
April 17, 2010
for the last two months we have had an infestation of black and red bugs in our lawns on our entire street. i thought they were boxelder, but looking at your pictures, they are different. i can’t find a picture anywhere on the internet like these. they live in the lawn and if you stand and look down at the lawn, it appears the entire lawn is moving they are so plentiful. hitting a stump, thousands immediately ran out. they were covering a part of the garden so thick all you could see is red. they are in every crack in the sidewalk and every square inch of the lawn. they don’t appear to be able to fly. you can see them mating constantly which looks somewhat like the pics of the boxelder bugs mating. please help identify these! ps there do not appear to be ma ny spiders out there this year. are they eating those? will they ruin the lawns?
desperate for help
salt lake city, utah
Firebug
Dear desperate,
This is a European species, Pyrrhocoris apterus, commonly called a Firebug. We have numerous images posted to our site from parts of Europe, but this is the first report we have gotten from North America. Out of curiosity, we checked BugGuide, and several photos of Firebugs were sent in March 2010 from Utah, and considering the details of your letter, the Invasive Exotic Firebug is already established in Salt Lake City. You should probably contact the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regarding this outbreak. We will copy Stephanie Dubon at npag@aphis.usda.gov regarding this unusual sighting.
thank you so much for your quick reply. you guys are awesome! i notified the aphis like you suggested. sonja
Reply from APHIS
Dear Daniel,
I don’t believe anyone has shared Stephanie’s news with you, so please allow me. Stephanie accepted a new job with the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) in Rome, Italy. … All of us here miss her, personally and professionally!
Meanwhile, your emails are still reaching our group through this email (NPAG@aphis.usda.gov), and are much appreciated. I hope that you will continue to think of us when you receive information about new pest species in the US.
Best regards,
Christie Bertone
Entomologist
USDA-APHIS-PPQ-CPHST-PERAL
Leaf beetle?
April 18, 2010
Dear Bugman -
I found this lovely beetle in the peonies I bought at the farmers market. I have not been able to figure out what it is from your site or my insect books. Help would be appreciated, thanks,
Allison
Oakland, CA
Leaf Beetle
Hi Allison,
You are correct that this is a Leaf Beetle in the family Chrysomelidae. We believe it is in the genus Chrysolina, probably either Chrysolina quadrigemina or Chrysolina hyperici, both of which were imported from Europe to combat weeds. See BugGuide for additional information.
Think it’s a Darkling.
April 17, 2010
This thing came crawling out a hole in our brick wall when it noticed a puddle on the ground as a result of my watering.. I believe it’s a Darkling Beetle, But not sue exactly which kind.
Vince Grgas, San Pedro CA.
Southern Los Angeles area
Stink Beetle
Hi again Vince,
You have correctly identified this as a Darkling Beetle, and more specifically, it is a Stink Beetle in the genus Eleodes. The common name comes from the beetle’s habit of releasing a foul odor when disturbed. The Stink Beetle is also called an Acrobat Beetle because it assumes a posture with its head down and rear end up in the air, also when threatened. Alas, we do not feel we have the necessary qualifications to identify your Stink Beetle to the species level. You can view numerous species in the genus on Bugguide.
Stink Beetle
Identification Request
April 19, 2010
Hi Daniel,
I’ve got this type of bug that likes to come into my garage / room and I can hear it crawling in on my floor its a scratchy noise and I’m wondering what bug it is and if
it poses any harm. I also wouldn’t mind some info on it just out of interest so I know what I’m dealing with.
Found in: Perth Australia, in my garage
Thanks
Alastair
Perth Australia
Mole Cricket
Hi Alastair,
Thank you so much for resending your letter with the photograph attached. It is virtually impossible for us to try to piece together letters and images that do not all arrive together because of the volume of mail we receive. This is a Mole Cricket, a creature that is found in many places throughout the world. We get frequent identification requests with images of Mole Crickets from Iraq and Afghanistan, Australia, and many parts of North America. Mole Crickets are subterranean dwellers, and some species are capable of flight and are attracted to lights.
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