April 2011 - What's That Bug?

From the monthly archives: "April 2011"

Red Striped Oil Beetle from Spain

On April 30, 2011 · Category: Blister Beetles · Add Comment

Is this an ant queen?
Location: Mérida, Spain
April 30, 2011 11:47 am
Hi,
My daughter took a photo of this beastie when on a school trip. What is it? an ant queen? seems unlikely as they did not find it with other ants or in a nest. it doesn’t seem to have wings. What is it?
Thanks
Signature: David

Red Striped Oil Beetle

Hi David,
This beauty is not an ant, but a beetle, a Red Striped Oil Beetle, Berberomeloe majalis, one of the Blister Beetles. We have several contributions from Spain, including this one.

Hi Daniel,
Thanks!, she will now be able to greatly impress the teacher Monday morning!
David

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Giant Leaf Cockroach from Belize

On April 30, 2011 · Category: Cockroaches · Add Comment

Large winged…cicada?
Location: Belmopan, Belize
April 30, 2011 10:26 am
Hi! I saw this large (over 3”, probably closer to 4”) bug on my windowsill at night. He had really long antennae that don’t show up well in the picture (but he does have a cute little face, doesn’t he?) He was quite active, so I presume he is nocturnal. He was pretty spectacular! Any ideas what he is? I thought perhaps a cicada, because it’s that time of year. Thanks for any assistance! You folks are great!
Signature: Cindy

Giant Leaf Cockroach

Hi Cindy,
What a magnificent Cockroach you have encountered. Of the thousands of species of Cockroaches in the world, very few are known to infest human dwellings, and this is definitely a benign species. We hope to be able to provide a species identification with some additional research.

Giant Leaf Cockroach

Hi Daniel and Cindy:
I believe this is a Peppered Cockroach (also Giant Peruvian or Giant Leaf Cockroach), Archimandrita tesselata. It is a forest dwelling species throughout Central and South America. They are able to fly but apparently seldom do so, preferring instead to hide among the leaf litter where they are quite well camouflaged. They are popular among roach breeders because of their impressive size, good looks and ease of care, so there is actually quite a lot of information available on the internet. Regards. Karl

Hi Daniel,
Wow – that’s a cockroach? They sure grow ‘em big down here in Belize! Ah well, he seemed quite pleasant and didn’t bother me, so I’m happy to report that he’s still motoring merrily around somewhere. I wish I’d been able to get a ruler next to him in the picture because he was quite large, but I didn’t really want to open the screen on the off-chance that he might fly in. Perhaps if he wanders back one evening, I’ll give it a try.
Thanks so much for the identification! We have so many amazing bugs down here and I’m trying to learn, but darn it, they just don’t come with name tags.
Thanks again so much for your time!
Warm regards,
cindy

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Brown Leatherwing

On April 30, 2011 · Category: Soldier Beetles · Add Comment

Porch light redheads
Location: Highland Park (Northeast Los Angeles)
April 30, 2011 1:21 am
A bunch of these guys just showed up around our porch light. They don’t do much. We never noticed them here before.
Signature: Josh

Brown Leatherwing

Hi Josh,
Greetings from neighboring Mt Washington. Thank you so much for supplying this image of a Brown Leatherwing, formerly Cantharis consors. They are attracted to our own porch lights each spring and we have been meaning to document their activity because it seems to us their numbers are more numerous this year. Here is what Charles Hogue wrote in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin in our second edition from 1993: “Adults frequently come to porch lights in the late spring (April to May). They give off a strong unpleasant musty odor when handled or crushed and may also exude a yellow fluid. Little else is known of the habits of the adults, and the early stages remain undescribed. Both are probably ground dwellers that live in plant litter and prye on other insects.” BugGuide provides the taxonomic change to the name, now accepted as Pacificanthia consors, but there is little information on the species nor is there a common name listed. BugGuide does provide somewhat more information on the family page, including: “Adults mostly on vegetation, often on flowers; larvae in leaf litter, loose soil, rotten wood, etc” and “Adults eat nectar, pollen, other insects; larvae are fluid-feeding predators, feed on insect eggs and larvae.” We will try to flesh out this posting a bit more if we are able to locate any specific information on the Brown Leatherwing. While this is probably a more appropriate candidate for our May Bug of the Month, we couldn’t resist posting a photo of an unidentified Click Beetle that we also found at our Mt Washington location.

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Bug of the Month May 2011: Unknown Black Click Beetle

On April 29, 2011 · Category: Click Beetles Tagged With: bug of the month, WTB? Mt. Washington · 2 Comments

April 29, 2011
Last night while posting to the website, Daniel felt something crawling on his neck, and it was this gorgeous large black Click Beetle. This is the second time this beetle has been found in our Mt Washington, Los Angeles offices, and the first sighting was almost exactly two years ago. Recently while planting walnuts in nearby Elyria Canyon Park, a large Wireworm was uncovered in the dirt. Sadly, there does not seem to be a match on BugGuide. Species in the genus Lanelater are not listed in California on BugGuide, and we thought we might have an identification with the California species Melanectes densus, but that species seems broader with different antennae than our little beauty. It seems a bit tragic that we are unable to identify our own species of Click Beetle, but perhaps Mardikavana or one of our other beetle aficionados will be able to provide an identification.

We kept this beauty on the kitchen table under a glass until there was natural morning light for an indoor portrait and we later release it after taking some outdoor images as well.

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Mating Oil Beetles

On April 29, 2011 · Category: Blister Beetles Tagged With: bug love · Add Comment

Short Winged Blister Beetle Love
Location: South Jersey
April 28, 2011 11:29 am
Hey I don’t know if you have a picture of the Oil Beetle in the Bug Love area but I took this in my driveway this morning. Kinda looks they are looking at camera.
Signature: Christian M.

Mating Oil Beetles

Hi Christian,
We do have several mating Oil Beetle images in our archives including this tragedy, but we can never get too much Bug Love. Thanks for your submission. We have begun receiving some marvelous Blister Beetle images from the Southwest where their diversity is quite astounding.

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Lappet Moth Caterpillar from Hong Kong

On April 29, 2011 · Category: Tent Caterpillars and Kin · Add Comment

Seen on the trail in HK …
Location: Hong Kong
April 28, 2011 8:25 pm
Trying to determine the name of this bug seen on a trail in HK …
Signature: Andy

Lappet Moth Caterpillar, we believe

Hi Andy,
This sure resembles the Caterpillar of the American Lappet Moth, Phyllodesma americana, so we suspect it is an Asian relative. We recently posted a photo of an American Lappet Moth Caterpillar, and you can also see some images on BugGuide. When we have more time, we will try to track down an exact species for you.

Karl tracks down the species
Hi Daniel and Andy:
Good call Daniel – it looks like the Lappet Moth (Lasiocampidae) Kunugia divaricata. There are a number of good photos on Flickr. Regards. Karl

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Hairy Rove Beetle eats Earwig

On April 29, 2011 · Category: Earwigs, Rove Beetles Tagged With: food chain · Add Comment

Ed. Note: The following email was a followup response to an earlier comment. This email was accompanied by 14 photos representing at least 6 different species. While we applaud our new fan’s enthusiasm, we are creating a new posting with edited content. See the initial posting here.

April 28, 2011
Butte County, CA
… I do have a couple of bugs you might be intrigued by; … The other was a seemingly voracious black and white striped bug that was encouraged to go forth and eat LOTS of earwigs.
BTW…I got into chickens as earwig control, and now I have more than I know what to do with…LOL…so watch out! They’re addictive (or at least additive!
…
Anyway, you’re welcome to my photo collection, should you want it…here are two exemplars and enjoy!
If there’s anything I can do to help you folks, I have no life, so let me know.
PA

Hairy Rove Beetle eats Earwig

Hi Pam,
All of your photos are quite wonderful, but we need to maintain a bit of structure here or we would go careening out of control. Please, don’t put all your eggs (read photos) in one basket (read email) and in the future, please use our identification form which limits the number of photos per submission to three. We choose the best or most representative one to accompany the posting, and we sometimes use two or all three. We are positively thrilled to use some of your photos of a Hairy Rove Beetle eating Earwigs. Several years ago we created a Food Chain section to our site to highlight predators and their prey. You can see BugGuide for additional information on the fascinating Hairy Rove Beetle.

Hairy Rove Beetle eats Earwig

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Aquarium Update: Tragedy Averted

On April 29, 2011 · Category: aquarium · 2 Comments

April 29, 2011
Daniel had to drive to work yesterday because he was so late he could not take public transportation. After spending the morning posting many of your wonderful letters, he noticed Boris and Medea Luna obviously distressed at the top of the aquarium. The two remaining Cardinal Tetras they share the 40 gallon aquarium with were gasping at the top as well. The last remaining two year old Blue Ram was dead. This followed two partial water changes in two days. Upon returning to the home office after Spring Break, Medea Luna’s pectoral fins did not look good. The suspected love nips from Boris appeared to be a fin rot fungus and internet research suggested frequent water changes, so first 15 gallons, and the next morning 10 gallons of water were changed and Stress Coat+ was used. Next morning, just as Daniel was about to leave, the distressed fish looked bad. Daniel couldn’t skip work, so he quickly scooped up the four survivors and transferred them to the Grow Out aquarium. There wasn’t time to make sure the transfer would be successful, so Daniel drove off to his morning lecture. Thursday is a very long day, culminating after an evening lecture ending at 10:15 PM. Throughout the day, Daniel couldn’t help but to worry about the state of affairs with the mated pair of Angelfish that have been under Daniel’s care for two years. Upon returning home at nearly 11 PM, Daniel was relieved to find the four distressed fish well and hungry, though there are also 11 Rummy Nose Tetras and about 50 Angelings only a few months old also in that aquarium, not to mention a Cory Cat that always hides under a rock. The largest Angelings will have to go to Tropical Imports this weekend and Boris and Medea Luna’s home will need some major attention. Looks like a busy weekend. Sorry no new photos, but here are the couple before the averted tragedy.

Medea Luna (left) and Boris kiss or fight in November 2010

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Red Striped Oil Beetle from Spain

Giant Leaf Cockroach from Belize

Brown Leatherwing

Bug of the Month May 2011: Unknown Black Click Beetle

Mating Oil Beetles

Lappet Moth Caterpillar from Hong Kong

Hairy Rove Beetle eats Earwig

Aquarium Update: Tragedy Averted

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