White-Spotted Pine Sawyer
Location: Hornepayne, Ontario, Canada
June 25, 2011 2:58 pm
Where I live we just call these beetles pine beetles or pine bugs. They are very common because we basically live in the middle of the boreal forest, which is predominantly coniferous. I was trying to find out what they are actually called on your website. I kept coming across the white-spotted pine sawyer, and I thought it looked exactly like the ones here except for the white spot; I thought ours were completely black. I saw one on my house today and I caught it so I could take pictures, and lo and behold, it DOES have a white spot. So I thought that was pretty neat.
Signature: HQ
White Spotted Pine Sawyer
Dear HQ,
The White Spotted Pine Sawyer, Monochamus scutellatus, is so named because of the white scutellum which is the triangle at the junction of the wing covers or elytra. The markings are variable, though the white scutellum is a distinguishing feature. Other members of the genus Monochamus look quite similar and it is possible that you may have other species in your area as well. This magnificent individual is a male. Males have longer antennae.
White Spotted Pine Sawyer
Finally something in return!!
Location: Wellington, Colorado
June 25, 2011 5:26 pm
Dear WTB,
I have been following for a while and we have used it to identify a few interesting insects. Being a biologist, Ichthyologist, I love biology. Most of the bugs I find, I know already, but I have something in interest for you. Today, 25 June 2011, I just found our first Pseudoscorpion in Wellington, Colorado, USA.
I have a lot of macro photos, digital in JPEG format that I would like to share with you. Some of the photos have a scale (mm) and some with UV blacklight (personal interest in trying to find scorpions) trying to see if they glow like scorpions.
Please email me and I’ll return with about 10 to 12 pics of closeups of the pseudoscorpion.
Thanks for all the work you do and I love the bug carnage as well as the identification.
You will also notice a red scale across the bottom of some of the pictures. This is a ruler and the increments are millimeters. This little guy was approximately 7 to 8 mm in lenth.
Enjoy and if there are any bugs in my area that are of interest for photography, please let me know.
Signature: Sean Seal
Pseudoscorpion
Hi Sean,
Thanks so much for sending your photos. It is interesting to learn that Pseudoscorpions do not glow under UV light the same way that regular Scorpions glow. Phenomena like glowing under ultraviolet light might be evidence that certain creatures are able to “see” under different conditions, though this is purely conjecture. Pseudoscorpions are harmless predators that are frequently mistaken for ticks by many people.
Pseudoscorpion under Ultraviolet Light
Mating Immigrant Leaf Weevils
Location: Hornepayne, Ontario, Canada
June 25, 2011 2:49 pm
Hey,
I thought I’d send you a couple of pictures of mating immigrant leaf weevils. I found them walking along my clothesline today. They were super active, it was hard to get a good picture. As you can see, there is some sexual dimorphism, as well as a slight colour difference between the two. In the second picture, the weevils walked onto my camera lens, and though the picture is fuzzy, you can still see how the male grips the female with his feet.
Signature: HQ
Mating Immigrant Leaf Weevils
Hi HQ,
We are thrilled to be able to post you images of this invasive exotic species perpetuating in its new land. The BugGuide information page on the Green Immigrant Leaf Weevil is quite informative.
Mating Immigrant Leaf Weevil
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Ascalapha odorata
Location: Costa-Rica
June 25, 2011 6:27 pm
Ascalapha odorata
Signature: Eduardo Lucof
Black Witch Caterpillar
Hola Eduardo,
We are going to trust that this is really a Black Witch Caterpillar since we have never seen one. Thanks for sending the photo.
Male Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa varipuncta?)
Location: Hawthorne, California
June 25, 2011 12:46 pm
Hi Daniel,
This beauty (new to my yard) let me photograph him for quite some time yesterday. I’m curious as to what the three black things on top of his head are, can you help?
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon
Male Valley Carpenter Bee on Pincushion Flower
Hi Anna,
What a positively beautiful male Valley Carpenter Bee. We saw one visit the Buddleia or Butterfly Bush while we were in the garden. Then we remembered that we began to prepare your posting, so we came back inside to complete the preparation. Those are simple eyes or ocelli forming a triangle on the Valley Carpenter Bees head. There are some drawings and photos on BugGuide. We believe the simple eyes help flying insects navigate, but we are not certain of the exact function.
Ambush Bug Eating Honeybee
Location: Milton, VT, USA
June 25, 2011 8:56 am
I mentioned the Ambush Bug in my previous submission so I thought I would send you the photos of the one I saw that had ”ambushed” a honeybee in a Queen Anne’s Lace! The one I am holding is a second one that was in the next flower over. He/she had the coolest face I’ve ever seen on a bug (except for a cicada), kind of reminded me of a dinosaur. Anyway I hope you enjoy these, and I love this site. This site kept me from killing a pseudoscorpion I found in my closet that I thought was a tick!
Signature: Betsy
Ambush Bug eats Honey Bee
Hi Betsy,
Your letter inspired the entire editorial staff to go out and weed in the garden and observe insects on our grounds in Mt. Washington, Los Angeles. Many of the species of insects in the east that frequent Queen Anne’s Lace also visit the flowering carrots in our our garden. Pollinating insects love Queen Anne’s Lace and carrots as do predators that prey upon pollinating insects. The staff began to feel guilty that computers were abandoned and emails and comments were left unanswered so we returned to the desk, but we only felt guilty enough to post your letter and wonderful photographs before immediately heading back outside to the sun and activity.
Ambush Bug
Thanks Daniel! Your entire site today inspired me to go outside and take about 100 pictures of teeny tiny bugs! I even spotted a spider the size of a pin head that had caught one of those little iridescent flies on a milkweed, a perfectly matched green grasshopper hiding in milkweed blossoms/leaves, and lots of mating beetles! Our Queen Anne’s Lace hasn’t blossomed yet this year but I always look for the Goldenrod crab spiders and other interesting critters that reside in them on my walks.
Elisabeth
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Ed. Note: Our crack technical staff brought this wonderful link to our attention. Read about a Wasp that parasitizes Lady Bugs here: http://gizmodo.com/5815382/twitching-zombie-ladybugs-make-great-shelters?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews
Bug in Nicaragua
Location: Southwest Coastal Nicaragua
June 24, 2011 6:10 pm
I would love to know what this is.
Signature: Bugman
Peanut Headed Bug
We really love this insect and the superstitions that surround it. It is a Lanternfly, Fulgora laternaria, and it is commonly called a Peanut Headed Bug or Alligator Bug. Here is what the Virtual Rainforest Website has to say: “This weird looking creature is an insect, in the family Fulgoridae of the order Homoptera. The Fulgorids all have enlarged foreheads, but it is most remarkable in the peanut-head, so named because its head looks like an unshelled peanut. It grows to about three inches (8 cm) long. The peanut-head can’t bite. Its mouth is like a straw, so all it can do is suck juices from plants. That’s why it needs a lot fancy defenses to scare away predators, like it’s strange head. Scientists think that the head is supposed to imitate a lizard’s head, and animals that don’t eat lizards are scared away. It is part of a complex anti-predator scheme the bug uses. The peanut-head has large red and black spots on its underwings that look like large eyes when the bug spreads its wings. If these don’t scare away predators, the bug releases a skunk-like spray. In the rainforest there are so many things that want to eat the peanut-head that it needs a lot of defenses.” Here is a previous posting from our archives where we discuss some of the lore surrounding this interesting insect which is known as a Machaca in South America. Though we generally refrain from citing Wikipedia, we cannot resist perpetuating this fascinating myth: “In several countries, such as Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, there exists the myth that if somebody is bitten by the machaca, he or she must have sex within 24 hours to prevent an otherwise incurable death. The popular belief in Bolivia (Santa Cruz de la Sierra) is that it is a dangerous insect dependant on its wing colours but the insect is actually harmless to people.”
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