Big beautiful furry moth laying eggs
Location: Kalamazoo, MI
December 18, 2010 1:59 pm
Hi, WTB. This photo was taken by a friend of my mother. He says they get several of these in their backyard a year. What’s that bug?
Signature: Eric
Spicebush Silkmoth
Hi Eric,
We are so thrilled that your photo includes this female Spicebush Silkmoth laying eggs.
Large,Fat Round Orange Spider – Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada
December 17, 2010 12:19 am
This spider was holed up in the lid of my hose caddy for several days after I took the photos. It had been cool for days at this point (Nov 3, 2010), close to the freezing point and rather late to be putting this stuff away for the winter. When I checked about a week later, it was gone, probably lost to birds, as the lid had blown open in a storm. I guess it’s some sort of orb spider. I’m sending a second set of photos of another kind of spider elsewhere in the lid of the same hose caddy.
Signature: Lulu
Orbweaver
Dear Lulu,
This is an Orbweaver Spider, probably in the genus Araneus. Your other photo is of an egg sac and we cannot see a spider.
What kind of spider?
Location: Canberra, ACT, Australia
December 17, 2010 9:34 pm
Hi,
I almost walked into this one in my backyard (Canberra, Australia), it had weaved a net across a path in the garden. It was about 3-4cm from top to bottom including the legs. Is it dangerous? Rare? Any information would be interesting! I found it just the other day (2010-12-17 which is summer in Australia)
Signature: Lars
Garden Orb Web Spider
Hi Lars,
Your spider is Eriophora transmarina, and it is commonly called a Garden Orbweaver, a name shared with several other species around the world. You can read about this common spider on the Brisbane Insect website.
Garden Orb Web Spider
Thanks Daniel, I appreciate your quick reply!
Knowing what these bugs around us are makes the world a bit more interesting.
Cheers,
Lars
My Roomates
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
December 18, 2010 10:00 am
shortly after I moved in I began seeing these guys around my apartment, I’ve seen them in the light shades on the ceiing, the bathtub, dresser drawers and once I found one in my sheets! Their number isn’t scary enough to alarm me and I haven’t experienced any bites or anything like that, but I’m curious why I have so many non rent paying dwellers.
They seem to almost disintegrate when squished. this could be a very obvious response, but I haven’t met anyone who could tell me what they are.. and if I should be worried.
Thanks in advance,
Signature: Lady Sharing Her Apartment
Silverfish
Hey Lady,
You have Silverfish, a common household pest that can be very difficult to eliminate. They eat a wide variety of foods, including the starch in book bindings and in wallpaper glue. If your apartment has wallpaper, they are most likely feeding on the glue as well as stray food they might find.
Was I taken for a fool?
Location: Georgia
December 17, 2010 11:53 pm
Hello,
After visiting some friends who had bed bugs, I got very nervous when I began noticing little bugs around my house. I called an exterminator, who treated my house for bed bugs, but I still have the bugs. The strange part is that the pictures of bed bugs on the internet look nothing like the bugs in my house. Have I been fooled?? Please help me identify this bug. Thank you!
Signature: Pamela
Carpet Beetle Larva
Hi Pamela,
You have Carpet Beetle Larvae and the exterminator probably did not do anything to eliminate them. They eat organic fibers, including pet hair. Keeping the rugs well vacuumed and making sure there is no stray pet hair, or human hair for that matter, accumulating under cushions and on rugs should help control the Carpet Beetle Larvae.
Just saying thank you
December 18, 2010 9:24 am
This morning I was surprised to discover a scary-looking bug lounging on my mug when I went to get my coffee. Normally, my immediate reaction would be to scream in terror, but thanks to you, I grabbed my camera to identify it instead. You guys have changed my entire family’s outlook on bugs in general (and, I now know this one was a milkweed assassin bug nymph, though I don’t know why it wanted coffee). I just wanted to say thanks–and please keep up the good work, because we appreciate you!
Signature: Kate
Hi Kate,
Thanks for your kind email.
whats that moth
Location: Horsfield Bay NSW
December 17, 2010 3:27 am
Found this very large moth in our garden today, we live near Woy Woy on the NSW Central Coast.
Signature: Gayle D
Orchard Swallowtail
Hi Gayle,
The Orchard Swallowtail, Papilio aegeus, in your photo is actually a butterfly. There is a very nice page devoted to the stages of development on the Brisbane Insect website which indicates that your specimen is a female. According to Oz Animals: “The male Orchard Swallowtail has black forewings with an arc of white spots near the tip. The hindwings have a white panel and single small red spot above. The underside of the male wings are black with red and blue spots. The female has black and white forewings and hindwings. The hindwings have blue and white markings.“
Hi Daniel
Thankyou for the reply, my husband had heard somewhere that the difference between a butterfly and moth was the way the wings stood up on a butterfly and laid flat on a moth, hence our confusion.
I must admit I have never seen a butterfly so big, my boys and I were quite amazed. Is it common for it to be so far south of Qld?
Gayle Downey
Hi again Gayle,
Though we are not certain exactly how common it is further south, the range is indicated on Csiro.
Giant Caterpillar
Unidentified Caterpillar
Giant Caterpillar
Location: Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.
December 17, 2010 4:02 am
My sister found this giant caterpillar in RDC – Rainforest Discovery Centre.
I had measured it with my ruler, it is 11cm long.
It is quiet, doesn’t move much.
This is the largest caterpillar I had ever seen, is this a world record ?
Signature: C.X. Wong
Unidentified Caterpillar
Dear C.X. Wong,
While we do not recognize your Caterpillar, we will post the images and hopefully one of our readers will be able to provide some input. We are uncertain what the largest caterpillar in the world might be, but the Hickory Horned Devil is the largest North American Caterpillar according to BugGuide. According to Green Answers, it can grow to 14 centimeters, which is larger than the specimen in Malaysia.
might be Tea Oil Caterpillar
Ed. Note: December 18, 2010
We received a comment yesterday that this is the caterpillar of Lebeda nobilis Walker,1855. We did a web search of that name and found an Asian website with images of the life cycle and the caterpillar matches somewhat. Another Asian website has images that seem to be a closer match. The caterpillar is also pictured on Bettaman’s Photostream on Flickr. We found a journal posted online with no images that associates the common name Tea Oil Caterpillar with this species. Even if this is not the correct species, the resemblance is quite close and probably indicates that the family Lasiocampidae, the Tent Caterpillars and Lappet Moths, is correct.
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