Strange black beetle
Location: City, Worcester,Ma.
May 25, 2011 11:50 pm
Hello… I found a smooth shelled black beetle about 2 to 2 1/2 inches long. I have never seen a beetle like this one…it looks to me to be maybe a water beetle of sorts. I have been studing insects most of my life and I use your site very often to help me idendify strange insects. I live in central massachussets and I was at work during the night shift when spotted this little fellow crossing some concrete roadway in our plant. It would be wonderfull if you could tell me what this guy is.. I left him alone after I snapped these pic with my phone. Thank you,Dennis Lynde
Signature: Dennis Lynde
Predaceous Diving Beetle
Dear Dennis,
This is a Predaceous Diving Beetle in the family Dytiscidae (see BugGuide). It is most likely in the genus Dytiscus.
large moth
Location: NE CT
May 26, 2011 6:02 am
My wife found this in the garage last night. Appx 4 inches wide and 4 inches long.
Signature: Kim & Tom
Luna Moth
Dear Kim & Tom,
Thanks for reporting that Luna Moth sightings have reached more northern states.
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Toxomerus marginatus (syrphid fly)
Location: Naperville, IL
May 25, 2011 8:14 pm
Dear Bugman~
It’s been a while! I photographed today what I swore was a sweat bee on my flowering chives. As I perused your site, exhausting the bee category, I came to the conclusion that it must be a fly. Starting at the bottom of the alphabet, I quickly came upon the Syrphid category. Is this a Toxomerus marginatus? Its markings look like it, although the abdomen on my guy is slenderer than on most of the Toxomerus marginatus photos I have seen. What think you? Thank you! -Dori Eldridge, Naperville, IL.
Signature: -Dori Eldridge
Syrphid Fly
Dear Dori,
We absolutely cannot resist a subject line with a Latin name that indicates that the querant actually did some research. We agree that this is a Syrphid Fly or Hover Fly or Flower Fly in the family Syrphidae, and we acknowledge that many Syrphid Flies mimic bees and wasps. It is also noteworthy that Syrphid Flies are good pollinators that really love umbel flowers like carrot blossoms and dill weed. Many Syrphid Flies have larvae that feed on Aphids. We don’t know if you have correctly identified this Syrphid as Toxomerus marginatus, but if we have time, we will look it up tomorrow and provide an opinion.
Update:
Hi again Dori,
After a good night’s sleep, we concur with your identification after checking the photos posted to BugGuide.
Thank you, Daniel!
I love flowers; I love birds; I love bugs. I love to take photos and identify them with proper names, so your help is enormously appreciated.
Thank you so, so much!
All the best,
-Dori Eldridge
Unknown leafhopper
Location: Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Naples FL
May 24, 2011 9:12 pm
The leafhopper in the attached photo has appeared in May in Southwest Florida. I have found two photos of it online, but neither identified the species. It appears to be a powdery white with bright yellow eyes. Any ideas?
Signature: Bug curious
Citrus Flatid Planthopper
Dear Bug curious,
According to BugGuide, the Citrus Flatid Planthopper, though it is frequently found on citrus, it can also be found on a “wide range of other host plants” and then goes on to state that it “‘Feeds on just about anything green’ (Dr Hamilton).” It is also called a Floury Mothbug.
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Nasty looking bug
Location: Duson, Louisiana
May 24, 2011 8:52 am
Please help me identify this bug. I believe it is a Spotted Cucumber beetle. Found in Duson, Louisiana
Signature: Casee
Cottonwood Borer
Dear Casee,
The Spotted Cucumber Beetle is a tiny creature. This magnificent beetle is a Cottonwood Borer.
What is this bug?
Location: Wickenburg Arizona
May 24, 2011 8:19 pm
Found this a couple days ago crawling along the wall in the front yard. it’s about an inch+ long – we are located about 60 miles NW of Phoenix Arizona. Medium/High desert – summer will get highs of 105 and some nights below freezing in the winter. I asked my dad who has lived in this area for over 30yrs and he didn’t know what it was either. I just let it go on it’s way but got the photo first.
Signature: tammy
Newly Metamorphosed Net-Winged Beetle
Hi Tammy,
This is a Net-Winged Beetle. Because of its engorged abdomen and the relatively small size of its wings, we believe it is a freshly metamorphosed individual. The wings will increase in size and harden slightly so that the Net-Winged Beetle will be able to fly. Net-Winged Beetles are frequently confused with moths. We believe your individual is in the genus Lycus based on photos and information posted to BugGuide.
A Proud Find
Location: Kyle, TX
May 24, 2011 9:41 am
This fella was found by my 6yr old son who was on a mission to find a new bug to observe in his insect habitat. He was very proud when he stumbled upon this find. He begs to know: ”What’s that bug?” Of course my response of: ”It looks like some sort of beetle…?” wasn’t good enough for him. 
Thanks!
(and yes, we set him free)
Signature: Camboski
Eyed Elater
Dear Camboski,
You are correct that this Eyed Elater is a Beetle, more specifically a Click Beetle. We have been getting many identification requests recently, mostly from Texas, with images of Eyed Elaters, but your photo is among the best and your letter was quite touching, and for those reasons, we are posting your identification request while the others merely received a quick personal response. We have also decided to include the Eyed Elater among our Top Ten identification requests tag.
Thanks so much for the informative and kind response!
We did a little research on ‘click beetles’ and learned an interesting fact about how if the beetle is on its back it can use its ‘click’ mechanism (if that’s what you would call it?) to bounce into the air in order to rotate itself back into the correct position. This is interesting/ironic to us because it explains my son’s excitmnent when he said “My bug friend can do tricks!” and then went on to explain how he bounced in the air from back position to right side up!
I never thought I’d be so excited about bugs! However, I suppose that’s what having a son does to a person 
p.s. Back in Nov. we sent in a picture of a Spiney Backed Orbweaver that we found during our camping trip that was also posted on the website. This site has helped us out a lot! Especially coming from NY to TX. There are a lot of strange critters out in these here parts!
Thanks again!!
Caterpillar
Location: East Tennessee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
May 24, 2011 8:24 pm
I found this oddball on my shirt after walking through some trees ( mostly ironwood, sweetgum, red maple, but there were other around) near a river in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in TN – about elevation 1500’. Sorry just one picture! I couldn’t find anything like it in David Wagner’s excellent Caterpillar field guide…
Signature: John D.
Horned Spanworm
Dear John,
Most caterpillars have five pairs of prolegs at the anterior end of the body and these prolegs assist in the caterpillar locomotion. Many caterpillars in the family Geometridae have only two pairs of prolegs, so their method of locomotion is unusual. They crawl forward on their true legs and then loop the rear portion of the body forward. Because of this manner of locomotion, they are commonly called Inchworms or Spanworms. The filaments on your specimen are very unusual and immediately indicate it is a member of the genus Nematocampa, most likely the Horned Spanworm, Nematocampa resistaria, which we identified on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Larvae feed on many hardwoods and several softwood species of shrubs and trees including pine, hemlock, fir, larch and spruce.”
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