Numerous!
Location: Maasai Mara, Kenya
December 21, 2010 6:28 am
Hi Daniel,
I’ve got a few more for you to identify.
All from Maasai Mara in Kenya
…
- Picture two: Obviously a millipede of some sort. I just thought his body shape was interesting. not completely round like normal.
…
Signature: Zarek
Millipede
Hi again Zarek,
Thanks for supply visual proof to our readership that Millipedes from Kenya share many similar physical attributes with Millipedes from elsewhere in the world.
Numerous!
Location: Maasai Mara, Kenya
December 21, 2010 6:28 am
Hi Daniel,
I’ve got a few more for you to identify.
All from Maasai Mara in Kenya
- Picture one: A tiny little insect about 1cm long. It seemed to float effortlessly above the grass
…
Signature: Zarek
Unknown Fly from Kenya
Dear Zarek,
First, we are thrilled to be receiving your submissions from Kenya, but placing widely divergent species in a single email makes for problems with our already ponderous system for archiving. For posting purposes, we prefer only one species per letter. You do not need to attach three images to each email. We also noticed our inbox contains two additional emails from you today. It takes considerable time to format each letter with images for posting and that does not include research time. Interestingly, we also just posted a letter and photo of a Ghost Mantis from Kenya that was not supplied by you. We are confining the image on this post to just the unknown Fly and we hope one of our readers can supply any information on this black beauty with white spots.
What’s this?
Ghost Mantis
What’s this?
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
December 22, 2010 4:31 am
Dear bug man – Found this weird bug in my garden. Thought it was a leaf until it started running around!Do you know what it is? It looks like some sort of praying mantis but not sure.
Thanks a lot
Jo
Signature: Jo (My Kenya Info)
Ghost Mantis
Dear Jo,
You are correct. This is a Preying Mantis, but we haven’t a clue as to the species. We will begin researching this identification post haste. We quickly identified it as a Ghost Mantis, Phyllocrania paradoxa, on the Wild Madagascar website. According to the Phasmids in Cyberspace website, Ghost Mantids are found in: “Ethopia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Angola, Guinea, Cape Province, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Transvaal, Uganda, Simbabwe, Guinea, Cape Province, Kenya, Cameroon, Congo, Madagascar, Mosambique, Namibia, Somalia.“ Congratulations on sighting this well camouflaged species in the wild.
Ghost Mantis
Super thanks a lot for your interest and enthusiasm! I also have some video footage of it scampering about!
Happy Christmas
Jo
Future format question
December 21, 2010 8:56 pm
First, I love WTB?!
You must have heard this before… but, Has there been any thought of WTB? creating an app similar to IBird? It would be wonderful to have WTB? at your fingertips in the wild. Keep up the good work.
Signature: stephen gerardin
Thanks for the suggestion Stephen. We will be sure to forward it to our webmaster for consideration.
Green Round Bug
Location: knob noster missouri
December 21, 2010 3:43 pm
This bug was found on a oak leaf in Knob Noster MO in Aug. It had parasitic wasp eggs laid on its back. I think it may be a species of the tomato hornworm. The color is similar but it’s shaped different. It’s almost oval but, flat on the bottom. One end of it had a little bit of a caterpillar body that would come in and out. It was stuck to the leaf. when I got it off and looked at the under belly it had many legs. almost centipede like.
Signature: I’m just interested in the bug. Whatever is easier
Slug Moth Caterpillar parasitized by Braconid
Your caterpillar is most likely a Yellow Shouldered Slug Moth Caterpillar, Lithacodes fasciola, and we agree that the parasites are Braconids. We found a photo on BugGuide of a similar parasite/host relationship.
Long Horned Beetle
Location: Maasai Mara, Kenya
December 21, 2010 6:50 am
Hi WTB,
Just thought I’d share a couple of pictures of a Tithoes confinis long horned beetle (Family Cerambycidae – subfamily prioninae) from Masai Mara in Kenya. It was about 8-9cm long.
Gotta love the macro function on digital cameras.
Signature: Zarek
Longicorn
Dear Zarek,
We do not receive many submissions from Africa, except for South Africa, so we are thrilled with your photos. Additionally, identification of African species can be especially challenging because the internet does not contain as many insect sites devoted to African species as it does sites devoted to North American, Australian or even Costa Rican species. Thanks so much for doing the research and identifying your Longicorn as Tithoes confinis, though we still want to support that ID with a link.
Longicorn from Kenya
Ed. Note: We found this link to the ColeopTerra website that confirms the ID of Tithoes confinis.
Spider in the Rain
Location: South Pasadena, CA
December 21, 2010 1:03 am
Here’s the lynx spider sheltering her egg sac from the rain.
Signature: Barbara
Green Lynx shelters Egg Sac
Dear Barbara,
Thanks for continuing to send us documentation the female Green Lynx Spider living in your garden. We have stated previously that the strong maternal behavior exhibited by this species is rivaled by few other species of spiders, though the Nursery Web Spiders are named because of their protective instincts. Since our Mt Washington offices are but a few miles from South Pasadena, we know that this protective Green Lynx has already kept at least five inches of precipitation from drenching her eggs during this Pineapple Express storm that is predicted to be the worst in a decade by the time the rains subside on Thursday.
Update: December 30, 2010
Hi Daniel. I’m sad to report that the Green Lynx Spider did not survive. Too much rain and nothing to eat I suppose. The egg sac looks collapsed as well. I haven’t taken pictures, because it’s just too sad, but I have left it on the roses, hoping the baby spiders will emerge in some kind of Charlotte’s Web happy ending.
Hi Barbara,
Green Lynx Spiders only live a single season, so this death is not unusual. We hope you see some young spiderlings in the spring.
strange hopping bug…
Location: Orange County California
December 21, 2010 12:06 am
This bug was found by my backdoor. This is the second one I’ve found in 2 days. It has been raining a lot so I’m sure that’s why they’re coming inside. It hops really fast maybe 4-5 inches.
Signature: jon
Lawn Shrimp
Hi Jon,
This terrestrial amphipod is commonly called a Lawn Shrimp or House Hopper. They are generally noticed after a heavy rain. We usually only receive images of pink dead specimens that have entered homes to escape drowning. It is an introduced species from Australia.
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