Dragonflies (Anax junius)
Location: Florida
November 20, 2011 6:00 pm
We’ve had lots of these Common Green Darners (Anax Junius) in our yard this summer and fall. Today I saw two pairs of Green Darners mating, flying in the tandem position. Both pairs would periodically land on the ground, and the female would immediately push the end segment of her abdomen down to the ground. I know dragonflies lay their eggs in water, so she was not laying eggs though it might have looked that way. I’m very curious about her behavior–do you know what she was doing?
Thanks again for this great site!
Signature: Karen in FL
Green Darners Mating
Hi Karen,
Thanks so much for sending us your excellent images of Green Darners mating to include in our archive. We do not know what the activity you describe means. You are correct that Dragonflies lay eggs in water, not on the ground. Perhaps someone with knowledge of this behavior will write in with an explanation.
1
Spider Carrying Babies on Abdomen
Location: Northern Utah
November 20, 2011 9:23 pm
I took a wonderful picture of a large brown spider with hundereds of babies on her back. I’m just curious as to what kind it is.
It doesn’t look like a wolf/recluse spider because is had a white stripe going up its head between its two largest eyes.
Signature: Cloudiie
Wolf Spider with Spiderlings
Hi Cloudiie,
To the best of our knowledge, among spiders this type of maternal behavior is limited to Wolf Spiders, though among Arachnids, Scorpions also transport their young. Wolf Spiders are harmless. We believe this may be a Rabid Wolf Spider, though your sighting is further west that those indicated on BugGuide.
1
Spider identification
Location: Southern California
November 20, 2011 10:48 pm
Saw this spider by our doorbell. I live in Southern California never seen a spider like this before just really curious what kind it is? hope you can help, thank you in advance! 
Signature: Audrey A
Jumping Spider
Hi Audrey,
Each time we receive a photo of this Southern California Jumping Spider, we go through the same quandary. Our favorite source for Los Angeles area identifications is Charles Hogue’s Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, and this species is called a Red Jumping Spider, Phidippus formosus. Our favorite internet site for identifications, BugGuide, does not recognize that as a species or it is underrepresented. BugGuide identifies a very similar looking species as Phidippus adumbratus. At any rate, this is a Jumping Spider, and they are harmless. Jumping Spiders have excellent eyesight.
1
Whats that bug?
Location: Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia
November 21, 2011 2:36 am
Hi there, this particular beetle was found in a pot plant by my mother in law. The bright florescent green was what caught her eye so she bought it right round so i could snap a photo.
Markings were symmetrical on top and on bottom, obviously 6 legs, eyes under its head and wings under its hard shell on its back. Spring is nearly over now heading into summer. Hope this helps.
Regards, Peter
Fiddler Beetle
Hi Peter,
As winter approaches in the northern hemisphere and our North American identification requests begin to diminish, we have a surge of identification requests from Australia and other southern realms. We generally get several requests each year to identify Fiddler Beetles, Eupoecila australasiae, like the individual in your photograph. Fiddler Beetles make their summer appearance in Australia beginning in late November and continuing through about February. We featured the Fiddler Beetle as the Bug of the Month for February 2007.
1
Bug Id needed
Location: North Carolina, @ 15 miles west of I-95 and 10 miles south of Virginia border
November 19, 2011 5:36 pm
Hi Bugman,
We saw this beetle in the woods near Medoc, North Carolina (slightly south and west of Roanoke Rapids) sometime mid-November. It was on the underside of a fallen hickory-tree branch, I think. Please help me figure out what it is. Thank you!
Signature: Sanne King
Ichneumon, probably
Dear Sanne,
Your insect is not a beetle. It is a Parasitic Hymenopteran, a group of wasps that parasitizes other insects and arthropods, usually by laying eggs that develop into internal parasites that kill the host insect, so they are important natural biological control agents. We believe that this is most likely an Ichneumon (see BugGuide) or a Braconid (see BugGuide). With few exceptions, this is a very difficult group to identify to the species level.
Greetings Daniel,
Thank you for your reply. I am including a close-up of the little critter. You’re right, and we weren’t sure it was a beetle, but it looked so solid at first. The wings are quite opaque, and we didn’t notice any “wasp waist” or abdominal curvature. It was keeping very flat on the leaf. We’ve had no further luck in narrowing the species down.
Cheers, Sanne
There is no photo attached.
Please help us discover what this creepy bug is!
Location: Southern California
November 16, 2011 8:53 pm
Hello,
This 2 1/2 inch wonder was waiting on our door step this evening. Scared the daylights out of us!
Would love to know who came to visit!
Thank you
Signature: Mary
Potato Bug
Hi Mary,
The Potato Bug or Jerusalem Cricket or Niña de la Tierra (in Spanish according to Hogue) is not uncommon in Southern California.
Unknown(Grasshopper like)
Location: western Massachusetts in the Berkshires.
November 15, 2011 12:36 pm
Hi, i was working at a Supermarket in produce to find a bug that looks like a grasshopper, is brown, flat top and flat head, 6 legs, and the thing which gets me is it has Red pincers which are black tipped. found in the eastern United states, western Massachusetts in the Berkshires.
Signature: Justin Klahn
Conehead Katydid
Hi Justin,
From your profile shot through the container, it appears that this Katydid is a Conehead, possibly even the Broad-Tipped Conehead, Neoconocephalus triops, which is pictured on BugGuide.
Conehead Katydid
¶ Posted 20 November 2011 § Katydids ‡ ° 
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