February 2011 - What's That Bug?

From the monthly archives: "February 2011"

Mining Bees

On February 28, 2011 · Category: Bees · Add Comment

Tiny Bee or Ant
Location: Valley of Fire visitor Center 36°25’47.38”N 114°30’51.01”W
February 26, 2011 10:05 pm
Took this photo of a critter in a globe mallow at the Valley of Fire state park in Nevada. The flower is about 1cm across.
Signature: Just Curious

Unknown Bees

Dear Just Curious,
We will try to identify what we believe to be Bees in your photograph. The pale coloration is highly unusual. We wonder if perhaps these pale creatures are in the Tribe Neolarrini as pictured on BugGuide.

Identification courtesy of Eric Eaton
Hi:
Yes, those are bees in the genus Perdita (family Andrenidae). Exceptionally diverse genus, especially in the southwest.
Eric

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Flower Chafer from Botswana: Dicranorrhina derbyana

On February 28, 2011 · Category: Scarab Beetles · Add Comment

What beetle is this
Location: Okavango, Botswana, Africa
February 27, 2011 12:55 pm
Hi,
Please can you help me identify this bug.
Thanks
Jules
Signature: Jules

Flower Chafer

Hi Jules,
Back in December 2009, we identified this Flower Chafer in the subfamily Cetoniinae as Dicranorrhina derbyana.

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Scarlet Bodied Wasp Moth

On February 28, 2011 · Category: Tiger Moths and Arctiids · Add Comment

Any idea what this is
Location: Florida
February 27, 2011 7:22 pm
Hi there, any chance you might know what this is? It was found in a garage in Florida 2 days ago.
Signature: letter?

Scarlet Bodied Wasp Moth

You found a Scarlet Bodied Wasp Moth which avoids predation by mimicking a stinging insect.

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Crayfish

On February 28, 2011 · Category: Crustaceans · Add Comment

What is this?
Location: By my fence in the backyard.
February 27, 2011 10:44 am
I found this wondering in my yard. It has a stinger on the back but its down right now as I was hovering over it. It tried to strike my dogs a couple of times..
Signature: any way

Crayfish

Dear any way,
Crayfish, Crawfish, Clawfish and Crawdad are just a few of the common names attributed to this freshwater crustacean that burrows into the mud during times of drought.

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Lubber Grasshoppers from Peru

On February 28, 2011 · Category: Grasshoppers · Add Comment

Grasshopper family group
Location: Tingo Maria National Park, Huanuco, Peru
February 27, 2011 5:55 am
Can you please help with identification of these grasshoppers from Peru? Although they had separated by the time I photographed them, the adult was originally with the group of newly-hatched nymphs and photographed with them by one of my companions, so we believe it to be the same species, presumably the mother.
Signature: Peter Bruce-Jones

Grasshopper

Hi again Peter,
While it is entirely possible that the adult Grasshopper and the Grasshopper Nymphs you photographed are the same species, it is also possible that chance occurrences brought them together. Grasshoppers do not care for their young, and often immature grasshoppers have drastically different coloration and markings than the adults of the same species. We hope our readership might be able to provide additional information on these colorful Peruvian Grasshoppers.

Grasshopper Nymphs

Karl provides an identification
Hi Daniel and Peter:
These are lubber grasshoppers (Romaleidae: Romalaeinae) in the genus Chromacris. There are numerous internet images of very similar or identical looking grasshoppers, most of which are identified as Chromacris sp. or Chromacris speciosa. Of the dozen or so species and subspecies, C. speciosa is probably the most common and widely distributed. However, I suspect that many, if not most of the available internet images of C. speciosa have been misidentified. According to Roberts and Carbonell (1982), the only species with this particular color and pattern combination (yellow tipped antennae; yellow and black hind wings; three yellow bands on the hind femora and two on the hind tibiae; pale anterior and posterior forewing margins), is C. peruviana. Chromacris speciosa is highly variable but the antennae are always entirely black. The few images of Chromacris nymphs that I was able to find all look quite similar to the ones posted, so I would say they likely are of the same species as the adult. Regards. Karl

Roberts, H. Radclyffe, and Carlos S. Carbonell. 1982. A revision of the grasshopper genera Chromacris and Xestotrachelus (Orthoplera, Romaleidae, Romaleinae). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences Volume 43: 43-58

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Immature Katydid from Peru

On February 28, 2011 · Category: Katydids · Add Comment

Some kind of Orthopteran?
Location: Southeastern Peru, Manu Area
February 28, 2011 4:03 am
I stumbled across this while hiking through foothill forest of Southeastern Peru in Manu National Park around 900 – 1000m elevation. The insect almost perfectly camouflaged itself by fitting its body into a lengthwise cavity in a hollow twig while holding its antennae and legs outstretched and parallell with the twig. It’s body fit almost perfectly.
Thanks!
Signature: Rich

Unknown Orthopteran

Hi Rich,
We agree that this is an Orthopteran. We will try to contact Piotr Naskrecki, an expert in Katydids, to see if he can identify this unusual creature.

Piotr Naskrecki provides tribe identification
Hi Daniel,
This is a nymph of a katydid of the tribe Pleminiini (Pseudophyllinae), but it is too young for me to be able to tell the genus.
Cheers,
Piotr

Hi Daniel,
Thank you! I saw Piotr’s response on the website. This is very interesting. Sorry, I have a couple more questions: I was curious as to whether the insect makes the cavity itself or finds existing ones. Is hiding like this typical of nymphs the tribe Pleminiini? Also, what do adults look like? Are they typical green katydids?
Thanks a lot!
Rich

Hi Rich,
This response is mostly speculation. We doubt that the nymph excavates the cavity. Most Katydids practice some form of camouflage mimicry. We are unable to locate any images of individuals in the tribe Pleminiini.

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House Centipede Libeled on Entrepreneurial Website

On February 28, 2011 · Category: Centipedes · Add Comment

House centipede
Well hello again, bugman!
This email isn’t an insect submission or question; instead it’s a “what the heck?” at a severely misinformed person profiting by telling lies of helpful hunter insects.
I stumbled across this website (linked below) while looking up insects with my wife. I should warn you, there is a rather graphic image on the homepage of what is actually a Brown Recluse spider bite, not a House Centipede bite as the website claims.
http://housecentipedes.info/house-centipedes-bite.php
It seems as though this website aims to spread false information about House Centipedes, and then sells literature, ideas, etc. on how to exterminate them from your home.
I sent an email to jill@housecentipedecontrol.com, in hopes to inform her of the farce of the website. I made sure to include some of the information I learned from your (wonderful!) website to try to educate her. Would you care to kindly do the same?
Kyle

Update
WAIT, WAIT…my mistake. Jill is NOT affiliated with the first website I linked…
Still though, BOTH websites are misinformed on house centipedes! Why?
Kyle Church

House Centipede photo from our archives

Dear Kyle,
Thank you for alerting us to this website that has falsely accused the beneficial House Centipede of being a “blood thirsty freak.” While we have nothing against entrepreneurial endeavors, we would like to caution the web browsing public that there are many sensationalistic statements on the internet that are published in an opinionated form, hence they are protected by the First Amendment and the right of Freedom of Speech.

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Unknown Caterpillar Outbreak in Hawaii

On February 28, 2011 · Category: moth caterpillars Tagged With: Unidentified · Add Comment

Infestation of caterpillars

Unknown Caterpillars

Infestation of caterpillars
Location: hawaii, big island
February 27, 2011 6:52 pm
Help…i live in hawaii, and in the 7 years i have been there i have never seen anything like these caterpillars…there seems to be a fe different types, none of which i can identify, but they are everywhere, even inside! what do i do, what are they
Signature: ryan Williamson

Unknown Caterpillars

Dear Ryan,
Alas, your photos are quite blurry, but we believe there is a resemblance between your caterpillars and the members of the subfamily Erebinae, which includes the Underwings. You can see some of these North American species of Moths on BugGuide. Many endemic species on Hawaii are being displaced by opportunistic invasive exotic species, and it is entirely possible that these caterpillars have been introduced. Often populations of insects peak during certain years, and it is also possible that this is a native species that has suddenly experienced a population explosion due to ideal conditions. Knowing the plant that they are feeding upon may help with the identification.

Unknown Caterpillar Outbreak

thanks for your response…i can tell you they are eating (almost exclusivly) what we call “Christmas berry” trees, or “brazilian Pepper”, or “Florida holly”….i heard the trees called all of these names…its a sappy tree, with red pepper corn berries, white blossoms, and an invasive tree itself. There are hundreds of acres of this tree where i live….They(caterpillars) do not like oleander, but are eating orchids as well….hope this helps to identify them better…there seems to be a few different types of caterpillars, but they may be different aged or something….any ideas what to do to get rid of them?

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Mining Bees

Flower Chafer from Botswana: Dicranorrhina derbyana

Scarlet Bodied Wasp Moth

Crayfish

Lubber Grasshoppers from Peru

Immature Katydid from Peru

House Centipede Libeled on Entrepreneurial Website

Unknown Caterpillar Outbreak in Hawaii

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