Bug Identification
Location: Perth, Western Australia, Australia
February 15, 2011 4:20 am
Hi,
I found this bug at my school and my girlfriends and I got a little freaked out. The bug in the photo is real size. My nickname is nature freak and I was just wondering what the bug is if I come across it again, i could tell my girlfriends.
Signature: Grace Holness
Mole Cricket
Dear Grace,
You encountered a Mole Cricket. Mole Crickets have a global distribution and we get submissions from many locations, though most of the reported sightings we get are from North America and the Middle East as well as Australia.
Nymph
Location: Cochise County, Arizona
February 14, 2011 8:15 pm
Dear Bugdude,
A friend took these photos and gave me permission to send them in. She photographed the nymph in a stream in the Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona, it was about 2 – 2 1/2 inches in lenght. I’ve searched and searched the internet and cannot seem to locate a photo to identify this nymph.
Signature: Huh?
Hellgrammite
Dear Huh?,
This appears to be a Hellgrammite, the larva of a Dobsonfly or Fishfly in the family Corydalidae which you may compare to this image on BugGuide. Most of our images of Hellgrammites are from the Eastern Dobsonfly, Corydalus cornutus, and BugGuide does not report them any further west than Texas, however, BugGuide does report a genus member being sighted in Arizona, and the information page on the genus on BugGuide does list four species, with this information: “Corydalus texana – SW US west of the Rocky Mountains” and “Corydalus bidenticulatus - Arizona” indicating that this individual may be either of those species.
Red bug
Location: Quebec Canada
February 14, 2011 1:26 am
It’s the middle of winter and we haven’t even seen a single spider come out lately and here I see this little creepy crawler right in front of me. My first instinct is to yell and try to kill it but just as I am looking for something to hit it with, I realise it’s something i’ve never seen before with a distinct red and black pattern. I decided to trap it and try to take a picture since I’ve heard of this site. I;m wondering what this bug is!
Signature: Vanessa
Two Spotted Stink Bug
Hi Vanessa,
This is a beneficial, predatory Two Spotted Stink Bug, Perillus bioculatus. Many Stink Bugs seek out homes in which to hibernate in areas where there is a severe winter.
Daniel, Flies mating, but what kind?
Location: South Pasadena, CA
February 13, 2011 10:01 pm
Hello. I found this couple on one of my roses last week. They stayed there over twenty minutes, and then flew away still in their embrace. Probably annoyed by me. They were pretty small (perhaps 1/4 inch), and I’m not sure I’m seen this type of fly before.
Signature: Barbara
Mating Fruit Flies, we believe
Hi Barbara,
We believe these are Fruit Flies in the family Tephritidae, which is represented on BugGuide. The closest match seems to be the genus Campiglossa, which is represented by several species on BugGuide which notes: “Adult females oviposit in flower heads of plant species in the family Asteraceae. The short, stout larva of Campiglossa live in the ovaries.“
Tanzanian Spider
Location: Morogoro and Mabibo of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
February 12, 2011 11:53 pm
I took this picture in 2008 while in Morogoro, Tanzania (a rural area). I still have no idea what it is, and have done a fair share of googling to figure it out. Three years later and still unsuccessful at finding an answer. I was about 2 inches away from this thing to take the picture, but it was worth the risk. If it helps at all, its web was strung under the shade of a tree.
I also wanted to know if you had any idea about the common types of tree spiders in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital. Unfortunately the pictures I had were useless in identification, but I can tell you this–they seemed to be in colonies, strung high in the trees together, and (i kid you not) roughly the size of my hand. Once again, I was unsuccessful in identifying the absolutely unbelievable creatures.
Thank you for your help. I have been curious for so long, and any comments are greatly appreciated.
Signature: Kendal
Horned Spider from Tanzania
Hi Kendal,
This is a Spiny Orbweaver, and we believe it may be in the genus Gasteracantha, though we need to do some additional research to verify that identification. We found a blog with postings of Horned Spiders that look quite similar, and they are in the genus Gasteracantha. ZipcodeZoo lists numerous species in the genus. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to properly identify the species. Your other request might be Golden Silk Spiders in the genus Nephila.
Spiny Orbweaver
Yellow moth
Location: Sri Racha, Chonburi, Thailand
February 12, 2011 10:28 pm
I recently collected some large, hairy yellow striped caterpillars for my grade 3 Science class. One of them has just emerged from its cocoon as a yellow moth about 3 centimeters in length. When I googled ”yellow moth”none of the images showed a moth quite like this one.
Signature: Alan Walmsley
Possibly Lappet Moth Caterpillar
Hi Alan,
Both your caterpillar and the adult moth remind us of the North American Lappet Moths in the family Lasiocampidae, and even more specifically, those in the genus Phyllodesma. Here is a comparison photo of a North American caterpillar from BugGuide, and here is an adult moth also from BugGuide. Though the coloration is quite different, the manner in which the moth holds its underwings in relation to the upper wings is strikingly similar. Again, this is just a guess, and we hope to be able to provide you with additional information on our own as well as through reader contributions.
Lappet Moth
We immediately tried a search of the family in Thailand and found a Moths of Borneo website, and on Plate 6, and there is an image of a mounted specimen identified as a female Trabala ganesha that looks remarkably like your moth. Here is a photo from the Foto Biodiversitas Indonesia website and an even better match are these images of Trabala vishnou from Thailand on this Taxonomy website: http://193.166.3.2/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/bombycoidea/lasiocampidae/trabala/index.html.
Lappet Moth
Subject: unknown giant 1” by 2”wing span fly costa 2001
Location: costa rica
February 12, 2011 6:00 pm
I had this guy in my collection since march 2001 i think its from costa rica ,Iam an avide entomologist and photographer of insects .I rasie and realise silkmoths from the us aswell but for the life of me i cant find this guy or girl giant fly. looks to be simaliar to a robber fly but its huge and a single pair of wings ,I hope you dont consider this carnage
Signature: ryan
Mydas Fly Specimen
Hi Ryan,
We posted a photo of a Robber Fly from Arizona a few years ago and we never properly identified it, however, it looks very similar to your specimen. While we do not consider your collection to be carnage, we wish you had taken better care of this magnificent creature that probably looked much more impressive while it was alive and trying to capture prey. We are posting both of your images because the overexposed image shows details that are absent in the darker shot.
Mydas Fly Specimen
Correction From A Facebook Post
Hi Gad,
Eric Eaton commented on WhatsThatBug.com’s post.
Eric wrote: “Not a robber fly but a “mydas fly,” family Mydidae. Very cool just the same!”
See the comment thread
Reply to this email to comment on this post.
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
The Bugman Replied
Thanks Eric. We looked on BugGuide for Mydas Flies, but nothing came close to this coloration. Do you suppose they mimic Tarantula Hawks?
Eric wrote: “No question it mimics a Pepsis wasp! You can’t be easily faulted, the head of this specimen looks a bit mangled….”
Potato Bug and Gordian Worm
Location: Porter Ranch, California
February 12, 2011 8:40 pm
Hello Bugman!
I spotted this Jerusalem Cricket in the pool this morning (02-12-11), although I had no idea what it was at the time. After I scooped it out and realized it had drowned, I then spotted what I thought was an extremely skinny snake swimming in the pool. I scooped it out also, then took a few photos of the ”snake” and the ”termite on steroids”. I threw the ”snake” over the fence and went inside to get a ruler for size in the photo of the other bug. I wasn’t quick enough because a Scrub Jay spotted him and flew off with lunch before I could take photos with a ruler.
Frustrated, I decided to begin at What’s That Bug and Bugguide.net to identify the bug. Little did I know that the ”snake” was actually a Gordian Worm or I’d have taken more care to get a decent photo. Drat.
Offering gratitude for your awesome sight, although photo perusal did cause me several shivers and a couple of gags. (I like bugs for the services they provide and their place in the world, but it does get a bit creepy to look at their anatomy in detailed images. To that end, I’m attaching my own creepy images.) After finding out what the duo were named, I even found a video online showing a cricket dive into a pool and the worm wriggle out of him. *shiver again*
(I had four pictures – attached are three)
Signature: Regards, Tiffany Hawkins
Jerusalem Cricket
Dear Tiffany,
Thank you for your wonderful email and excellent photos. The relationship between the parasitic Gordian Worm and the host Jerusalem Cricket or Potato Bug is a chilling example of complexity of the web of life on our planet. The chances of a Jerusalem Cricket ingesting the cyst of the worm and then hosting the internal parasite until being suicidally driven to seek out water in which to drown itself are quite slim, yet enough Gordian Worms survive to perpetuate the species. Gordian Worms are also known as Horsehair Worms.
Gordian Worm
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