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Monthly Archives November 2011

Habitat for a Polyphemus Caterpillar

Food and Environment for Polyphemus Moth Caterpillar?
November 13, 2011 1:25 pm
Hi!
My husband found one of these crawling the grass at our neighborhood playground in Dallas, TX. We’d love to try and see it through to becoming a moth. What should we provide it for it as far as food, habitat etc? Interestingly enough, a few weeks ago we were given a butterfly habitat(large mesh cylinder with a lid).
Thanks!
Signature: Rachel

polyphemus cat amanda 300x177 Habitat for a Polyphemus Caterpillar

Polyphemus Caterpillar from our archives

Dear Rachel,
Your butterfly habitat should do fine.  You can also use an old aquarium with a screen top.  Chances are quite good that when the Polyphemus Caterpillar left the trees it was feeding upon, “birch, grape, hickory, maple, oak, willow, and members of the rose family” according to BugGuide.  The caterpillar will spin a loose cocoon around a large leaf, so provide some old, but not dried leaves on the floor of the habitat for the Polyphemus Caterpillar to spin its cocoon.  Here is a nice post from our archives showing stages of Polyphemus metamorphosis.

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Posted 15 November 2011 § Silkworms ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Seasonal Sightings

Question….
November 14, 2011
Hi Daniel!
Hope all is well there up in What’s That Bug Land!
Got a question: …
Other than the March of Tarantulas in October, are there any other creepy crawly or migrating insect that makes it way into SoCal that might fit the bill? I was thinking of including our friends, the garden spiders,  that we see in September/October but that might be too much spiders…hmmm…
Any suggestions you may have would be appreciated!
Best,
Brenda Rees
Writer, Editor and Gal About Town
www.brendarees.com

Totally Brenda,
March:  Impressive swarms of Painted Ladies fly North from Mexico some years.

Posted 15 November 2011 § Administrative ‡ Comments (0) °

Queen Caterpillar

Mutant Monarch Caterpillar?
Location: West Los Angeles
November 14, 2011 12:06 pm
Hi Bugman,
We’ve had dozens of Monarch caterpillars this year (best year in a long time). Their colors varied somewhat, but all had rings of colors the length of their bodies.
The caterpillar pictured was found on a milkweed plant, but wasn’t interested in eating. It also did not appear large enough to begin chrysalizing (is this a word?).
As you can see, it does not have rings, but spots, and an additional set of ”false” antennae near the middle of its body.
So is this a Monarch caterpillar or something else?
Thx, Jeff
Signature: Jeff Bremer

queen cat jeff 2 300x203 Queen Caterpillar

Queen Caterpillar

Hi Jeff,
This is noteworthy for Los Angeles.  What exciting photographs to post, especially since they are from Los Angeles.  There are several other Milkweed Butterflies in the Monarch genus Danaus, and this is another member of the royal family.  We believe this is the Queen Caterpillar, a species reported from California according to BugGuide.  Your individual is darker than the images posted to BugGuide.  Queens are darker than Monarchs.

queen cat jeff 300x255 Queen Caterpillar

Queen Caterpillar

  On a side note, we are formulating written responses to interview questions for a Russian magazine, F5.  One of the questions we have been struggling with is 15.  After having studied bugs for so long, have you learned anything important from them?  And the answer is:  “Yes I have.  I have learned that we are all individuals.  Just as no two people look alike, no two insects look exactly alike, but some are very similar.  I learned this after seeing a photograph of a Queen Caterpillar that was much darker than photos of Queen Caterpillars I found on legitimate websites like BugGuide.  I have learned that even if I have difficulty telling two insect species apart, insects have no trouble recognizing their own species.  Species are just close to one another on the evolutionary scale, and they differentiated due to global distribution.  When you cut off a gene pool, it differentiates from disparate groups and eventually it forms a race, that if they cease to intermingle, might evolve to a point where they can no longer reproduce together.”

queen cat jeff 3 300x190 Queen Caterpillar

Queen Caterpillar

Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your reply – I’m hoping to see a Queen butterfly as well and was wondering of there is a way to tell the chrysalis from that of a Monarch.  The pictures in BugGuide don’t show any distinguishing features.  Do you know of any?
Thx,  Jeff

Alas, we don’t know how to distinguish the two chrysalides.  We will copy Keith Wolfe to see if he has any insight.

Keith Wolfe Responds
Jeff, please see this rather crude comparison using Internet photos . . .
http://home.comcast.net/~bflyearlystages/Differentiating-US-Danaus-immatures.doc
. . . which was quickly put together many years ago for a student I was mentoring.
Enjoy the wonder!
Keith

Had a stroke of luck yesterday when I spotted a Queen caterpillar starting to chrysalize.  Now I just need to be there when she emerges.
Jeff

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Posted 15 November 2011 § brush footed butterfly caterpillars ‡ Comments (2) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Green Scarab Beetle from India is structurally coloured according to Wikipedia

ID pls
Location: Bannerghatta National park., Karnataka, south India
November 14, 2011 12:19 am
hi, i found this fellow in my place. place found was South India, Karantaka, Bangalore, Scrub forest Bannerghatta National park. pls can i know the common and scientific name of this fellow
Signature: rameshb belagere

green scarab india rameshb 300x228 Green Scarab Beetle from India is structurally coloured according to Wikipedia

Unknown Green Scarab Beetle

Dear rameshb belagere,
This is a Scarab Beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, but our initial search of the internet has not turned up a definitive species identification.  We believe it is the same species as this unidentified photo posted on vidarbha wildlife.  One of our readers may be able to assist in this identification.

Identification Courtesy of Karl
Hi Daniel and rameshb belagere:
I think you are right about the unidentified photo you linked to (on vidarbha wildlife). It looks like a Flower Chafer (Scarabeidae: Cetoniinae), probably Heterorrhina elegans. You can just make out the four black, raised bumps (calli, or singular callus) on the elytra that apparently are diagnostic for the species. Online images are scarce but a set of three appears on various sites, including Wikipedia. If you care to read a detailed description you can access an online version of the relevant volume (G. J. Arrow 1910) of “The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma”. The relevant text includes: “…the sutural margins of the elytra posteriorly and the apical calli black (generally also the humeral calli, but less distinctly.)” and “H. elegans is distinguishable from all other Indian species of the genus by its extremely glossy surface, as well as by the black spot near the end of each elytron.”  I can’t be absolutely certain, but I believe that is it. Regards. Karl

Thanks so much Karl.  We are fascinated by the Wikipedia claim that the coloration is not due to pigment, but to structure, or as it is more technically stated:  “The physics of the colouration of the cuticle is a subject of interest as the colours are entirely structural, not produced by pigments, and nearly 200 year old specimens show no degradation of the colours.[3] The underlying structures made up of nearly 50 microscopic double layers[4] have been studied in the search for structural paints that do not need pigments which are often environmentally toxic chemicals.”  The coloration of the Morpho is also due to structure and not pigment.

3.  Neville, AC & S Caveney (1969). “Scarabaeid beetle exocuticle as an optical analogue of cholesteric liquid crystals”. Biological Reviews 44 (4): 531–562. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1969.tb00611.x. PMID 5308457.

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Posted 14 November 2011 § Scarab Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

What kind of bug is this?
Location: Yonkers, NY
November 13, 2011 10:42 pm
i have found a couple of these bugs in my house. I’m not sure where they came from. Could you please help me identify the type and maybe advise extermination?
Signature: Brian

brown marmorated stink bug brian 300x213 Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Hi Brian,
Now that you know that this is a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, you should be able to find countless links online of this invasive exotic species.

Posted 14 November 2011 § Stink Bugs and Shield Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °

Western Conifer Seed Bug

Please help identify this bug
Location: Aurora, Colorado
November 13, 2011 10:08 pm
I have found 2 of these in the past week, and have never seen them before now. One was in our shower. The 2nd was on a wall.
Signature: Janet

western conifer seed bug janet 300x211 Western Conifer Seed Bug

Western Conifer Seed Bug

Hi Janet,
We just finished posting another letter with a Western Conifer Seed Bug.

 

Posted 14 November 2011 § Leaf Footed Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °

Western Conifer Seed Bug

Not uncommon around these parts
Location: New Hampshire, USA.
November 13, 2011 10:04 pm
I keep finding these bugs in my room, usually on the floor, but sometimes I find them near a blue lamp I have on a five foot shelf (they could climb up to it, I’m sure). My mother thinks that they are ’wood bugs’. I believe that they could be attracted to the wood, since half of our house is hard-wood floored and we have a wood stove (that means wood inside!). They appear all over the house, but I find them in my room the most. My room is one of the ones that has hard-wood flooring.
I’ve held the little buggers before! They don’t bite. They remind me of a caterpillar, how they just crawl around without harming me. My dogs find them and eat them sometimes, they’re just fine.
Sorry it’s a lot of info, but I should add that our house is not particularly clean, and my room is the worst of the bunch.
Signature: Youngster

western conifer seed bug new hampshire 300x225 Western Conifer Seed Bug

Western Conifer Seed Bug

Dear Youngster,
Even though your photo is terribly blurry, there is enough detail to identify the Western Conifer Seed Bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis, thanks to your thorough description.  The Western Conifer Seed Bug is native to the Pacific Northwest, but it expanded its range to include most of the northern portion of the western hemisphere beginning in the 1960s.  This range expansion might be due to both global warming as well as accidental introduction because of increased travel.  In the early years of the 21st millennium, Western Conifer Seed Bugs were introduced to Europe where they have naturalized.  Western Conifer Seed Bugs are frequently noticed as cool weather sets in because adults seek out shelter, including homes, as places to hibernate.  Western Conifer Seed Bugs will not damage your home, its furnishing nor its inhabitants.

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Posted 14 November 2011 § Leaf Footed Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °

Horse Fly

male horsefly?
Location: Big Pine Key, FL
November 13, 2011 9:53 pm
Hello, I saw this fly this morning on my porch’s railing. I live in the Florida Keys. Didn’t seem scared by us. Feeds on nectar? Thanks
Signature: renzoreba

horse fly renzoreba 300x209 Horse Fly

Horse Fly

Dear renzoreba,
You have the family correct, but not the sex.  This is a Horse Fly, but the space between the eyes indicates she is a blood sucking female.  We are unable to identify the species at this time.

horse fly renzoreba 2 300x221 Horse Fly

Horse Fly

 

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Posted 14 November 2011 § Horse Flies and Deer Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

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