What is this?
May 23, 2010
Found this bug on a palm tree… looks like it is eatting another bug. it’s about 2 or 3 inches long. Big Bug…
Eddie Ravo
Lutz, FL
Cicada Metamorphosis
Dear Eddie,
You have not witnessed a food chain incident, but rather, the metamorphosis of a Cicada. The immature Cicada lives underground for several years. When it nears maturity, it digs to the surface and climbs a vertical surface where it splits its exoskeleton and emerges as a winged adult. You have mistaken the cast off skin or exuvia for prey.
Two spiders and two question
May 22, 2010
In my home were two green spiders, one hairy and the other crab-like (so to speak).
The crab-like spider held its first and second legs close together to appear to be like pincers. This spider was on the ceiling, easy to see with its lime green body against an off white ceiling.
The hairy spider was discovered crawling on our hanging laundry brought in from outdoors. It had rather long distinctive spike-like hair on its legs and body. The head was white on top, the abdomen was also white on top with grayish tan color on the side. This spider was mostly green with dark outlines, and the mouth part had club-like protrusions.
I do have a Japan insect guide book, and looked up what I think these spiders are. I think the crab-like spider is a crab spider (Oxytate striatipes), and the hairy spider a lynx spider (Oxyopes sertatus).
Question #1: Am I right?
In addition, which was new to me, I read that the club shaped mouth parts (palps) on the hairy spider meant that it was male.
Question #2: Do all male spiders exhibit this feature?
Lucy
Fukuoka City, Japan
Lynx Spider
Hi Lucy,
Your photos are very small files with low resolution, and it is difficult to make an exact identification, but we agree that you have a Crab Spider and a Lynx Spider, and the Japanese species you cited seem like likely candidates. It seems all male spider possess enlarged pedipalps, or palps, and that they are used for mating purposes. We found many sources for this information, but the most reputable was Encyclopedia Britannica Online. We also located an article entitled The Spermatozoa of the One-Palped Spider Tidarren argo in the Journal of Arachnology online. Cobbling together the information, we can paraphrase that the male spider transfers his spermatozoa first to a reservoir in the palps, and then to the female.
Mating Pill Bugs
May 22, 2010
I read online that this is rarely observed – don’t know if that’s true or not but I’m sending it to you in case you didn’t have it documented on your website. Keep up the good work.
Tim
Memphis, TN
Mating Pill Bugs
Hi Tim,
Thanks so much for contributing your wonderful images to our website. We really appreciate the generosity of the Wildlife Theater website. It seems strange that this would be such an uncommonly observed activity since there is no shortage of Pill Bugs in our own garden.
Mating Pill Bugs
Blue winged wasp?
May 22, 2010
Hi, My wife took this picture and I searched but was unable to identify what kind of insect this is. Not sure if it’s a wasp or a moth masquerading as a wasp. Would love your opinion!
Penley
Austin Texas
Squash Vine Borer
Dear Penley,
Just because it looks like a wasp, does not mean it is a wasp. Because many wasps sting if provoked, several different groups of insects, but especially moths and flies, mimic wasps for protection. This is a Squash Vine Borer, Melittia cucurbitae, a member of the clearwing wasp moth family Sesiidae. You can compare your individual to the numerous images posted to BugGuide.
May 22, 2010
This was outside my house last summer in Nova Scotia, Canada. Just curious to what exactly it is! Thanks! 
Rachel
Nova Scotia, CanadaSome sort of flying insect
Virginia Ctenucha
Hi Rachel,
According to BugGuide, the Virginia Ctenucha, despite its name, is a Northern species.
Please identify this insect
May 22, 2010
Insect was photographed along a stream in the eastern Ozarks of Missouri crawling on a mushroom or other fungus.
Emery Styron
eastern Missouri
Wheel Bug
Hi Emery,
This is a Wheel Bug, the largest Assassin Bug in North America.
Unknown caterpillar from Peru
May 22, 2010
I found this caterpillar on a walk through the Peruvian Amazon. It was about 2.5-3 inches long. I tapped the branch it was on to try and collect it, but some of the hairs started coming off so I decided to just take a picture.
Clayton
Quincemil, Peru 640-800m in SE Peru
Asp from Peru
Dear Clayton,
In North America, there is a group of caterpillars in the Flannel Moth family Megalopygidae (which is represented on BugGuide) that are commonly called Asps. Asps, which are also known as Puss Caterpillars, are stinging caterpillars. We suspect your specimen is closely related to the Southern Flannel Moth, Megalopyge opercularis which is profiled on BugGuide.
¶ Posted 22 May 2010 § Asps ‡ ° ID of beetle
May 19, 2010
The young girl next door bought me this beetle for identification. It has a body length of 7 mm. Can anyone help? We live in Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Rick Speare
Roseneath, Townsville 19°21′S 146°50′E
Leaf Beetle
Dear Rick,
This is a Leaf Beetle, and we thought it resembled the genus Calligrapha which is well represented on BugGuide, a site devoted to North American species. BugGuide pictures a green species, Calligrapha serpentina, and it looks strikingly like your beetle, though the markings are slightly different, possibly within the variation found in the species. We found a single Australian Calligrapha on the Backyard Arthropod Project website, but it does not appear to be the same species as your individual. No Leaf Beetles pictured on the Brisbane Insect Website look like your specimen. Karl supplies an answer
May 25, 2010
Hi Daniel and Rick:
It looks like Calligrapha pantherina (Chrysomelidae), a species of leaf beetle that is native to Mexico and Central America. It was introduced to Australia’s Northern Territory in 1989 as a biocontrol agent to help in the fight against the invasive Spinyhead Sida (Sida acuta), also a native of the tropical Americas. It is host specific and apparently has been a successful introduction that has become established in the wetter areas of north Australia from Brisbane to parts of Western Australia. Regards.
Karl
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