Two Swallowtails
Location: Dongducheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
July 27, 2011 5:13 am
Hey there,
I live in South Korea and this summer I’ve seen two really cool looking butterflies around. I don’t think I’ve seen either of them on your website yet. Could you help me identify them?
Signature: Sarah
Asian Swallowtail
Hi Sarah,
We located a TrekNature South Korean Butterfly website and found one of your swallowtails identified as a Citrus Swallowtail, Papilio xuthus, however, there is another species that goes by the common name Citrus Swallowtail (see our archives). According to the Butterflies of Hawaii website, it is also known as the Chinese Yellow Swallowtail or the Asian Swallowtail. BioLib only provides the name Asian Swallowtail. We believe your other butterfly might be Papilio elwesi because of its broad tails. There is some variability between individuals, but these photos from The Butterfly Corner website look very similar to your individual. Though many of the images are of mounted specimens, we discovered the Lepidoptera Pro website which has images and information on many swallowtails from around the world.
Possibly Papilio elwesi
Hello Bugman,
Thank you so much for your quick replies! I did a search for papilio elwesi and it’s too bad it seems every image is of a mounted one. I’ve been seeing them frequently around. They have an unusual gait when flying, it’s almost like they’re too heavy to keep themselves up. The pictures I took of it were a challenge because it was almost too heavy for the flowers it was trying to get nectar from so it kept moving around trying to get a good spot to land. I’m hoping once our torrential rains let up, I’ll have another opportunity to take a clearer picture of one of them. Looking forward to what you think the big fat green caterpillar is 
Sarah
Brightly Color Bee or Fly
Location: Camp Casey, South Korea
July 27, 2011 6:17 am
I have another one for you, this was taken on Camp Casey, South Korea. My husband and I came back to our vehicle to see this large fly/bee sitting on it. I’m wondering if it’s the South Korea horse fly you identified from another submission? This was was bright yellow in color though.
Signature: Sarah
More info on the pics I posted
July 27, 2011 6:22 am
I wanted to note, that all of the pictures I have submitted to you were taken this month, July 2011. Sorry I forgot to include that with my original submissions.
Thanks!
Signature: Sarah
Horse Fly
Dear Sarah,
First, thank you for submitting each of your requests as separate submissions. That makes our life so much easier when it comes to categorizing our archives. This is indeed a Horse Fly, but we don’t know much about Korean species and we are unable to provide any additional information at this time. We can tell you that it is a female based on the spacing between the eyes, and female Horse Flies are the biters.
1
Flying Sap Eating bug?
Location: Long Island, NY
July 26, 2011 6:38 pm
This bug looks like some sort of dragon fly. If you look closely you will see 2 loops coming over the tail and then come together between the hind legs. This stick looking appendage? was then inserted into a round hole in the tree which looked like a hole made from a and or termite. The holes were as much as 2 inches deep. At the end of the tail where the 2 ”loops start looked like some sort of organ moving/pulsing. I think either the bug was eating the sap of this maple tree which was exposed by these holes or maybe laying eggs. What is it?
Signature: ?
Giant Ichenumon Ovipositing
Dear ?,
This is a Giant Ichneumon in the genus Megarhyssa, probably Megarhyssa macrurus. As trees age, portions of them begin to die and they become susceptible to disease and infestation. One of the insects that targets old and weak trees is the Pigeon Horntail, a wood wasp whose larva bore in the wood. Your creature, a Giant Ichneumon, is a parasite whose larvae feed on the larvae of the Pigeon Horntail. This female Giant Ichneumon is ovipositing. She will lay her eggs on or near the wood boring larva of the Pigeon Horntail, which she senses beneath the bark. Giant Ichneumons will not harm your tree, but you should know that your tree has already been compromised and is in a state of decline, however, it may still live for many years.
Mountain Climbing Bug? From Andes..
Location: Andes Mountains
July 22, 2011 6:49 am
Dear Awesome BugMan,
Love the site! I’ve guided trips coast-to-coast, and have seen many cool bugs I couldn’t identify. Thanks!
This bug is from 14,500 feet up in the Andes Mountains, taken in early July.
It has oversized back legs like a grasshopper with large hooks. It is about a 2cm long.
Michael Brown, who runs the Outside Adventure film school, was leading a trip and found it.
Signature: Kaki Flynn
Harvestman in the Andean Snow
Dear Kaki,
We are finally ready to go live with your posting. Thanks so much for indulging us offline, and first sending a larger resolution image that we requested, and then resending your original written request which got separated from the image. Once we got the higher resolution image, we determined that based on the number of legs and other anatomical features, that this creature is a member of the order Opiliones, a group of Arachnids that are commonly called Harvestmen or Daddy Long Legs. Last year, we received this image of an Opiliones from Chile that somewhat resembles your individual, but that species is found near the beaches, and your specimen is far from the ocean at a very high altitude. We did a web search of Opiliones and snow and we found this Snow Creatures webpage that has a gallery of images of insects found in the snow, and it includes a single photo of an Opiliones on page 3, but it looks nothing like your individual. Continued searching led us to a BioOne website of online journals including one entitled On the Occurrence of Epizoic Cyanobacteria and Liverworts on a Neotropical Harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones)1. By scrolling to the end of the journal article, there are several images that you can enlarge of Opiliones from Brazil in the genus Neosadocus. Structurally, they look even more like your individual. While we have been unable to locate anything specific on Opiliones found at high altitudes in the Andes, we are confident that we have the order Opiliones correct. For some interesting general information on Harvestmen, you can read the Opliones in the UK and Continental Europe web page. There are so few insects and arachnids that are active in the snow, this was a very exciting posting for us to work on. Again, thanks for indulging us and resending the information and images we requested. We do have a final request. Can you please provide the country where the sighting occurred. We guessed at Peru, but we are not certain.
Sphinx Moths meet Hello Kitty
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
July 26, 2011 4:32 pm
Dear Bugman,
Late the other night (7/21/2011), here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, I was delighted to find four Sphinx Moths flying around my floodlight. My question is: Are they Manduca sexta (Carolina Sphinx) or Manduca quinquemaculata (Five-spotted Hawkmoth)? I just can’t tell! I sure did enjoy getting up close and personal with them, though–it was hard getting them off of me! I think they like Hello Kitty! Thanks so much for your help!
Signature: Diane Cameron, insect enthusiast
Waved Sphinxes
Hi Diane,
Your confusion over the identity of these Sphinx Moths is understandable. They are actually very pale Waved Sphinxes, Ceratomia undulosa, and they are in the same tribe, Sphingini, as the Carolina Sphinx and the Five Spotted Hawkmoth. Our favorite way to identify Sphinx Moths is to begin with the Sphingidae of the United States website, and then go to the state listing for Pennsylvania, and then click through the possibilities until we find a match. That is where we found the Waved Sphinx which is part of the Sphingidae of the Americas website.
Location: fairbanks, ak
July 25, 2011 8:41 pm
hi! i see these little guys in my garden all the time. just curious what kind of caterpillar? it is. it is black with 4 yellow knobs on its back. yellow tufts of hair, 2 antennae on top, 2 on the side, and one on the bottom.
Signature: just curious
Rusty Tussock Caterpillar
Dear just curious,
WE don’t get many insect images from Alaska, and it is always exciting when we do. This is the Rusty Tussock Moth Caterpillar, Orygia antigua. The Forest Health Conditions in Alaska 2003 Google Books website indicates: Rusty Tussock Moth populations were high this year on birch, willow, and blueberries. Even though larval populations were high, levels of defoliation were low. The dark hairy caterpillar is about 3 cm long with four yellow ‘tussocks’ of hair along the back, two tufts of dark hair near the head and one more at the rear. The adult male is an erratic-flying-rusty-brown moth with a white dot and a light brown band on each forewing. the female is flightless. The biggest concern from the public was the likelihood of the caterpillar hairs causing irritation and rashes to blueberry pickers, as was published in a local newspaper. Individuals and medical professionals from rural Alaska made several inquiries concerning the caterpillars’ potential for causing dermatitis. Medical entomology reference texts indicate that their long hairs, left on plant material, can cause irritation to exposed skin even when not directly exposed to the live caterpillars.” We rotated your image to make better use of our horizontal format. The moth is also known as the Common Vapourer according to Inmagine.
baby mantis?
Location: north central illinois
July 21, 2011 4:36 pm
Found this in my house by a window like like a mantis with clear wings but I don’t know its creepy looking though
Signature: justin south beloit
Mantispid
Hi Justin,
Though it looks very similar to a Mantis, the Mantispid in your photo is an unrelated insect. Mantispids are Neuropterans and they are classified with the Lacewings and Antlions.
Springbok Mantis?
Location: Grootwater, Limpopo, South Africa
July 26, 2011 3:32 am
Hello Bugman,
Going through some photo’s from my stay in South Africa and found these pictures of my close encounter with a praying mantis. A few of my South African friends said it is probably a inmature springbok Mantis, but this is probably a local name for the fellow. Could you guys be more specific?
Signature: Jan
Preying Mantis
Hi Jan,
We have learned in doing the research for this posting that the Springbok Mantis is native to South Africa, but it has gained notoriety because it was accidentally introduced to New Zealand where it is displacing the native Mantids. We cannot say for certain that your individual is or is not an immature Springbok Mantis. The stance and carriage of the abdomen is unusual, though not unique among Mantids. We cannot locate a photo of an immature Springbok Mantis for comparison, and the photos of adult Springbok Mantids do not show that particular body stance. You can read about the Springbok Mantis in New Zealand on the Radio Live website and this Hello PHoto Blog.
Immature Preying Mantis, but what species???
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