Is this a swallowtail caterpillar?
Location: Riviera Nayarit (Puerto Vallarta)
December 4, 2011 4:27 pm
Hi there, we were in the Riviera Nayarit (Puerto Vallarta area)late November and one evening as we left the resort bar we came across this bug. I’ve been looking around and I think it’s a swallowtail, but it’s also more gross than any of the swallowtails I’ve seen in pictures so far. Could it be that the caterpillar is in late pupa stages? Is it even a swallowtail? Any help you can give would be appreciated.
Signature: Michelle Gessner
Sphinx Moth Caterpillar
Hi Michelle,
This might be a Swallowtail Caterpillar, but some Sphinx Moth Caterpillars also have eyespots. Sadly, your photo does not show the anterior end where a caudal horn is found on most Sphinx Caterpillars. Hopefully we will have time in the future to allot to trying to determine a species identity.
Update courtesy of Karl
Hi Daniel and Michelle:
I think your second hunch is probably correct. It looks like a Sphinx caterpillar in the genus Madoryx (Sphingidae: Macroglossinae). It looks very similar to the pre-pupal M. plutonius specimens on the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) site. This species apparently doesn’t occur as far north as Mexico but a subspecies, M. plutonius dentatus, lives in Mexico and Belize. And yes, this appears to be one of those hornless varieties of Sphinx caterpillars. Regards. Karl
Hi Karl,
Thanks for taking the time to do this bit of sleuthing.
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Little Red Six Legs :
Location: Cobb County, GA (Powder Springs)
December 6, 2011 1:42 am
I go hiking often so odd bugs, plants, flowers and animals are something I am usually used to. I often snap pictures of them, and I use them often on my blog and my photo sharing sites. I love photography and being able to capture a moment to last a life time. This one particular bug that I captured the last hike (last week), I can not figure out what it is despite hours and hours or research.
This bug was in park that is used for it’s hiking trails. It has many acres and the only buildings are an old barn and an abandoned house. This bugs bright colors instantly attracted me. While I release the copyright to you… I release it only to you. I just want to know what this bug is, what it does. I have been wondering for days whether or not this thing is more harmful or helpful and why I haven’t seen more of them.
Signature: Concerned Hiker
Assassin Bug Nymph
Dear Concerned Hiker,
This is an Assassin Bug nymph, most likely in the genus Zelus. We have taken the liberty of cropping your photo and moving your copyright information to better fit the format of the images on our website.
You can remove the copyright completely if you wish. I have more than one image of this creature, if you want them as well, let me know. Are they harmless? What do they do?
Thanks, but changing images in posts is time consuming, so we will just let it remain as is.
stinging slug caterpillar
Location: Potholes, South Africa
December 6, 2011 5:24 am
Hello,
I am form the Netherlands and i was in 2005 in South Africa for an internship. I was at blyde river canyon (potholes)when i saw this specie. I am searching for 6 years now to find out which specie this is. I hope you can help me out?
Greetings,
Hennie
Stinging Slug Caterpillar
Dear Hennie,
We agree that this is most likely a Stinging Slug Caterpillar, however, some members of the Saturniidae family also have stinging spines. We will post your photo and we hope our readership might be able to assist in the identification.
Karl provides a possible genus identification
December 6, 2011
Hi Daniel and Hennie:
Excluding the more common and serious pest species, tropical limacodids are always difficult to identify because of the large number of species and a general lack of online information. South Africa, for instance, has at least 117 species for most of which there is very little information to be found. However, I believe this one belongs to the genus Latoia, which includes at least a dozen South African species. Latoia vivida appears to be a very close match and I believe this is probably the correct species, but I cannot be certain. Here is a link to another photo. Coffee is apparently the preferred larval host plant and the species is considered a serious pest on that crop in central and southern Africa. By the way, I think this may be the same species that was posted on WTB by Adrian back in January, 2008. Regards. Karl
Dead Garden Spider on her Egg Sac?
Location: Santa Maria, California USA
December 5, 2011 3:41 pm
Hello, I have enjoyed several days and nights watching this spider in her web and have even thrown a few bugs in the web to feed it. About 5 days ago it stopped making/repairing the web and has been in this same position day and night, is it dead? It looks like it is on top of a brown egg sac too. I don’t want to poke at it but was wondering if it is dead and if it is a garden spider?
Signature: Maggs
Orbweaver
Dear Maggs,
This is an Orbweaver in the genus Araneus, and we believe it might be Araneus gemma which BugGuide describes as: “Female: carapace and abdomen vary in color from gray to brownish purple. The abdomen has anterior paired humps and may have a medial light stripe that varies in length. She does not look dead to us, and your theory that she may be protecting her egg sac is sound.
“
Australian Moth
Location: Sydney’s Northern Beaches
December 5, 2011 7:54 pm
Hello Bugman,
I haven’t been able to identify this moth after considerable searches. It flew into our house at about 9pm last night.
Signature: Ridou
Epidesmia tricolor: Australian Geometrid Moth
Dear Ridou,
Searches like this can take a very long time and still prove unfruitful, but we got lucky. We thought this most resembled a Geometrid Moth, so we searched the Csiro database of Australian Moths and found a match with a photo of a mounted Epidesmia tricolor. The only nice living specimen photos we could find are on The Nature of Robertson website. Your photos are a most welcomed addition to our site.
Epidesmia tricolor
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Spider!
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
December 3, 2011 9:55 pm
I came home today to find this spider on my front porch. I’ve never seen one like this before. It has large fangs! Do you know what it is? It’s body is about 1 inch long. This picture does no justice for the vividness of the colors.
Signature: Lucretia in California
Banded Garden Orbweaver
Hi Lucretia,
This beautiful spider is a Banded Garden Orbweaver, Argiope trifasciata. It is considered harmless, though it is possible it might bite a person if carelessly handled, though the bite would normally just cause local soreness and swelling.
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Stag Beetle grubs and…lice?
Location: Wheaton, IL
December 4, 2011 11:02 pm
Hey Bugman,
The other day my dad was complaining that there was something crawling on his hand. We took a look at it and It reminded me of some type of louse, but as we looked through the bug books and skimmed the internet, nothing turned up. Wondering if you could help? We live about thirty miles west of Chicago, IL. Also found these three big grubs under a rotting log about a month ago… Probably reddish-brown stag beetle larvae?
Signature: thanks, Sam
Louse Fly, we believe
Hi Sam,
We are dealing with your two requests separately in an effort to maintain some semblance of order in our archives. We believe you father encountered a Louse Fly in the family Hippoboscidae. Louse Flies are true winged flies, however, their flight is quite feeble. When the alight upon a host, often a large mammal like a deer or a sheep, they shed their wings and remain attached like a louse, sucking blood. Some Louse Flies are found on birds. You may compare your image to this BugGuide image.
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Black butterfly with yellow stripes?
Location: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
December 5, 2011 8:59 am
Hey there.
I’ve been lurking your site for awhile and appreciate your extensive knowledge of bugs.
Awhile back I came across a black butterfly with yellow stripes. I have not seen very many pictures of it online and I was wondering what it was. I’ve been told it was an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail but almost none of the pictures look like this guy.
Signature: Mister Sergei
Giant Swallowtail
Dear Mister Sergei,
Though they are found as far north as Canada, Giant Swallowtails, Papilio cresphontes, are much more common in the southern portions of their range where they have adapted to an introduced larval food plant, the leaves of citrus trees.
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