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Monthly Archives May 2011

Burrowing Bug

Stinkbug with hairy legs?
Location: El Paso, TX
May 29, 2011 1:20 am
Hello WTB! It’s nice and hot here in Texas and the bugs are really starting to invite themselves into the house. I’m thinking that this tiny fellow is from the stinkbug family, but I’ve never seen one with hairy legs like that. Can stinkbugs have hairy legs or is this actually a kind of roach? Thanks for any help!
Signature: Jen

burrowing bug jen 300x272 Burrowing Bug

Burrowing Bug

Hi Jen,
Though this is not a Stink Bug it is a related True Bug in the suborder Heteroptera.  This is a Burrowing Bug in the family Cydnidae based on some images posted to BugGuide.  We are very excited to be creating a new subcategory for Digger Bugs thanks to your photograph.  We will also search our archives to see if there are any other Burrowing Bugs buried there.

Posted 29 May 2011 § Burrowing Bugs ‡ Comments (5) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Long Legged Fly rescued from drowning

INSECT HUMANITARIAN OF THE WEEK:  ANNA
Small Fly – Can you help, Daniel?
Location: Hawthorne, California
May 28, 2011 9:55 pm
Hi Daniel,
I fished this little guy out of the bird bath the other day and managed to get a semi-decent shot of it while it was recovering. Do you know what type fly it is?
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon

long legged fly la anna 300x219 Long Legged Fly rescued from drowning

Long Legged Fly from Hawthorne California

Hi Anna,
Daniel would really like to use this photo in a powerpoint presentation on Southern California Flies.  It is a LongLegged Fly in the genus Condylostylus which is well represented on BugGuide.  Here is some information from  BugGuide which tends to indicate that this is a beneficial genus of Flies:  “Food Mouthparts are for piercing (with a short proboscis). Adults and larvae prey on small insects; larvae of some species mine stems of grasses and other plants or live under bark
Life Cycle Larvae develop in wet to dry soil and pupate in cocoons made up of soil particles cemented together. Adults mate after elaborate and unique behavior, involving the males displaying their legs to the female.”

Hi,
Of course it will be fine to use any of my photos in the powerpoint presentation.  I’m honored that you asked.
Anna

Posted 29 May 2011 § Long Legged Flies ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Object Merger: Sawfly and Tendril

flying insect
Location: Merritt, BC Canada
May 28, 2011 3:00 pm
Recently found this insect on a trellis in our yard. At first glance thought maybe it was a relative to the wasp however, it seemed very docile in nature. It allowed us to get very close for a snap shot and afterwards, we tried to entice it to fly but it just clung to a stick. It definatley tolerated alot of poking and proding! Please help us identify this insect, we have had no luck searching it out ourselves and have never seen it in our yard before. Thanks!
Signature: Robin

sawfly object merger robin 300x225 Object Merger: Sawfly and Tendril

Object Merger: Sawfly and Tendril

Hi Robin,
This is a Sawfly and we love the object merger that is created by the tendril.  This photo conjures up thoughts of mind control in science fiction movies of the 1950s when America was engaged in the Cold War.  We think your photographs are positively gorgeous.  It is especially nice that the lateral view is so excellent for identification purposes for even the most novice of insect enthusiasts.

sawfly robin 300x206 Object Merger: Sawfly and Tendril

American Sawfly

The Elm Sawfly, Cimbex americana, would be more appropriately called the American Sawfly if the official taxonomically accurate binomial names were translated into English.  You were quite observant to notice that the Elm Sawfly resembles the wasps as they are in the same insect order, Hymenoptera.  Sawflies are non-stinging relatives of bees and wasps.

Posted 28 May 2011 § Horntails, Wood Wasps and Sawflies ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

America’s Most Beautiful Butterfly Couple Nominee: Male Diana Fritillary

Butterfly
Location: Carlisle, SC
May 28, 2011 5:10 pm
What butterfly is this?
Signature: Ann074

diana fritillary ann 300x206 Americas Most Beautiful Butterfly Couple Nominee: Male Diana Fritillary

Male Diana Fritillary

Dear Ann074,
This gorgeous butterfly is a male Diana Fritillary, .  We needed to qualify the identification with a modifier on the sex, because this is a highly sexually dimorphic species, meaning the males and females look like entirely different species.  The female butterfly is an aqua blue color.  Here is an image from our archives of a female Diana Fritillary.

Update May 28, 2011
If ever there was a strong candidate for beauty in the next authorized What’s That Bug? Calendar, it would be this pristinely beautiful male Diana Fritillary on a modern contraption.

Challenge to our Readership:  Take a staged insect photograph … or not.
Get a photo of a couple of Dobsonflies, male and female together.  If he is grasping her with those saber-like mandibles, it might be proof that the male needs those mandibles for mating purposes, because they sure can’t be used for eating.  This is one of our favorite bug couple photos of all time. It appeared in the 2006 What’s That Bug? calendar.

Posted 28 May 2011 § Brush Footed Butterflies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Second Vintage Collection of Lepidoptera

Butterfly help
Location: unknown
May 27, 2011 1:17 pm
I have just become the lucky recipient of two cases of mounted butterflies from a very old collection. I have been able to identify only a few of them (Blue morpho and Great orange tip). Could you please let me know what the others are?
Signature: Thanks! Kelli

butterfly vintage collection kelli 2 300x206 Second Vintage Collection of Lepidoptera

Vintage Collection

Hi again Kelli,
The palid white moth with the tailed underwings is a Luna Moth, arguably the most elegant and ethereal Giant Silk Moth in North America.

Posted 27 May 2011 § Butterflies and Skippers § Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

Vintage Butterfly Collection

Butterfly help
Location: unknown
May 27, 2011 1:17 pm
I have just become the lucky recipient of two cases of mounted butterflies from a very old collection. I have been able to identify only a few of them (Blue morpho and Great orange tip). Could you please let me know what the others are?
Signature: Thanks! Kelli

butterfly vintage collection kelli 300x206 Vintage Butterfly Collection

Vintage Butterfly Collection

Wow Kelli,
We feel like that roadshow about antiques.  We are certain our readership would love to write in and provide us with some links.  We will post the second case of specimens tomorrow.


Posted 27 May 2011 § Butterflies and Skippers § Moths ‡ Comments (0) °

White Spotted Sawyer

Freakin’ huge bug
Location: New Hampshire
May 27, 2011 12:41 pm
We saw this bug. It was huge. We want to know what it is. Thank you for your vast bug knowledge.
Signature: Keith V

whitespotted sawyer 300x226 White Spotted Sawyer

White Spotted Sawyer

Dear Keith,
This spectacular Longhorned Beetle in the family Cerambycidae, familiarly called the Bycids, is a White Spotted Sawyer, Monochamus scutellatus.  See BugGuide for details.

Posted 27 May 2011 § Longhorn Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Buck Moth Caterpillar

Do you know what this caterpillar is?
Location: San Diego, CA
May 27, 2011 12:31 pm
We found this caterpillar in San Diego CA at Mission Trails Regional Park on a willow tree. We can not figure out what it is. Can you help. Thanks.
Signature: D in SD

nymphalid cat willow san diego d 300x206 Buck Moth Caterpillar

What's That Nymphalid Caterpillar???

Dear D in SD,
The basic coloration and morphology of your caterpillar and its presence on Willow immediately suggested a Mourning Cloak, known as a Camberwell Beauty across the pond, however, no photos on BugGuide look like this.  Mourning Cloak Caterpillars are black spiny creatures (DO NOT TOUCH) and they have 8 rows of orange red dots along the back.  Your caterpillar appears to have 9 double rows of orange spines and its variegated pattern is beautiful.  We really wish your lateral view was not so blurry.  We suspect your caterpillar, whatever it might be, may irritate human skin if in contact with the spines.  We did additional research and the Green Comma, Polygonia faunus, also feeds on “willows and birches and others” according to Jeffrey Glassberg’s book Butterflies through Binoculars The West.  The photos we found online look even more drastically different than the Mourning Cloak Caterpillar photos posted to BugGuide.  Could it be Chlosyne harrisii Harris’s Checkerspot, which we found on the Moth Photographers Group by scrolling down the page.  What does Chlosyne harrisii eat?  NOPE according to BugGuide, it ranges elsewhere.  Here is the Butterflies and Moths of North America website page on the Green Comma.

nymphalid willow 300x206 Buck Moth Caterpillar

Brush Footed Butterfly Caterpillar on Willow

Alas, our search has turned up nothing conclusive.  We strongly believe that the key to a correct identification here is the presence on Willow.
P.S.  NEW THOUGHT:  Might it be a moth caterpillar like a Buck Moth?

Correction courtesy of Keith Wolfe
“D” and Daniel, this is a Hemileuca (Saturniidae) larva.  These nymphalid look-alikes confused me, too, when I first started studying young butterflies.
Best wishes,
Keith

Hi Keith,
Funny, Buck Moths did cross my mind when I was researching this caterpillar.

Hi there.  Thanks for looking into this for me.  After looking Butterflies and Moths of N.A. I do think it is a Nevada Buckmoth.
I really appreciate the time you took to check it out.
D in SD

Bill Oehlke supplies a response
Daniel,
It is definitely Hemileuca nevadensis for first one
and for second one as well.
Bill Oehlke

Posted 27 May 2011 § Silkworms ‡ Comments (5) °

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