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Monthly Archives February 2011

Harvestmen: Mysterious Cretan Creatures resemble Ticks

Identification
Location: Crete, Greece
February 4, 2011 6:42 am
I hope that you may be able to ID this ’creature’ for me. It is very much like a spider, but moves very slowly. When touched it ’plays dead’ and goes rigid for about 10 minutes, whereupon it will start to move again. It varies in size, anything from 1/4” long to 1” long. I found it in the bottom of my empty swimming pool (obviously fell in/was blown in) in Crete, Greece.
Carol
Signature: no problem

cretan creatures 300x300 Harvestmen: Mysterious Cretan Creatures resemble Ticks

Cretan Creatures are Harvestmen

Hi Carol,
We opened your email just prior to leaving for a long long day at work yesterday, and we didn’t have the time to post.  We did not crop into your images because we wanted to protect the integrity of your post-production enhancements.  We are very puzzled by these creatures, and they seem to resemble Ticks.  We are hoping to get some professional assistance with your identification request.

cretan creatures 2 300x300 Harvestmen: Mysterious Cretan Creatures resemble Ticks

Cretan Creatures in the order Opiliones

You can compare your creatures to photos of Ticks online, including the photos on this Texas Cooperative Extension website.

cretan creatures 3 183x300 Harvestmen: Mysterious Cretan Creatures resemble Ticks

Cretan Creatures are Harvestmen

Hi, Daniel.
Many thanks for your quick response.  I looked at the Texas Co-operative Extension website, and would agree that they do rather resemble ticks, but I didn’t know that ticks were as large as these, some I have found with bodies as long as 1″.
I shall be most interested to hear further from you with hopefully a guranteed identification.
Many thanks for your help with this matter.
Carol

Entomologist Julian Donahue provides input
Hi Daniel,
They’re clearly arachnids. At first, I thought that they might be in the order Ricinulei (“tick spiders”) because of the hood-like structure at the anterior end, but the body shape and legs appear to be all wrong.
Although the mouthparts aren’t visible in the photo, my best guess is that they are unengorged ticks, based upon the body shape and the long legs.
Julian P. Donahue

Ed. Note: Thanks to a comment from Mirta in Patagonia, we now know that these unusual creatures are actually Harvestmen in the order Opiliones.  Here is a photo on Nature Photo and some images on the Natura Mediterraneo website as well.  Though we shy away from linking to Wikipedia, we did find this information there:  “The Trogulidae are a family of harvestmen with about 45 known species.  Members of this species have short legs and live in soil. They have dirt attached to their bodies, to escape predators. Their body length ranges from 2 to 22 mm. The body is in most genera somewhat flattened and leathery. Adults have a small hood, which hides their short chelicerae and pedipalps.“

Many thanks to everyone for their help in identifying these creatures, I really appreciate your trouble.  If I find anything else I can’t ID, which is highly likely, then I know where to come!
Carol

Posted 05 February 2011 § Opiliones and Harvestmen ‡ Comments (2) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Moth Fly Pupa found in Toilet

moth, fly, or moth fly
Location: Washington State
February 3, 2011 2:23 pm
Found these larvae in my toilet bowl. I flushed and more appeared. I looked in the tank and found that the tank had been retrofitted with a plastic eco insert. In the main tank there was about 1/4” of stagnant water because the water was being diverted into the insert. I think that a fly or moth laid eggs in the stagnant water and then somehow the larvae moved into the plastic insert and with every flush some get sucked from the insert into the bowl. Because I don’t know how the retrofit works, I haven’t taken it apart to check.
Signature: Amsuncow

fly pupa toilet 300x243 Moth Fly Pupa found in Toilet

Moth Fly Pupa

Dear Amsuncow,
We actually believe this is a pupa and not a larva, and your supposition that it might be a Moth Fly in the subfamily Psychodinae is probably correct, though your images look different from the stages of the Filter Fly, Clogmia albipunctata, that are pictured on BugGuide.  Your individual is more elongated than the this image of a Filter Fly Pupa from BugGuide, however, there are other members of the subfamily that have a similar habitat.  BugGuide also provides this information on the subfamily:  “Larva: eyeless and legless; head darker and narrower than body; each segment with one or more dark rectangular bands dorsally; terminal segment narrows, forming dark-colored breathing tube  Pupa: resembles minute grain of brown rice” and “Adults often found around sewage installations, in public washrooms, and bathrooms in homes, and are attracted to light; larvae live in organic sludge that forms on inner surfaces of drains and sewage pipes; pupae occur on the surface of the organic film that the larvae have been living in.“  Finally, BugGuide has this information on the life cycle of Moth Flies:  “In the home, females lay irregular masses of 30-200 eggs in the organic gelatinous film lining drains, particularly in bathtubs and showers; eggs hatch 32-48 hours after being laid, when ambient temperatures are 70ºF (about 20ºC), and larvae pupate 9-15 days later; pupa stage lasts 20-40 hours; development time from egg to adult is 7-28 days, depending on temperature and food availability; adults live for about two weeks.“  Since the Moth Fly Pupa are on the surface, they are easily transferred from the eco insert to the tank and bowl during the flushing process.  The appearance of Moth Flies in otherwise sanitary bathrooms might be due to poorly engineered, but well intentioned methods for water conservation.  Thank you so much for sending your letter and excellent photographs.

moth fly pupa toilet 300x205 Moth Fly Pupa found in Toilet

Moth Fly Pupa

Posted 04 February 2011 § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Boxelder Bug

They are taking over my pretty farm house
Location: Southern Indiana
February 3, 2011 12:30 pm
Could someone please help me ID this menance to my newly refurbished farm house? They are all over the walls and especially the windows on the south walls of my house. They are staying downstairs but ladybugs are upstairs and on the west enclosed porch. I knew about the ladybugs and will have to deal with those but this is bigger and ugly. I hessitate in inviting people over for fear they will think Im a poor mother and wife allowing these to cohabitate with us.
Signature: Disheartened mommy

boxelder blurry 300x225 Boxelder Bug

Boxelder Bug

Dear Disheartened mommy,
No amount of post production sharpening in photoshop is going to help your blurry photo, but there are still enough details for us to identify your Boxelder Bug thanks to your excellent description, though ugly is not a word we would use.  Boxelder Bugs are harmless creatures that hibernate over the winter.  When your farm house was refurbished, the contractor must not have adequately sealed and weatherstripped.  You need to find the point of entry and seal it off.  The Ladybugs are probably entering the home the same way.

Posted 04 February 2011 § Box Elder Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Assassin Bug from Australia

What Bug Is This? It Bit Me Last Night.
Location: New South Wales, Australia
February 3, 2011 6:05 pm
Hi, was laying in bed last night and felt a sharp pain in the back of my thigh and grabbed this bug off me… I have no idea what it is. It left a nice puncture mark and came up in a big welt. Just curious about its identity.. I’m thinking something in the Assassin Family
Signature: Regards Hannah

assassin australia hannah 292x300 Assassin Bug from Australia

Assassin Bug

Hi Hannah,
You are correct that this is an Assassin Bug in the family Reduviidae, however, the photo has not been taken from the ideal angle for identification.  Your individual does not resemble the thicker bodied Assassin Bugs on the Brisbane Insect website, and it is impossible for us to determine if your individual is one of the more slender bodied Assassin Bugs pictured there.

Posted 04 February 2011 § Assassin Bugs ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Hawkmoth found at sea off of Angola

Moth?
Location: At sea, off Angola
February 3, 2011 9:34 am
Dear Mr. Bugman,
I met this fellow on an oil tanker today, about 75 miles off the coast of Angola, West Africa. It is 5-6 cm long, and was found on deck just after a thunder storm had gone by.
I believe it is a moth, but what is the full name?
Signature: Geir

sphinx angola ship geir 300x182 Hawkmoth found at sea off of Angola

Unknown Hawkmoth might be Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Hi Geir,
Upon working on this posting, we realized that this is the second time you have sent us an image of a Hawkmoth found at sea off of Angola.  Your first specimen was eventually recognized as a Verdant Hawkmoth.  Hawkmoths in the family Sphingidae are very powerful fliers, and that combined with with wind may have caused both specimens to alight on your oil tanker.  Hopefully, we will be able to eventually provide you with a species identification for this individual as well.

Update thanks to Karl
Hi Daniel and Geir:
Your hawkmoth doesn’t show many distinguishing features and unfortunately the hind wings and abdomen are not visible. However, I think it looks very much like a Convolvulus Hawkmoth (Agrius convolvuli). This is a common and very wide spread species ranging from southern Europe and all of Africa, across southern Asia to Australia (perhaps trying to extend its range further by jumping ship?). Not surprisingly, given its range, both adults and caterpillars show considerable variation, although adult color and pattern are generally fairly drab. That said, the pattern on the thorax, the pale checkering along the trailing edge of the forewing and the banded legs appear consistent in most images. If that isn’t the correct species, I believe Agrius is at least the right genus. Regards.  Karl

Posted 03 February 2011 § Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

Green Lynx Spider

green lynx spider
Location: coastal san diego
February 2, 2011 1:04 pm
This will be the last time I visit your site. You have sent me two pass words and neither work. Just wanted to tell you that your life span information on the Green Lynx spider is incorrect. I have watched one continuously and she is now sitting on her second egg sac. She survived the December rains with her first spiderlings and became pregnant again. Since spiderlings winter over, I have to assume she started life in 2009. You can see the older egg sack in the picture to the left
Signature: meredith french

green lynx eggs meredith 300x206 Green Lynx Spider

Green Lynx Spider with Egg Sac

Dear Meredith,
We are sorry to hear that you are having technical difficulties.  Our technical staff is completely separate from our editorial staff.  All we can say is that if our awesome webmaster cannot correct your problem, there must be a major system incompatibility that is creating the problem.  Thanks for sending your photo of a Green Lynx Spider protecting her second egg sac.  Green Lynx Spiders may produce multiple broods, but even under ideal conditions, it would be highly unusual for a female to live through a second season.

Posted 03 February 2011 § Eggs § Green Lynx ‡ Comments (0) °

Unknown Moth Caterpillar from Singapore

id a caterpillar
Location: Singapore
February 3, 2011 8:36 am
I was walking in the Singapore MacRitchie reservoir, and foaund a large family of these caterpillars. i have no knowledge about that, but we wonder what it will become in a few weeks?
Signature: Philippe

caterpillar social singapore philippe 300x186 Unknown Moth Caterpillar from Singapore

Unknown Caterpillar

Dear Philippe,
We tried to identify this social Caterpillar without much luck.  It will eventually metamorphose into a moth.  The Singapore Butterfly Interest Group website has no matching images, but it wouldn’t be much help if they did because none of the Moth Caterpillars there are identified.  The social feeding pattern should help in the identification, and knowing the food plant might also be of tremendous assistance.

Posted 03 February 2011 § moth caterpillars ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

House Centipede from Australia

Nice looking chestnut coloured bug
Location: Kilcowera Station, SW Queensland, Australia
February 3, 2011 5:44 am
This bug has never been seen before here or anywhere else. It’s body is about 4 cm long and is segmented, a bit like a centrepede, it has 15 legs on either side, the 2 at the end are very long. It has nippers at its mouth end like a centrepede too. And beady eyes.
Signature: Toni

house centipede australia toni 300x225 House Centipede from Australia

House Centipede

Dear Toni,
There is a good reason your creature reminds you of a Centipede.  It is a House Centipede.

Thanks Daniel, I would have commented on wtb site but I can’t login even though I have registerd.  Thanks for identifying my bug!  It’s a great blog, cheers Toni

Posted 03 February 2011 § Centipedes ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

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