Update: January 11, 2011
Location Malaysia
Dear Daniel,
I managed to get better pictures of the thrips, they are identified as Western Flower Thrips. See attached files.
They are a major pest for greenhouse growers and very difficult to control.
Cheers,
Kenny
- Thrip
Thanks for the update on your Western Flower Thrips. Now we have to determine if the singular form of Thrips is Thrip. This Earthlife page uses the singular Thrip. Perhaps it is a moot point since a gardener would never have just one Thrip.
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- Thrip
Update: May 15, 2011
Upon posting a new possible Thrips photo, we discovered this comment on Csiro: “The word thrips, is grammatically a plural noun, as is the word sheep. Therefore a single thrips is still ‘a thrips’ (not a thrip), just as one sheep is ‘a sheep’ (not a ship!).”
¶ Posted 12 January 2011 § Thrips ‡ ° Curious find in my apartment
Location: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
January 8, 2011 8:17 am
Last summer, I first found this strange insect crawling on my sink – I thought it a spider at first for its odd structure, but on closer inspection noticed it had only six legs.
Its hind legs were larger, and bent – its locomotion looks somewhat like if a human were on their back, pushing themselves by bending their knees up, planting their feet, and pushing.
This seems to be most of its movement, pushing with those big hind legs and then lesser movement with the front.
It almost looks dusty on its body, like its hairs trap debris or possibly is a natural camouflage of some sort. Has two long whisker-like antennae coming from its head.
Doesn’t seem to be a very powerful crawler against gravity; a tupperware container was suitable for trapping it, as it was unable to make its way up the sides.
That specimen last summer was only maybe 4 mm long, very small, very hard to see.
This morning, however, I discovered a much larger one, somewhere from 8 to 10 mm in size on my wall. I captured it as well, but haven’t had any photos of it yet – if perhaps something more is needed yet that the pictures I have of the first specimen are needed, I can attempt to send them in, as well.
Please note that while these admittedly lower-resolution than needed photos of this tiny bug [again, only about 4 mm in length] seem to appear as if it has two pincer-like legs raised and may appear like that of a pseudoscorpion, those are in fact its larger back legs, with the head opposite. They appear raised because it preferred the rounded edge of the tupperware container it was in.
Thanks, and I appreciate any help you may have on this enigmatic fellow.
Signature: Jude Reed
Masked Hunter
Hi Jude,
Despite the lack of clarity in your photo, the outline of this Masked Hunter, a species of Assassin Bug, is unmistakable. The immature Masked Hunter has a sticky body surface that attracts dust and lint acting as a camouflage for the insect. Masked Hunters are beneficial predators, but they should be handled with care as they might bite. Bed Bug infestations seem to be ubiquitous in the news media of late, and the Masked Hunter is often called a Masked Bed Bug Hunter, indicating that they are natural predators of the nocturnal blood suckers.
Aha! I thank you many times over for the info. And it even answered as well my curiosity I’d had about the bugs that occasionally pop up in summers for me – the adult Masked Hunters seem to be the answer there, as well.
You’ve helped me twofold, and I appreciate it fourfold. Thank you.
Weird Spider
Location: Sacramento, Ca
January 10, 2011 11:31 pm
We found this spider in a towel in our backyard and weren’t sure what it was. Can you help??
Signature: Alysha
Juvenile Western Black Widow
Dear Alysha,
This is a juvenile Western Black Widow. This female will eventually lose the intricate markings and mature into a glossy black spider with a red hourglass marking on the underside of the abdomen. If you flipped this juvenile over, you would see the hourglass. You may compare your spider to this image on BugGuide.
3
Beetle
Location: Brownsville, Texas
January 10, 2011 11:38 am
This beetles is approximately 1.25 inches long. Reddish brown with black spots, legs and pinchers. Sorry they’re a bit blurry.
Signature: Pam Neuburg
Large Eared Blister Beetle: Cissites auriculata
Hi Pam,
This positively spectacular looking beetle is a Blister Beetle, Cissites auriculata, the Large Eared Blister Beetle. According to BugGuide, the range is “West and South Texas, Mexico south to Costa Rica. Bahamas & Puerto Rico.” There is a posting on BugGuide with a very robust comment section, including: “This probably is only the 2nd record from Texas (& the USA). Lewis recorded the species from the Chisos Mts. in 2004 (Coleop. Bull. 58: 635). The genus is known to parasitize Xylocopa” which are Carpenter Bees.
Large Eared Blister Beetle
Thank you so very much! Love your site.
Pam Neuburg
Shiny spiky black bug
Location: Manjimup, Western Australia
January 11, 2011 7:36 am
Hi Mr. Bugman!
I found this black spiky beetle (?) in the Karri forest of Western Australia and I would like to know what it is! CAn you help me out?
Signature: Marina
- Pie Dish Beetle
Hi Marian,
We doubt that we will be able to fully answer your question before rushing off to work, but we will give you what we have found. This beetle is very similar to one we identified many years ago, so we searched the Australian beetles in our archive and found a posting entitled Pie Dish Beetle from 2006. We followed our own links to the Brisbane Insect Website and thought there are obvious similarities, there are also differences, notably the lack of spikes on the Brisbane examples. We are confident that we are on the right track, but the species and genus are uncertain. Additionally, the image from our archive is also different. Perhaps someone can provide a more exact response and we will continue to research as time permits.
- Pie Dish Beetle
We did find a Hairy Backed Pie Dish Beetle, Helea perforata, on FlickR, and that resembles our previous posting, but the spikes on your beetle are thicker.
What might this be?
Location: North East Pennsylvania
January 10, 2011 7:24 pm
Came home today and our cats where playing with it. It you would think where the pinchers are at was the head…. but it walks in the opposite direction.
Signature: ~M
Doodlebug
Dear M,
This is a Doodlebug, the larva of an Antlion. The reason it walks backwards is because the Doodlebug spends its larval life buried in sandy soil. It waits at the bottom of a conical pit with only its mandibles exposed. Any insect that falls into the pit is quickly devoured. The big mystery for us is where your cats found this Doodlebug in the middle of the winter. Do you perhaps have a dirt floor in the basement?
What is this
Location: League city, texas
January 9, 2011 9:02 pm
This snake or worm was found alive at the bottom of our pool after a rain in early January
Signature: Austin
Gordian Worm
Dear Austin,
This is a Gordian Worm or Horsehair Worm. It is an internal parasite of certain insects and arthropods including the Potato Bug. The Gordian Worm has a very complicated life cycle, but it reaches maturity inside the digestive tract of a Potato Bug. When the worm is mature, it releases a chemical that drives the Potato Bug to seek water. Once the Potato Bug enters the water, the worm bursts out killing the host. Adult Gordian Worms mate in the water.
¶ Posted 10 January 2011 § Worms ‡ ° Need to know what bug is
January 10, 2011 6:39 am
Hi there,
We have A LOT of these bugs in our home. Please could you tell me what it is, and how to get it out of our house??
I think they are more in our house since it started raining so much.
Thanks,
Signature: Yvonne
Ground Beetle
Dear Yvonne,
This is a harmless Ground Beetle. It is a beneficial predator. The best way to get it out of the house is to catch it and release it. If you don’t want to handle the Ground Beetle, just cover it with a glass (stemware like a martini glass works perfectly) and then slide a postcard under the glass trapping it for mobile transport.
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