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Monthly Archives April 2010

Striped Hawkmoth Caterpillar in Israel

ID request for a suspicious caterpillar.
April 18, 2010
Dear Madam/ Sir, good day.
I live in a Kibbutz in the Arava desert in southern Israel, and we have a minor infestation of quite large caterpillars.
Since they crawl everywhere, including the kindergarten yards, and there are unfounded rumors regarding their toxicity and possibly their being hosts for wasps (of that kind this area is known), I wanted to try to identify them.
I believe to have identified them as- Sphingidae, Hyles livornica. I don’t believe this species to be dangerous, and don’t know if it’s a wasps’ host.
Location: Hot and dry desert (56º 29′ Long. 57 º 34′ Lat., 15-35 Centigrade, Approx. 30% Humidity.)
Size: 7-8 Cm. long, about 6-7Mm thick.
Characteristics: One ‘horn’ at lower quarters, usually black tipped. No ‘Hair’, with barely visible mandibles.
Nutrition: Seems to be feeding off a single desert plant, which has sprouted abundantly in dry creek beds due to extremely unusual rainy season. (Four days of rain and several flash floods).
Behaviour: Seems to feel at ease either on its plant or on sand and hot asphalt road. They are seen to be crawling at all times of day and night.
Defense mechanism: When attacked by insects such as ants the shake their upper or entire body violently. When touched or attacked by larger animals or people they excrete a greenish sticky liquid. Small dogs and cats bite at them but don’t eat them, and do not seem to be affected.
Please assist me to calm things here- or to issue a ‘remove on sight’ warning…
Attached are photos of the caterpillars and they plant.
Many thanks in advance, Itai Bawnik.
56º 29′ Long. 57 º 34′ Lat

hyles cats israel itai 300x168 Striped Hawkmoth Caterpillar in Israel

Striped Hawkmoth Caterpillars

Dear Itai,
Your identification is correct.  These are the caterpillars of the Striped Hawkmoth, Hyles livornica, which is profiled on the Sphingidae of the Western Palaearctic website.  Like its counterpart in North America, the Striped Morning Sphinx, Hyles lineata which can also become quite plentiful in arid environments, the Striped Hawkmoth becomes extremely plentiful in years when conditions are right.  Wet winters produce abundant desert vegetation and the population of the caterpillar and later emergent moth soars.  We imagine our resident entomophage, David Gracer, is salivating at the thought of feasting on the edible abundance your photo illustrates.  Many large wasps do feed on caterpillars, but believing that the caterpillars are hosts to the wasps is not an accurate assessment.  Other nonstinging wasp relatives like Braconids and Chalcids do parasitize caterpillars, but these wasps are so tiny they probably escape unnoticed and they pose no threat to humans or other animals.  Rather than being terrified of the harmless caterpillar of the Striped Hawkmoth, the inhabitants of your kibbutz should learn to appreciate the wonders of nature around them, and to realize that the desert dwelling caterpillars undoubtedly provided much needed nourishment in ancient times, though this probably went unrecorded.

hyles cat israel itai 300x213 Striped Hawkmoth Caterpillar in Israel

Striped Hawkmoth Caterpillar

Posted 19 April 2010 § Hornworms ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Springtails

They are everywhere.
April 17, 2010
There are thousands of these in the yard. I find them on the concrete, bricks, and in the soil. The larger ones are about 1.5mm long, by .5mm wide. Fast movers too. I spent 20 minutes waiting for one to stop long enough for me to get a decent picture.
Vince Grgas, San Pedro CA.
Southern Los Angeles area

springtail vince 300x218 Springtails

Springtail

Hi Vince,
This is a Springtail, and we applaud your patience and perseverance in getting this remarkably clear image of a tiny, rapidly moving creature.  Springtails are primitive insects, though they were recently reclassified out of the class Insecta and into their own class Collembula which may be viewed on BugGuide.  True insects, Springtails, and some other creatures with six legs are collectively called Hexapods, and the Discover Life website indicates:  “Springtails have the widest distribution of any hexapod group, occuring throughout the world, including Antarctica. They are probably the most abundant hexapods on Earth, with up to 250,000,000 individuals per square acre. They are found in soil, leaf litter, logs, dung, cave, shorelines, etc. There are about 6000 known species.“  Springtails are important components in the breakdown of organic matter into humus, and they are frequently encountered in compost piles in astronomical numbers.

Posted 19 April 2010 § Springtails! ‡ Comments (0) °

Horned Spanworm

Horned Spanworm
April 18, 2010
Thanks for all the help you’ve given me! But here’s one I found myself that I’d like to share: a horned spanworm (OK, I’m pretty sure that’s what it is). I found it lurking on a maple seedling, and from what I’ve read, was probably responsible for the chew marks on several of the maple leaves (primary habitat is deciduous and coniferous trees). It is interesting to note that between the first picture and the latter pictures, the ‘tentacles’ continued extending (must be camera shy). I found the textured orange patch on his upper back very interesting; I saw it on few of the other photos I viewed. Also, it was very reluctant to uncurl.
Enjoy!
Karen H.
Belleview, FL

horned spanworm karen 292x300 Horned Spanworm

Horned Spanworm

Hi Karen,
Thank you so much for submitting your images of a Horned Spanworm, Nematocampa resistaria.

horned spanworm 2 karen 300x207 Horned Spanworm

Horned Spanworm

Posted 19 April 2010 § Inchworms ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Ground Beetle

grade school garden project needs help
April 18, 2010
We found this beetle outside our school and our teacher asked us to identify it as dangerous or not. He thinks it may kill trees. We have looked far and wide in other resources and can’t tell for sure. We think it may be a type of ground beetle? It is dark brown, with iridescent sheen and a pock-marked back. No stripes. Purple flares from the midsection. Narrow head. Thicker thighs, skinny lower legs. 3/4 of an inch long. Any ideas?
Matilda, grade 2
upstate New York

ground beetle matilda 300x192 Ground Beetle

Ground Beetle

Dear Matilda,
You are correct that this is a Ground Beetle in the family Carabidae.  Ground Beetles are beneficial predators.  Often identifying them to the species level requires an expert’s examination.

Eric Eaton provides a species identification
Daniel:
The ground beetle from upstate New York on April 18 is almost certainly Carabus nemoralis, a flightless predator of mostly caterpillars and other soft-bodied invertebrates.
Eric

Posted 19 April 2010 § Ground Beetles ‡ Comments (1) °

Small Eyed Sphinx

Stealth Bomber…or a moth!
April 18, 2010
I’ve tried on my own and I can’t identify this moth. He was so pretty and sleek.
1 1/2″, maybe 2″ August evening on Vermont/Canada border. I hope I can get the photo to upload. I did put the bruiser back out for the night!!
Jane
On my shoulder, Newport Vermont

small eyed sphinx jane 300x229 Small Eyed Sphinx

Small Eyed Sphinx

Dear Jane,
You are not the first person who wrote to us comparing Sphinx Moths or Hawkmoths in the family Sphingidae to a stealth bomber, so we were curious what that would reveal in our search engine.  Sometimes we lose touch with our readership because we are so used to our website, so we decided to put ourselves in your shoes and attempt an identification.  We typed in stealth bomber moth and found this page: http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?s=stealth+bomber+moth which produced two old posts of related but different species, one from 2004. We believe an observant person might see the family resemblance, but we would never disparage anyone for being unable to negotiate the vastness of our archives, because we have been known to search our own site for up to fifteen minutes trying to pin down some elusive memory we have of the same species or a related species, perhaps as long as ten years ago.
At any rate, this is Paonias myops, also known as a Small Eyed Sphinx which is well described on Bill Oehlke’s excellent website.

Hello Daniel,
Thank you so much for identifying this fellow for me!  I had NEVER seen such a creature before the night he decided to land on my shoulder!  I’m not that “up” on the bug world but I knew this couldn’t be a butterfly so it must be a moth.  I’ll have to do more reading because to see this creature in the flesh, he looked like he was covered with fur; just so sleek!  But I don’t suppose it’s fur!
Bill Oehlke does have an excellent site; I wandered around it for quite a while.  One thing he does is show the caterpillar stage and then the “adult”.  I garden a lot in the summer (in Vermont) and see lots of interesting caterpillars.  Unless I educate myself, though, I don’t know if I’m seeing a good guy or a bad guy!!  As in, harmful versus beneficial.
I’m just so tickled that you wrote back.  You also identified my grapevine beetle that I submitted the other night.
Isn’t the internet grand?!
Sincerely,
Jane Housewright

Hi again Jane,
The moth does have a furry appearance, but the fur actually consists of modified scales.

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Posted 18 April 2010 § Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

Luna Moth

Finally found a luna moth
April 18, 2010
Hello again!
Last time you heard from me was my submission of the Io moth transformation. As I mentioned I had been hoping to see a Luna moth for a very long time; I have been living here in central Florida for the past 13 years. Today – April 18th – is the day I finally found one.
I had actually just finished my Senior Prom yesterday and I was about to return my tuxedo in Winter Garden when I noticed this beauty on the wall. I love how these things work out! I promptly brought it to in my house so I could take a picture using a more suitable camera than my cell phone.
A bit of the rear left tail seems to be missing, but it seems quite capable of flight without it.
Now I can set a new goal: finding a Red Spotted Purple butterfly. Guess I had better head back to the forests!
Carl B. – Aspiring Entomologist
Clermont, FL

luna carl 300x244 Luna Moth

Luna Moth

Hi Carl,
Congratulations on your Luna Moth sighting.  Despite living in Ohio for 22 years, we were never fortunate enough to see a live Luna Moth, but we did see numerous Red Spotted Purples.  Try looking where there are willows or poplars.

Posted 18 April 2010 § Luna Moth - Rare Specimen ‡ Comments (0) °

Goliath Stick Insect found dead in Australia

Large ‘Alien’ looking Insect
April 18, 2010
Hi, the attached ‘insect’ was found dead in 2005 in Brisbane’s Western Suburbs. I thought I had lost the photos until now. Having never seen anything that so closely resembles the main character of the film Alien, and I am not talking about Sigourney Weaver here, I was wondering if you could id this insect as something natural rather than as a hungry visitor from another planet. The closest match I have been able to find is the ‘Goliath Stick Insect’ – really lame name by the way – but I have not seen any photo’s that match the hideous head and plus the doco states it grows to 7 inches not 9. It was reasonably weighty and as you can see, when straitened out, it was around 9 inches long. We found it on our driveway. There are a lot of Gum trees nearby. It’s abdomen was full of what looked like maggots and it was certainly putting out a strong ‘rotting meat’ odour so I assume it was fly-blown and not full of offspring. If it was offspring – you will find them at the city dump or wherever it is that the wheelie bins are emptied.
Thomas
Brisbane Western Suburbs

goliath stick dead australia thomas 300x201 Goliath Stick Insect found dead in Australia

Goliath Stick Insect

Dear Thomas,
Your supposition that this is a Goliath Stick Insect, Eurycnema goliath, is correct.  Regarding the size discrepancy, we presume that the antennae and legs are not incorporated into the body length when determining size, and the Brisbane Insect website indicates that the Goliath Stick Insect grows to 210 mm or just over 8.25 inches.

Thanks Daniel,
Very strange looking insects. Scary in fact. I hope you have a great week. Thanks for the super fast reply and the confirmation.
Cheers,
Thomas

Posted 18 April 2010 § Walkingsticks ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Fairy Shrimp in the Los Angeles River area!!!

April 18, 2010
Yesterday, we went on an excursion with our dear friend Susan’s family because daughter Violet wants to find tadpoles.  We thought the new natural area of the Rio de los Angeles State Park in Cypress Park would be a great place to find them because we can hear the frogs croaking each night from our Mount Washington home.  Alas, we drew a blank in the tadpole search, but we did see tiny creatures swimming in the pond.  When we scooped them up in a cup, we were surprised to see Fairy Shrimp, and upon returning home, a websearch led us to a page on the endangered Riverside Fairy Shrimp on the Center for Biological Diversity website.  Now we are curious about how Fairy Shrimps wound up in our newly created park.  We will be contacting our friends at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for their opinion, and we hope to return later today with a camera.  We imagine water collected there in the spring before the creation of the park, so the eggs may have been in the dirt naturally.  Perhaps the Fairy Shrimp were introduced on the feet of water fowl.  it is most curious. Stay tuned.

fairy shrimps 201004181 300x187 Fairy Shrimp in the Los Angeles River area!!!

Fairy Shrimp

Update:  April 18, 2010
Today we returned to the vernal pond, though we believe it is kept wet year round, and we captured a small plastic container of Fairy Shrimp and photographed them.  We had three large shrimp and several smaller shrimp in the container, and two of the Fairy Shrimps are males.  Males have large mandibles that they use to hang onto the females during mating.  In our first photo, you can see the outlines of the mandibles in the shadows of the two individuals on the left.

fairy shrimps 2 20100418 300x231 Fairy Shrimp in the Los Angeles River area!!!

Fairy Shrimps

Fairy Shrimps are graceful creatures that swim on their backs while their appendages undulate, propelling them through the water.  We hope to hear back from some local naturalists, Julian Donahue and Clare Marter Kenyon, and our friends at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County regarding the presence of Fairy Shrimp in the Rio de los Angeles State Park adjacent to the Los Angeles River in the Cypress Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.  The sighting map on the Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp website does not list any occurrences in the Los Angeles area for Fairy Shrimp, Branchinecta lynchi, but it does stress the need for habitat conservation.

fairy shrimps 3 20100418 300x188 Fairy Shrimp in the Los Angeles River area!!!

Fairy Shrimp

Fairy Shrimp in the Footprint of the High Speed Rail!!!
In continuing to search for information on the Fairy Shrimp in Los Angeles County, we stumbled upon a website concerning the High Speed Rail, and Envirogridlock provided this comment:  “What, no fairy shrimp, steelhead trout, Pacific pocketmice or gnatcatchers are in the rail’s footprint?  Or have the environazis turned their heads for this project because it fits their agenda?“  Coincidentally, the Rio de Los Angeles state park is adjacent to a proposed route of the High Speed Rail.

Julian Donahue points us to an expert
April 26, 2010
Sure. Chris Nagano is in the USFWS Endangered Species office in Sacramento, at:
He used to volunteer at the Museum and knows me well.
Julian

Lila Higgins from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles finds some information
April 26, 2010
Hi Lila, yes fairy shrimp  (Branchiopoda).  They can’t be identified
further from the photo.  Yes, vernal pools this year have been well
watered and many are hatching.  Branchiopods encyst and can withstand
dry periods until the next seanson’s rains.  Where is Rio de los
Angeles State Park?
Also, you don’t want to miss Jody and my R&C seminar 6 May — we’ll
tell you lots about crustaceans.
Fairy shrimp might be something we want to consider for North Plaza.
Sea monkeys are their close relatives that live in hypersaline water.
Kids love hatching them.  Best, Regina

Posted 18 April 2010 § Fairy Shrimp ‡ Comments (1) °

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