Skip to content

Monthly Archives August 2011

Six Spotted Fishing Spider eats Tadpole

fishing spider??
August 22, 2011 10:17 am
i posted pics to your facebbok page and have tried 3 time s unsuccessfully ot send them to you on here, it wont upload them. its a green spider, in the water and it had grabbed a tiny tadpole out of the water. its beena  couple of months since i posted them! wondering if you can help!
Signature: BIBEF

we do not check the facebook pages.  We reserve that as an open forum.  We only post letters that come to our website directly.  We are very curious about the photos of the spider you describe and we would love to see the photos.  Your aphid photos did arrive correctly.  Try attaching the spider photos to this response and please add all the information on the sighting, like location and date.
Thanks

hope it works this way, i have seen spiders near water, but never IN the water. the one pic is a good one of the spider, you can see its feet pressing on the surface of the water, and the second which sadly came out blurry, you can see the tadpole it grabbed out of the water in its mouth. i was only able to get the one with te tadpole and almost fell in the pond trying to get that one, so thats why only the blurry one! ive look ed at fishing spiders on your site and they dont really look like this one, but that could just be me!!

dolomedes triton bibef 300x242 Six Spotted Fishing Spider eats Tadpole

Six Spotted Fishing Spider

Dear Bibef,
We are very happy we requested you to resend these photos.  Other letters from you have come from Ohio.  Is this also Ohio?  This is definitely a Fishing Spider in the genus Dolomedes, and we have identified it as a Six Spotted Fishing Spider, Dolomedes triton.  We have some old images in our archives, including these images from Louisiana, and this image from Florida,  but your image is the only we have received depicting a food chain image with aquatic prey.

dolomedes triton tadpole bibef 300x225 Six Spotted Fishing Spider eats Tadpole

Six Spotted Fishing Spider eats Tadpole

yes ohio, caesars creek state park to be exact, and thank you, fun finding out they come in a variety of colors!!

4

Posted 22 August 2011 § Amphibians § Nursery Web Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Unicorn Caterpillar

Early Instar Unicorn Caterpillar
Location: S. Illinois
August 22, 2011 6:01 pm
Think this is an early instar unicorn caterpillar. Right about an inch long, on oak. This image is a little sharper than the one I sent along last year.
Signature: Bert

unicorn caterpillar bert 300x192 Unicorn Caterpillar

Unicorn Caterpillar

Dear Bert,
This does appear to be a Unicorn Caterpillar or another closely related member of the same genus Schizura based on photos posted to BugGuide.  If it is significantly smaller than the image you sent last year, it is most likely an earlier instar, though we cannot tell scale by comparing the two images.

Posted 22 August 2011 § Prominent Moth Caterpillars ‡ Comments (0) °

Tick Bites

Seed Tick Aftermath
Location: Kirksville, MO
August 21, 2011 10:46 am
Hi again, Daniel.
I have no problem at all with images being cropped/rotated to fit the site, and thank you for the compliments. I discovered, however, that there was a great deal more on the trail than the cannibal flies. On my drive home from the trail, my ankles started itching terribly. Once I was out of the car, I rolled my socks down to discover that my ankles were crawling with seed ticks! Needless to say, all of my clothes wound up in the laundry post haste, and my shoes were promptly treated with some permethrin based spray (which I admittedly should have done -before- the hike!). I discovered that a safety razor works really well in removing the pinhead-sized pests, but I wasn’t able to get them off quickly enough to save my ankles – my left one caught the worst of it!
A note to any hikers with ticks in the area, make sure you treat your clothing before going out, because a tick doesn’t have to transmit a pathogen to leave an unwanted ’gift’ behind!
Signature: EB

tick bites eb 300x199 Tick Bites

Tick Bites

Dear EB,
We were not aware of the term Seed Ticks to describe larval Ticks, though that seems a perfect name.  We researched the name and found a very descriptive blog posting on Mayaland as well as this informative page on the Flea and Tick Control website.  Thanks so much for your warning to our readership as well as your personal tips.

Posted 22 August 2011 § Ticks ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Western Corsair

unknown orange and black beetle
Location: northern california central valley
August 21, 2011 11:39 pm
Hi, I’ve come across 3 of these bugs in my establishment in the past two days. My son tried picking one up and it either stung or bit him with excruciating pain. These bugs can fly and only seem to appear in the evening.
Signature: bryan

western corsair bryan 300x187 Western Corsair

Western Corsair

Hi Bryan,
This is an Assassin Bug known as a Western Corsair or Orange Spotted Assassin Bug, Rasahus thoracicus.  Most Assassin Bugs are not aggressive, but they are predators and they are capable of biting humans with their mouths adapted for piercing and sucking fluids from prey.  According to BugGuide: “The western corsair feeds primarily on other insects and does not seek out warm-blooded animals or require a blood meal in order to reproduce. However, if it is picked up, it can inflict a bite that is quite painful.”

Posted 22 August 2011 § Assassin Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °

Cowkiller

Weird lookin bug!
August 20, 2011
So we just pulled into a campsite outside of Mobil, Alabama and saw this little guy running around. Never seen them were I’m from any ideas?
Thanks
Sean Reid

cowkiller sean 300x210 Cowkiller

Cowkiller

Hi Sean,
We hope our response got to you before you tried picking up this Velvet Ant.  Velvet Ants are flightless female wasps and they can sting.  This species, Dasymutilla occidentalis, is reported to have a sting that is so painful they are called Cowkillers.  Once a reader supplied a comment that when cows get stung, they often begin running, sometimes falling down and injuring themselves to the point that they have to be put down, hence the name Cowkiller.

2

Posted 22 August 2011 § Velvet Ants ‡ Comments (0) °

Banded Alder Borer

Interesting beatle
Location: Sechelt, BC.
August 20, 2011 3:00 pm
I took this photo in Sechelt BC.
It looked about 2-3 inches long and just sat there.
I’m very interested in what it is.
Thank You.
Signature: Nathan

banded alder borer nathan 300x187 Banded Alder Borer

Banded Alder Borer

Hi Nathan,
We never tire of posting nice photos of Banded Alder Borers.  In our opinion, they are the most attractive North American beetle.

Posted 22 August 2011 § Longhorn Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Spider Wasp attacks Wolf Spider

Some sort of spider wasp
Location: Bel Air, Maryland, U.S.A.
August 20, 2011 6:14 pm
I was coming back to the house from the garden. I walked around the corner and noticed a wasp fly up and away from a spider. I got to the door and it returned to the spider. I grabbed the camera and tried to get a couple shots. I couldn’t get very close without it flying off. So I snapped a picture from as close as I could get. The spider is pretty large, just slightly smaller than a quarter.
It was about 4 p.m. on August 20 near Bel Air, Maryland. Temperature was about 88F and it was rather humid since we’ve been having thunder storms pretty much ever evening.
I have a larger photo if it will help.
Signature: Greg in Maryland

spider wasp foodchain greg 300x231 Spider Wasp attacks Wolf Spider

Spider Wasp attacks Wolf Spider

Dear Greg,
We are very happy to be posting your thrilling photo to our Food Chain page.  You are correct that this is a Spider Wasp.  We have identified it as Tachypompilus ferrugineus based on photos posted to BugGuide.  Though the curled position of the spider does not permit us to be certain of its identity, we thought it must be either a Wolf Spider or a Funnel Web Spider, but the genus page for Tachypompilus on BugGuide indicates:  “Females provision nests mainly with Lycosids.”  That would indicate that the spider in your photo is a Wolf Spider.

2

Posted 22 August 2011 § spider wasps § Wolf Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Eastern Dobsonfly

What’s this bug?
Location: North Georgia mountain town of Ellijay GA
August 20, 2011 7:01 pm
I live in the north georgia town of Ellijay.
What’s this cute guys name?
Thanks
Gerry Fazzari
Signature: best regards

dobsonfly gerry 300x228 Eastern Dobsonfly

Male Dobsonfly

Hi Gerry,
This magnificent insect is a male Dobsonfly.  Female Dobsonflies have much less prominent mandibles.  We are quite certain that your photo will give nightmares for weeks to come to a few folks visiting our website for the first time to get some “huge” home intruder identified.  They will probably also experience a sense of relief that their earwig or ground beetle is nothing compared to what they grow in Georgia (and many other parts of eastern North America).

2

Posted 22 August 2011 § Dobsonflies and Fishflies ‡ Comments (0) °

Page 12 of 43« First...1011121314...203040...Last »