Spider in Guanxi Province, China
Location: Baise, Guangxi Province, China
January 9, 2011 9:31 pm
We accidently disturbed this guy from behind a framed picture in a building. His legs are about 6-8 inches each. He didn’t move very quickly and didn’t jump. We have considered it being a huntsman or a golden earth tiger spider…what is he??
Signature: the Reeves family
Huntsman Spider
Dear Reeves Family,
Your suspicion that this is a Huntsman Spider is correct, however we believe your size estimate is an exaggeration. Erring on the low end, if each leg was six inches long, this spider would be more than a foot across. Just like the fish that got away, the size of insects that are observed and that make an impression often seem much larger than they really are.
description of worm, have dreams of them
January 7, 2011 10:23 pm
I keep having this same dream over and over. In it there is a worm with either a red or orange head, four white segments behind, and on the first and last white segments, there are two black legs. They come burrowing out of the person’s body, and they come out singly, but there is a lot of them. What could these worms be?
Signature: Daniel
Is the Tetrio Sphinx the source of the Red Headed Dream Worm?
Dear Daniel,
WE are not in the business of dream interpretation, but we do have enough knowledge to know that dreams are a combination of many real life experiences and sensory data that are modified by psychological impulses including fears and desires. Perhaps you have a fear of parasites. There are numerous worms that can be found inside humans, including Tapeworms. There are also some internal parasites that are insects like the Human Bot Fly. There are also many somewhat wormlike insects with red heads that we have in our archives including the Tetrio Sphinx Caterpillar, a Walkingstick from Ecuador, the Red Headed Centipede, the Red Headed Pine Sawfly Larva and the Azalea Caterpillar. We cannot say for certain that your dream worm does not exist, but since you are unable to send us an image of what is going on inside your head, we are going to have to leave it as unidentified.
Might the Red Headed Centipede cause Nightmares?
Brazilian tiny bug
Location: Paraty-Brazil
January 9, 2011 2:22 pm
Hi,
I wonder if you have an idea what these tiny little bugs could be, maybe nymphs, there were many on one leaf.
I found them in a shady part of the rainforest close to a river in the region of Paraty-Brazil.
Size about 3mm.
Thank you in advance!
Signature: Myriam
Immature True Bug
Hi Myriam,
These are immature Hemipterans, and they are probably True Bugs, but we haven’t a clue as to the family, much less the genus or species.
Immature True Bugs
Shiny bug
Location: Cambé – PR, Brazil
January 8, 2011 7:27 pm
This bug has a really shiny golden color.
The shot was taken with an iPhone4 and a magnifying glass, inside my car.
The insulfilm of the windows and my inexperience with photos takes the beauty of the bug away.I think it measures around 6mm.
Thank you for your time
Signature: Aloysio Paschoal
Tortoise Beetle
Hi again Aloysio,
This is some species of Tortoise Beetle in the tribe Cassidini.
Youre right,
searching for Tortoise Beetle on Google images I saw one identical on Panama.
Thank you
Aloysio
Thanks Aloysio,
We decided to complete our research. We found the Target Beetle, Ischnocodia annulus, on a FlickR profile website.
Seems like the especies could be Ischnocodia annulus.
Some links:
http://www.treknature.com/gallery/South_America/Brazil/photo118809.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/240713658/
http://www.google.com.br/images?q=Ischnocodia%20annulus&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=pt-br&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=873
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Ischnocodia+annulus
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brutamonte/3936814854/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/240713658/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/269789338/
Also found like Charidotis cincticulus:
http://www.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/katalog%20internetowy/charidotiscincticulus.htm
http://www.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/katalog%20internetowy/charidotiscincticulusfig.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/4442649245/
2011/1/12 Aloysio Turrisi
Grasshopper???
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
January 9, 2011 2:39 pm
Good Afternoon,
We recently discovered our powder puff bushes in the backyard had become a home to these creatures. We tried to look them up everywhere and havent been successful. We think they might be some kind of infant insects but are not sure. There’s a bunch of them, they have wings, their bodies seem point and yellow. If you could help us we’d be most appreciative.
Signature: CG
Thorn Treehopper
Dear CG,
These are not immature insects. They are adult Treehoppers in the family Membracidae, and we believe they are Thorn Treehoppers, Umbonia crassicornis, based on a photo posted to BugGuide. The Info page on BugGuide quotes the University of Florida Featured Creatures website which describes them as: “a variable species as to size, color and structure, particularly the pronotal horn of males. Typically, the adult is about 0.5 inch in length and is green or yellow with reddish lines and brownish markings. … Young nymphs have three horns instead of the one seen on the adults.“ The Featured Creatures site also indicates: “The thorn bug is an occasional pest of ornamentals and fruit trees in southern Florida. During heavy infestations, nymphs and adults form dense clusters around the twigs, branches and even small tree trunks. Some hosts which have been severely damaged include Hibiscus sp., powder-puff (Calliandra spp.), woman’s tongue tree (Albizzia lebbek), and Acacia spp. Young trees of jacaranda (Jacaranda acutifolia) and royal poinciana (Delonix regia) with a diameter of 1.5 to 2 inches have been killed by thorn bugs in the Tampa area. The trunks were so heavily infested that is was difficult to place a finger anywhere on the trunk without touching a specimen. Damage is caused by sucking the sap and by oviposition cuts. Butcher (1953) reported that certain trees, especially some cassias, suffered considerable loss of foliage, and that pithecellobiums (Pithecellobium spp.) suffered general and extensive terminal twig death. He also mentioned that thorn bug honey-dew secretions and accompanying sooty mold development caused a nuisance to home owners. Kuitert (1958) noted that heavy accumulations of honey-dew sometimes occurred on parked automobiles. There are reports of barefooted children stepping on the spines of thorn bugs which drop out of trees. The wounds are slow healing and sometimes become infected.“
Completely Stumped
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
January 9, 2011 10:08 am
Hi Daniel,
I don’t even know what family to start looking in for this one.
I’ve only seen it once. It was long after dark. Taken less than a month ago.
Signature: Zarek
Cockroach
Hi Zarek,
This is some species of Cockroach. Only a few species of Cockroaches infest homes, but they have given a bad reputation to the thousands of benign Cockroaches around the world.
Wow.
Ok. Most cockroaches I’ve seen in the US and in Kenya have always been very drab and plain looking. The patterns on this one are beautiful.
Zarek
ID
Location: Colombia
January 8, 2011 6:01 pm
I found this strange ”bug” and was wondering what it is. My guess is a catapiller. I am in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombian Andes.
Scale in cm.
Signature: Scott Parks
Monkey Slug
Hi Scott,
This is a Monkey Slug, Phobetron pithecium, and you are correct that it is a caterpillar.
A proboscis with antenna?
Location: Cambé – PR, Brazil
January 8, 2011 7:39 pm
It was found on a growing pit of one of my Nepenthes (the brown, not the green one). With 1cm. Photo – iPhone4 with a magnifying glass and pacience.
Thank you for your time.
Signature: Aloysio Paschoal
Weevil
Dear Aloysio,
This is some species of Weevil in the superfamily Curculionoidea. Weevils are the most plentiful beetles on the planet. We will attempt a species identification for you and perhaps one of our readers will be successful in identifying this timy Weevil.
Thank you very much.
And I was here, thinking that maybe it could be a rare especimen.
Aloysio
Hello again Aloysio,
It may be a rare specimen, but we couldn’t say for sure until the species is identified.
I like This
