White Oak gall
Location: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN
December 16, 2010 10:57 am
I’ve been seeing this gal on white oaks the past couple years in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park TN. I looked at the picture on your site and didn’t see any that seemed to match. Wold love to have an idea of what kind this is and assume it is a wasp gall?
Signature: Ken Voorhis
Galls on White Oak
Hi Ken,
Thanks for sending your photos. Galls are growths that can be attributed to many different kinds of insects including wasps and flies as well as to certain mites and other causes that are not related to arthropods. In the case of Gall Wasps in the family Cynipidae, the Gall is a growth on the plant, often the leaf, that provides food for the larval wasp and does not harm the tree. Oak trees are probably the most common host to Galls. There is much diversity in Gall Wasps and we do not have the necessary expertise to classify your particular galls, but you can view some of the genera posted to BugGuide. There is also a section of unidentified Galls available on BugGuide. Alfred Kinsey, who gained notoriety in the 1950s with his studies on human sexuality, was an entomologist who specialized in Gall Wasps prior to turning his attention to the private lives of humans.
Galls on White Oak
Thanks Daniel, If I find anything more I’ll forward it to you.
Ken
Ken Voorhis Executive Director
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS INSTITUTE AT TREMONT
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
¶ Posted 17 December 2010 § Galls ‡ ° Jade plant/ Money Tree little red bugs
Location: London UK
December 14, 2010 7:22 am
Hi there
Recently I’ve been finding a number of little red bugs on my Money tree. They seem to co exist along with a white silky substance that is leaft in small blobs or long blobs on the plant, generally in the V junctions of the leaves. The bugs initially look white but on closer inspection are a light red, with a white fur. They seem to walk around individually, not in groups. I don’t know if they are mites, baby or adults, although they do vary in size from about a 10th of a mm to 2mm or more not including their long tail that consists of 2 long white hairs. I’m not sure if they continue growing into something else… They have 6 legs, 2 antenna, and that tail, as you can see from the images. I put the bug in my scanner and scanned at 9600 dpi, I really hope this helps as I can’t find any similar images on the web and would love my tree to survive. Thank you very much. Phil
Signature: n/a
Mealybug
Dear n/a,
Your plants have Mealybugs. Mealybugs often infest house plants. You should be able to find eradication information online now that you know their identity.
Root Borer from AustraliaD
Location: Australia
December 16, 2010 5:12 am
Dear bug man
I found these two bugs flying around. I think they are a type of root borer. What do you think? And do they bite?
Signature: Jess
Poinciana Longicorn
Hi Jess,
We believe we have correctly identified your Prionids, commonly called Root Borers, as the Poinciana Longicorn, Agrianome spinicollis, based on a photo posted to the Queensland Museum website. That site indicates: “This species is found in rainforest and open forest in eastern Australia. It is common in Queensland and New South Wales and also occurs on Lord Howe Island. The larvae are huge white grubs found in rotten wood, especially dead Poinciana or fig trees. It is an important pest of pecan trees. The large adults sometimes blunder into house lights.“ Graeme’s Insects of Townsville, Australia also has some nice photos of the Poinciana Longicorn. We found an online reference to an overlooked publication on Australian insects that has this information:
“The information provided noted that the large white grubs (larvae) of A. spinicollis tunnel into
trees and feed upon the wood and that large oval (exit) holes are often observed on the bark. The
species usually attacks dead timber but beetles are occasionally found in living trees feeding upon
the green wood (Anon., 1934). As they burrow through the wood, they close up the tunnel behind
them with the excreta being pressed into a hard mass with the posterior abdominal segment
(Anon., 1934). The eggs are placed upon the bark or wood of the tree; the tiny larvae hatch from
the eggs and immediately bore into the wood tissue; even at this stage, the mandibles are hard and
strong (Anon., 1934). During September and October the mature larvae cease feeding and a
gradual change occurs within their bodies; the larva contracts, the skin becomes loose and the
body becomes soft and flabby; the larva becomes a pre-pupa which lasts about 2 weeks (Anon.,
1934). The skin then splits along the back of the head and thorax and is gradually worked down
the length of the body by a series of convulsive movements and then cast off, revealing a pearly
white pupa (Anon., 1934). The pupa rests in its pupal chamber for about 2 months; after the
final metamorphosis occurs, the pupal skin is cast off and the adult beetle emerges and remains in
the wood for a few days before eating its way out of the tree (Anon., 1934).”
Regarding your bite question, Prionids have strong mandibles that they need to chew their way out of their pupal chambers when they mature. Large Prionids can deliver a painful bite that can draw blood, and they should be handled with caution.
Poinciana Longicorns
1
Wolf Spiders ”R” Us
Wolf Spiderling
Wolf Spiders ”R” Us
Location: East Moline, IL
December 15, 2010 11:58 am
As an amateur arachnologist, I have been keeping native wolf spiders for the last two years. I found four female wolf spiders in my back yard this year, and three of them produced egg sacs. Unfortunately, only one egg sac was viable and now I have a nice selection of Hogna helluo spiderlings. I thought you might like to see one of my little darlings, as I haven’t found anyone who keeps Wolf Spiders with the obsession of myself. Once these are raised to near adulthood, I will release them back into the wild. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, I’m hoping Santa will bring me a better camera this year.
Signature: Ron DePaepe
Wolf Spiderling
Dear Ron,
You are our new hero. Thank you so much for providing our readership with the opportunity to read about your endeavor to assist nature to sustain a robust population of native Wolf Spiders in your vicinity. We also hope that Santa brings you a better camera.
Wolf Spiderling
weird looking bug
Location: ksa
December 14, 2010 5:31 pm
my brother saw this weird looking bug and took a picture of it , it looks weird and i’ve never seem any thing like it before can u identify if please ?
Signature: Lolzor
Tailless Whipscorpion
Dear Lolzor,
Sometimes a location is critical for proper identification, but we did not need your location to identify this Tailless Whipscorpion. We have never tried to identify Tailless Whipscorpions to the species level, and we have always been content with a much more general Arachnid order Amblypygi. Trying to identify these non-venomous distant relatives of Scorpions is well beyond our capabilities, but the location of the sighting might be an easy way to narrow down the proper species identification for any Amblypygists (we just made up that word) out there. Recently we have been indicating the location of the sighting as a means by which letters may be classified in the future, and to that end, KSA has us a bit confused. Did you sight this Tailless Whipscorpion in Kosher Supervision of America. Was the Amblypygid scuttling around the Kurt Salmon Associates offices? Was it spotted in the locker room after a KERNERSVILLE SOCCER ASSOCIATION game? At this time of the year, we get numerous letters from Australia and other points south of the equator where summer is approaching. Perhaps you are in Kimberly, South Africa. Maybe, just maybe you are in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Alas, we are just going to have to leave the location blank in your posting unless you are able to confirm where exactly this sighting of a Tailless Whipscorpion occurred.
Aloha Daniel -
KSA may be the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Blessings of the holiday season to you & yours ~
Eliza
Thanks Eliza,
In an attempt to educate ourselves, we were amused at the possibilities a web search provided for the initials, and we decided to have some fun with the response.
worm
Location: corner brook, newfoundland, canada
December 14, 2010 2:53 pm
found this worm i think he made his home..dont know
Signature: hiding worm
Casemaking Clothes Moth Larva
You might want to inspect your clothes closet for more of these Casemaking Clothes Moth Larvae, Tinea pellionella. According to BugGuide they: “feed on wool, feathers, fur, hair, upholstered furniture, leather, fish meals, milk powders, lint, dust or paper.“
Requesting ID
Location: Brooklyn, NY
December 14, 2010 4:40 pm
Hi
Saw this critter in mid-November. Would love to know what it is.
Thanks
Signature: Barbara
Large Milkweed Bug
Hi Barbara,
This pretty Seed Bug is a Large Milkweed Bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus. They often form large aggregations on the pods of milkweed plants where they feed off of the juices.
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