Art Center Design 2 (Cole Case’s class) Bug Question
On Nov 17, 2011, at 12:31 AM
Hello Mr. Marlos,
My name is Pei and I’m currently taking Cole Case’s Design 2 class. For a 3D abstraction project, I need to identify this bug and Cole said you might be able to help me.
From the research I’ve done, I am guessing it could be in the Miridae or Pentatomidae families. What do you think?
The underside is a medium value, neutral tan color and the outer shell is a sort of iridescent reddish brown. The shell is shield-shaped and has a large triangular shape on the top.
Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon! 
Pei
Stink Bug
Hi Pei,
Say hi to Cole. Does he want to partner with my class? I believe this is a Stink Bug in the family Pentatomidae (see BugGuide).
Namibian arthropods
Location: Namibia (see above)
November 15, 2011 12:44 pm
Can you please name these.All pictures were taken in April 2011 in Namibia.
The cricket was taken in the Etendeke Mountain camp close to Palmwag. The other 2 images were taken at Durstenbruck farm north of Windhoek.
Signature: Roger Pinkney
Shield-Backed Katydid
Dear Roger,
We are finally getting around to your third identification request after having posted your Banded-Legged Golden Orb-Web Spider and your Tropical Centipede, and we haven’t heard back from you, though perhaps internet connectivity is not easy to find in Namibia. All of your photos are quite nice. The creature you refer to as a cricket is actually a Shield-Backed Katydid in the subfamily Tettigoniinae. We are going to write to Katydid expert Piotr Naskrecki from Harvard to see if he can provide a species identification for you.
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¶ Posted 17 November 2011 § Katydids ‡ ° Green lady bug??
Location: southern indiana
November 15, 2011 11:20 pm
Is this a green lady bug I found today ? It looks just like them but it’s green . Thank you
Signature: brian
Spotted Cucumber Beetle
Dear Brian,
Though it superficially resembles a ladybug, this is actually a Spotted Cucumber Beetle, Diabrotica undecimpunctata, and you may verify that on BugGuide.
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Long Nose Lycid Beetle
Location: Queensland Australia
November 15, 2011 8:18 am
Hi bugman, been a while since i sent you anything. I have went to Australia since my last submission.
What we have here is the Porrostoma rhipidium – Long nose Lycid Beetle. He is a very docile and somewhat curious critter. He crawled around on me while i took many shots.. then as I let him go, he landed beside of me and continued hanging around in the yard for another entire day.
Signature: SCWIDVICIOUS
Long-Nosed Lycid Beetle
Dear SCWIDVICIOUS,
Thanks so much for sending us this marvelous submission. The Brisbane Insect Websitehas many excellent images of this species. Members of the family Lycidae are commonly called Net-Winged Beetles and they are somewhat unusual in that they have soft elytra, unlike most beetles. Now that winter is approaching in the northern hemisphere, we are expecting a surge in submissions from Australia if our typical annual cycle remains unchanged.
Long-Nosed Lycid Beetle
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Large wasps in my kitchen in November!
Location: Leeds, UK
November 15, 2011 6:29 pm
Hi there, I’ve had 2 big wasps appear from nowhere in the past 2 days. They’re pretty dozy and can be caught easily. We also had about 4 in a row in 4 days in October. It wouldn’t be weird apart from the fact that it’s November and very cold now and they shouldn’t still be around. Could they be queens looking for a place to go? Our house has a lot of gaps in it so they could be crawling in from outside but it’s strange that there have been so many and the all seem to look bigger than the average wasp. Thanks.
Signature: Kate
Common Wasp
Hi Kate,
We believe we have correctly identified your wasp as Vespula vulgaris, known as the Common Wasp in the UK, though in America the members of this genus are commonly called Yellowjackets. We think your theory that they may be queens trying to find a place to hibernate is a strong possibility. We are trying to find a reliable source for determining how to distinguish a queen from a worker, but our web searching has drawn a blank. Perhaps one of our readers can supply that information. There are some very fine photos and some good information on the Social Wasps website.
Common Wasp
Daniel:
I suspect that the “queens seeking winter shelter” theory is probably correct. Workers do not persist past the first hard frost or two.
Eric
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Wasp? Horntail? in Thuringen Germany
Location: Central Germany
November 15, 2011 6:51 pm
I took this photo with a 100mm Macro in Heilbad-Heilegnstadt Thuringen, Germany.
It measured less than 1/2 inch, as you can see from the veins of the leaf.
I have tried to identify it to no avail.
Please help
Signature: Laurel R.
Parasitic Hymenopteran
Hi Laurel,
This is a Parasitic Hymenopteran, most likely an Ichneumon, but possibly a Braconid. She is a female and the stingerlike ovipositor is used to lay eggs inside the host, generally an insect. Ichneumons and Braconids are important biological control agents that are usually very host specific. We rarely attempt to identify most Ichneumons and Braconids to the species level as it is a task best left to specialists.
Thank you Daniel! I searched and searched to id that little wasp, even with your further information I could not find
a photo of it.
I live in Nyack, New York about 20 miles north of New York City. I have been writing about the insects in my garden
daily since July. The variety of species is amazing!
The photos are from my recent trip to visit my son in Thuringen.
Sincerely,
Laurel Robertson
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WTB
Location: juneau alaska
November 16, 2011 10:07 am
This bug was found in juneau, Alaska yesterday. Never seen one arround here before let alone we dont see many bugs in the winter!
Signature: Gary
Snow Sedge
Hi Gary,
This is a Caddisfly in the order Trichoptera. Caddisflies are mothlike creatures that have aquatic larvae that build cases for themselves. According to BugGuide: “Most species live in a mobile case constructed from plant material, algae, grains of sand, pieces of snail shells, or entirely of silk. The case is held together with strands of silk secreted by the larva. In some species the case is attached to a rock, log, or other underwater surface; a few species have no case and are free-living. The case’s particular shape and construction material is distinctive of the family and/or genus, and can be used in identification. Example: Helicopyschidae larvae use sand grains to build spiral cases that resemble small snail shells.” The light markings on the wings of your individual seemed distinctive, so we made an attempt at a more specific identification. We believe your Caddisfly is in the genus Psychoglypha, and it looks similar to this image posted to BugGuide that contains the comment from Dave Ruiter: “The scalloped wing, color pattern and venation are characteristic of several, but not all of the species in this genus.” Somewhere as we were clicking around, we thought we read a name Snow Sedge, so we did a web search of that term and found the TroutNut website that attributes the name to the genus and provides this information: “These caddisflies may be important to the winter angler because they are one of the only insects around. Gary LaFontaine relays an interesting correspondence about this genus in Caddisflies: Dr. George Roemhild explained to me how he finds these winter caddisflies in February and March: ‘They crawl up on the snowbanks, but when the sun hits their dark wings they melt down out of sight. That’s how I collect them, by walking along looking for holes in the snow.’” To back check where we found the name Snow Sedge, we searched again, adding BugGuide as a keyword and found this posting on BugGuide. The presence of Caddisflies is an indication of clean, unpolluted water. Here is one final photo from the Natural History of Southeast Alaska website.
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Namibian arthropods
Location: Namibia (see above)
November 15, 2011 12:44 pm
Can you please name these.All pictures were taken in April 2011 in Namibia.
The cricket was taken in the Etendeke Mountain camp close to Palmwag. The other 2 images were taken at Durstenbruck farm north of Windhoek.
Signature: Roger Pinkney
Unknown Centipede
Hi Roger,
Though we don’t know what species this is, this Tropical Centipede is one of the most beautiful Centipedes we have ever seen. We will try to determine the species. Tropical Centipedes in the genus Scolopendra are found in many places around the world.
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