What is this?
Location: Middle Tennessee
January 13, 2011 3:03 pm
I have never seen a bug like this before, would love some insight as to what the heck it is! I saw this crawling around in a public restroom.
Signature: Courtney
House Centipede
Hi Courtney,
Despite being found in a public restroom, this common and harmless predator is known as a House Centipede.
Mysterious psychedelic bug
Location: North Carolina
January 13, 2011 9:56 pm
Hello, I made two interesting discoveries in my back yard a few years ago: while I was gardening, I came across a small pot plant that appeared to be growing wild in an overgrown corner of my property. Even more curious was the fact that the plant was covered with a dozen or so of these beautiful, brightly colored insects that I have never seen before or since. I managed to take one photo before the bugs scattered, but they were very active and it was difficult to find one that would stay put for long enough to photograph. Can you identify this insect? I am very curious. (the pot plant went into the compost pile, by the way.)
Signature: Psychedelic bug finder
Broad-Headed Sharpshooter
Dear Psychedelic bug finder,
You have found a Broad-Headed Sharpshooter, Oncometopia orbona, which according to BugGuide is “The only common, widely-distributed member of this genus in the Eastern US (per Dr Andy Hamilton’s comment).“ Sharpshooters are Leafhoppers, and though many are brightly colored, rather pretty insects, they are also considered to be problematic insects in the garden. Because they have sucking mouthparts, when they are numerous can cause damage to young shoots on plants by sucking the juices from tender stems. Also, they might spread viral infections to plants.
Need tyo know which bug is this?
Location: Northwest Province, South Africa
January 12, 2011 1:00 am
The pics were taken in Pilanesberg National Park, Northwest Province, South Africa. The subject was reluctant to pose and kept flying off, hence the somewhat awkward shots!
Signature: Brian
Twig Wilter
Dear Brian,
This is a Big Legged Bug in the family Coreidae. In South Africa they are also known as Twig Wilters. We have been unable to conclusively identify your species, but we did find a remarkably similar looking specimen posted on the Beetles in the Bush website where it is referred to by the local name Magodo.
Magodo
Ever in the San Francisco Bay Area?
Website: boneroompresents.com
January 12, 2011 8:55 pm
Hello Daniel-
Are you ever in the San Francisco Bay Area? If you are ever in the area, we would love to have you in to speak and sign The Curious World of Bugs. The Bone Room Presents is a natural history salon in Berkeley, California. A new endeavor right next door to Berkeley’s venerable natural history store, The Bone Room, the salon functions as an art gallery and space for book signings, lectures, and practical classes, all with a natural history theme.
Previous presenters have included Stiff author Mary Roach; NCSE Exectutive Director and author of Evolution vs Creationism: An Introduction Eugenie Scott, and Mythbusters’ Adam Savage.
Thanks,
Erin Kerrigan
The Bone Room Presents
The Curious World of Bugs
Dear Erin,
Thank you for your interest. I am quite flattered, however, I would need more details. We can discuss this offline?
Daniel
Strange Giraffe Bug
Possibly a Leaf Hopper
Strange Giraffe Bug
Location: Madai, Kunak, Sabah, Malaysia, Borneo
January 13, 2011 2:54 am
Hi Mr. Bugman,
I found this strange looking bug with long neck in a rain forest reserve in Malaysia called Pusat Sejadi Hutan Simpan Baturong Kunak. I found it near the waterfall. Can you help me out with this bug?
Signature: C.X Wong
Possibly a Leaf Hopper
Dear C.X. Wong,
We believe this is some species of Leafhopper, or at least a member of the order Hemiptera. We are tagging it as Unidentified and we hope our readership will assist in providing additional information.
Possibly a Leafhopper
what is it
Jewel Beetle
what is it
Location: Forbes NSW Australia
January 13, 2011 5:46 am
found this bug and every one i know even people who have lived in this area all there lives have never seen one before
help me bugman
Signature: Gavin Montgomery
Jewel Beetle
Dear Gavin,
This beautiful beetle is a Metallic Borer Beetle in the family Buprestidae, and its members, because of the gorgeous coloration many of them possess, are known as Jewel Beetles. We became obsessed with fining you a species identification, and we must have individually clicked through hundreds of images on the Insect Reference Collection Database (ICDB) of an Australian Government Agriculture website dedicated to beetles before we found an image of Themognatha westwoodi which appears to be an exact match for your beetle. Alas, a great source for identifying Australian Beetles, Allen Sundholm’s Buprestidae Home Page, now comes up with the message: “Forbidden You don’t have permission to access.” Allen Sundholm was quite liberal with his identification assistance in the past, but we no longer know how to contact him. More information on Australian Jewel Beetle can still be found on the Brisbane Insect Website.
Jewel Beetle
fantastic thank you very much for identifying this beautiful bug
can you tell me any thing about it?
is it common to my part of australia ect
thank you
Gavinb
Hi again Gavin,
We struggled to identify this beetle, and once we found a match, we were not able to find any additional information on the actual species online. You may try searching some of the commercial companies that sell specimens. Rarer specimens would theoretically cost more to collectors. In more general sense, the larvae of Jewel Beetles in the family Buprestidae are called Flathead Borers and some species remain in the larval stage for several years. Some species are limited to a single host plant species. It is also not at all unusual that some species from remote locations are documented only from the adult stage known as the imago, and that there is no documentation of the life cycle.
Bug Identification
Location: Chandler, AZ
January 12, 2011 1:06 am
I found this bug in the house. My son tells me he sees them flying around the lights at night.
Signature: vinfiz
Webspinner
Hi vinfiz,
Goodness, that is one old dime. Your insect is a Webspinner in the order Embiidina. According to BugGuide, they are also called Footspinners. BugGuide also indicates they are: “more numerous during the rainy season” and “silk galleries are spun under stones and bark, in debris, cracks in soil or bark, among grass roots, lichens, mosses, and epiphytic plants winged males of some species are attracted to artificial light.”
Webspinner
Brown Widow catches a solifuge
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
January 11, 2011 11:44 pm
Hi Daniel,
A while ago, I sent you a picture of a tiny little solifuge that we weren’t able to identify. The other day, I watched the same solifuge (or at least one of the same species) running across the floor of my tent to the corner behind my toilet. It was the wrong corner to run to, as there’s a resident Brown Widow (Latrodectus geometricus) that lives behind my toilet. This was the result. I got a few more pics, but they were all out of focus as I was to excited to hold the camera steady.
Signature: Zarek
Brown Widow eats Solifugid
Hi again Zarek,
Thank you for sending us documentation of this awesome Food Chain encounter, a Brown Widow ensnaring a Solifugid.
I like This