White Cave Cockroach
Location: (Black Cave) Gomantong Caves, Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia.
September 19, 2010 9:15 am
I found this cockroach inside a huge dark cave. This white cockroach is exactly 33mm from it’s forehead to the tip of it’s tail (I had measured it). This is the only white cockroach I’ve seen in the cave. Is it a completely different cockroach species than the cockroaches around it or it is just an albino ?
Signature: C.X. Wong
Newly Molted Cockroach in a Cave
Dear C.X. Wong,
We cannot tell you what species of Cockroach you encountered, but we can tell you that the white individual is not an albino. It is a freshly molted individual, and when its exoskeleton hardens, it will resemble its fellow cave inhabitants in terms of coloration.
BIG caterpillar
Location: Accomack County, VA
September 18, 2010 2:36 pm
Saw this big guy crawling up a tree in the woods near our house on the Eastern Shore of Virginia recently, and was wondering what it is. Fully extended, it was 4-5 inches long, and as big around as my thumb. I’ve never seen one close to that size before. Any help on the ID would be appreciated. Thanks.
Signature: Linda C.
Imperial Moth Caterpillar
Hi Linda,
This impressive creature is the caterpillar of the Imperial Moth.
Another mystery solved! Many thanks.
Bugfest
Location: Dowelton, Middle TN
September 18, 2010 12:10 am
Hello! I was hiking around in the middle Tennessee area, scoping out the scenery when I happened to see a true love fest atop some white boneset flowers I came across. Literally each of these batches of flowers featured a little buggy action, all the same bugs. This photo was taken Sept 15th on a beautiful day. After seeing this website (fantastic!) I leapt at the chance to get a bug identification.
Signature: Bugged in College
Mating Pennsylvania Leatherwings
Dear Bugged,
It sounds like you witnessed quite a mating frenzy of Pennsylvania Leatherwings, Chauliognathus pensylvanicus, also known as Goldenrod Soldier Beetles. The adults feed on pollen and they are frequently found on goldenrod.
Root Aphids or…?
Location: Madison, WI – USA
September 18, 2010 5:03 pm
Cheers Bugman!
First off, thank you for providing this service. I work at a hydroponics shop and recently I’ve been seeing more and more of these little white bugs in our reservoir. I’ve been told that they are Root Aphids or Root mites. I don’t believe they are root mites. I’ve looked online and in a few books but have never been able to confirm what they are. Any Ideas? The pic I attached is the closest img I can find. I tried to take a pic through a magnifying glass but had no success. They live in water and I’ve seen thousands of them in a res.
Signature: Whatever
Springtails
Dear Whatever,
You have submitted a photo of what many people consider to be among the most common terrestrial creatures, Springtails. Springtails are quite primitive, and recent taxonomy has reclassified them by taking them out of the class Insecta and placed them in the class Collembola. According to BugGuide: “Springtails are probably the most abundant hexapods on Earth, with up to 250 million individuals per acre.“ Springtails are benign creatures that will not harm plants and are actually beneficial because of the role they play in the creation of fertile humus in soil. BugGuide also indicates: “Springtails are ‘decomposers’ that thrive mostly on decaying organic matter, especially vegetable matter. They may also graze on spores of molds and mildews, especially indoors where there is a lack of other food sources.“
Leaf-type bug
Location: Napanee, Ontario
September 18, 2010 10:09 pm
Found this on a maple tree outside our house. We live in Eastern Ontario.
Signature: Curious about this bug
Monkey Slug
Dear Curious,
This is a Monkey Slug Caterpillar, Phobetron pithecium, and in its adult form it is known as a Hag Moth. BugGuide has this interesting description: “Caterpillar is most frequently seen. Bizarre, brown, hairy creature that resembles some sort of aquatic creature more than a caterpillar. Three pairs of long arms and three pairs of short arms, which are ‘deciduous’ – often one or more is missing.“ Exercise caution when handling the Monkey Slug as it is one of the Stinging Caterpillars in the family Limacodidae.
Luminescent centripede
Fire Centipede and glowing slime
Luminescent centripede
Location: Fougamou, Gabon 1°13`S 10°36`E
September 19, 2010 5:19 am
Hello,
during a stay in Gabon I took this picture of a centripede. After contact he showed this green fluorescence.
Do you know how it is called?
Kind regards
Signature: Fabian
Fire Centipede
Hi Fabian,
We had never heard of a Centipede that exhibited bioluminescence, so we hit the search engines in an attempt to answer your questions. Surprisingly, the Orkin website had this information: “The so-called ‘fire centipede’ is a name used to refer to any centipede that exhibits bioluminescence. Often nocturnal, bioluminescent centipedes are uncommon and are not associated with any particular habitat. One fire centipede of repute is widely distributed in tropical Asia and Africa. Known to be the Orphaneus brevilabiatus, the said fire centipede would look something akin to a necklace of precious jewels if one were to come across it on a moonless night. A certain chemical substance secreted by the fire centipede produces this bioluminescence. The light appears to come from the secretions of two luminous patches near the ends of each segment of the centipede’s body. The source of the light is beneath the body of the insect and can be made out through the exterior. Another centipede that glows in the dark is the Geophilus electricus. This fire centipede is long and yellowish in color. Other than centipedes, millipedes also glow. Endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California, the species of millipedes designated as Luminodesmus sequoiae is known to emit light at night. From the moment they hatch, these millipedes glow. The source of their light is embedded in the deeper layers of their integument. Their luminescence is continuous, with no voluntary control.“ Our next stop was the Photochemistry and Photobiology page of the Wiley Online Library where the Biochemistry of Centipede Bioluminescense by James Michael Anderson was profiled along with this information: “The centipede (Orphaneous brevilabiatus) secretes a bioluminescent slime. The corrected emission spectrum of this luminescence was found to have maxima at about 510 and 480 nm. The reaction was found to require both a luciferin and luciferase and showed an unusually low pH optimum (4.6). Oxygen was required for the reaction, but oxygen could interact with one of the components allowing for anaerobic light emission.“ In an online article entitled Animals that use Bioluminescence by N. David, the author writes: “Some varieties of centipede, known collectively as fire centipedes, are also bioluminescent.“ A message board on the Wild About Britain website has an interesting dialog that refers to a Centipede that may be in the genus Geophilus. We were now satisfied that you actually encountered a bioluminescent Centipede which dispelled our first thought that somehow your camera captured a stray light source or that the digital photo file was somehow corrupted. We eventually found a photo of Geophilus carpophagus on the Natural England website where its bioluminescence was mentioned, and it does seem to resemble your specimen, but we are reluctant to provide any genus or species identification for you, preferring instead to have a chilopodist (could that be the name given to a centipede expert?) supply that information instead. We hope the more generic common name Fire Centipede will satisfy your curiosity.
Fire Centipede
Dear Daniel,
thank you very much for your quick and extensive answer!
Brown Butterfly
Location: Dayton, Ohio
September 18, 2010 9:29 pm
Hi bugman, first, i want to say that you have a great website here! Anyways, today, September 18, I saw this butterfly on a rose bush in our backyard and I cant figure out what kind of butterfly it is.
Signature: Julia
Pipevine Swallowtail
Hi Julia,
This is an incredibly battered Pipevine Swallowtail. It appears as though it may have had an encounter with a predator that attacked the wings but failed to grab the body with the vital organs. This is interesting because much of what we have read indicates that the Pipevine Swallowtail is unpalatable to predators. You may read more about this lovely butterfly in our archives and on BugGuide.
Black Beetle Indentification
Location: South Carolina
September 18, 2010 11:04 am
Hi!
Could you please help me identify this large black beetle? So far, I’ve had no luck. It measures between 1 1/2 and 2 inches.
Thanks!
Signature: Insect Project
Rhinoceros Beetle
Dear Insect Project,
This appears to us to be a Rhinoceros Beetle, Xyloryctes jamaicensis, one of the large Scarab Beetles in the tribe Oryctini of the subfamily Dynastinae. You can verify this by visiting BugGuide.
¶ Posted 19 September 2010 § Beetles ‡ ° 
I like This
