rss seasonal insect
Location: Wittmann, Arizona, United States
July 8, 2011 10:05 pm
i believe it may be a member of the blister family.
im in Arizona, they come seasonally. they dont swim and they are nocturnal. what could they be??
Signature: Mr. Walker
Palo Verde Root Borer
Dear Mr. Walker,
This is a Palo Verde Root Borer, and they generally begin to appear in late June. The larvae bore in the roots of the Palo Verde tree.
Bug I have never seen before
Location: Central Illinois
July 8, 2011 9:47 pm
Found this interesting fellow on my car door after work…it was night and it is summertime here. It is about 1.5 inches long…not a small bug. It flew into my car before I could study it any longer, luckily I got a nice pic. Thanks for taking your time to check out this bug.
Signature: Bre
Ivory Marked Beetle
Hi Bre,
This Longhorned Borer Beetle is an Ivory Marked Beetle, Eburia quadrigeminata, and it is also called a Four-Marked Ash Borer according to BugGuide. BugGuide also notes: “hosts include a wide variety of hardwoods (oak, ash, hickory, locust, chestnut, maple, elm, beech, cherry); larvae bore in heartwood” and the remarkable “Notorious for emerging from furniture after as many as 10-40 yrs.” You do not need to worry about the beetles boring into finished wood, however, if larvae are present when wood is milled, the metamorphosis period is affected lengthening the time the beetle remains in the larval and or pupal stages.
What type of bug is this?
Location: Naples, Fl.
July 8, 2011 8:33 pm
This insect was on my car. I had never seen a white bug before, so I took a picture.
Signature: Marisa
Little Leaf Notcher Weevil
Dear Marisa,
We are relatively certain this is a native Floridian Weevil known as the Little Leaf Notcher, Artipus floridanus, which we found on BugGuide, but we would not want to discount the possibility that it might be the introduced and invasive species Myllocerus undecimpustulatus undatus, which you may read about in the Department of Agriculture paper.
Unidentified beetle
Location: West-central New Mexico, 7100’ elevation, pinyon/juniper forest
July 8, 2011 11:03 am
My husband says it’s a cockroach, I say, no. What say you?
Signature: Mary
Root Borer
Hi Mary,
We hope he is taking you for a nice romantic dinner for winning the bet. This is NOT a cockroach. This is a Root Borer in the genus Prionus, and a very likely candidate is Prionus heroicus. It looks like this picture on BuGGuide and though BugGuide has no reports from New Mexico (we would urge you to submit yours) it is found in neighboring Arizona and Utah. Your elevation might be a key factor in identifying the species. We like this comment: “Male individuals of Prionus (Homaesthesis) rarely get this large – the subgenus is distinguished from Prionus (s. str.) by the opaque, non-striolate poriferous areas on the antennae, smaller size (usually less than 30 mm), and less strongly expanded pronotal margins. Prionus californicus is typically more reddish – the darker coloration of this specimens makes me think it might be Prionus heroicus. There is no such name as Prionus derobrachus. Derobrachus hovorei is the new name for the species formerly known as Derobrachus geminatus. The species formerly called Derobrachus forreri is the true Derobrachus geminatus.
… Ted C. MacRae, 29 August, 2007 – 11:50am” from BugGuide. We wondered if this might be P. californicus, but the part of the dark coloration distinguishing the BugGuide photo seems to apply to your specimen, also a male. An eastern relative, the Broad Necked Root Borer, is our featured Bug of the Month and beetles in this subfamily, Prioninae, have been most plentiful this year. We would not like to aggravate a male Prionid as they have strong jaws and we suspect some species may be able to draw blood in a human.
P.S. It looks smashed, so we are tagging this Unnecessary Carnage.
what is this
Location: Surprise, Az
July 8, 2011 12:43 pm
Please Mr. Bugman, tell me what this is
Signature: Southsideirish
Palo Verde Root Borer
Dear Southsideirish,
Your Prionid Beetle is a Palo Verde Root Borer, Derobrachus hovorei, a species found in the arid Southwest where the Palo Verde grows.
Cincinnati Bug
Location: Cincinnati OH
July 8, 2011 8:16 am
I found this little guy and thought he was very interesting. Please identify the species..thanks!
Signature: Gretchen
Six Banded Longhorn
Hi Gretchen,
We are thrilled to post your photo of a Six Banded Longhorn, Dryobius sexnotatus, a species that BugGuide lists as: “Species of Concern – USFWS Uncommon (3) and listed as rare and threatened on several state websites. Species is ‘widely scattered and populations are sparse’ (1) Rare (4) Dury (1902) noted that Dryobius sexnotatus was once abundant but was even then becoming rare. Perry et al. (1974) noted a sharp decline in the collection of the species since 1942.”
Need This Bug Identified, Please
Location: Western New York State
July 8, 2011 7:02 am
Hi! I’m glad I stumbled upon your site. I’m having a problem this year with these particular bugs (beetles, perhaps?) in my home. Once, wandering around in the bathtub and three times scooting around on the kitchen floor. I’ve never seen these before, well, at least not IN my house! What exactly am I dealing with here?
Signature: Betty
Yellow Mealworm Beetle
Hi Betty,
Check the pantry. This looks like an adult Yellow Mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor. The larvae are often sold in pet stores as live food for lizards and other small carnivorous pets. The larvae will also infest stored foods like cereals and grains. There may be a box of long expired food on the back shelf in the pantry that is hosting a thriving Mealworm population. Not eating your oatmeal fast enough? You can verify this identification on BugGuide.
Ladybug larva molting
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
Ladybug larva molting
Location: Naperville, IL
July 7, 2011 10:30 pm
Dear Daniel~
I have many, many ladybugs and green lacewings this year on my milkweed. I thought I would share some cool photos: an adult ladybug staring me down, a ladybug larva that is molting and an earlier instar that is eating an aphid. Have a wonderful weekend! Best regards.
Signature: Dori Eldridge
Lady Beetle Larva Molting
Hi Dori,
Thanks for sending all of your fabulous photographs. We do not mean to malign a beneficial insect like the Lady Beetle, but your adult, and most likely the larvae as well, is a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, an introduced species that is thriving in North America and crowding out our native Lady Beetles which are becoming scarcer each year. While it is doubtful that anything can be done to curb the spread of the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, we can at least try to take steps to save our diminishing native populations.
Lady Beetle Larva eats Aphid
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