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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Hermit Flower Beetle

Rain Beetle Photo?
Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 10:41 AM
My son and I came across this large beetle on a tree in our yard. We live in Southwest Minnesota. I tried to send it to you last fall when we found it but received no reply. I believe it is a rain beetle.
Vonda Talsma
Minnesota

Hermit Flower Beetle

Hermit Flower Beetle

Hi Vonda,
While we are sorry we didn’t answer you in the fall, the reality of the situation is that we are unable to answer all of our mail.  We believe this is a Hermit Flower Beetle, Osmoderma eremicola.  According to BugGuide, it is also called the Odor of Leather Beetle because of the resemblance to the smell of Russian Leather.  BugGuide indicates:  “Adults take fruit juices and sugary liquids in captivity” and “Found in rotten logs, so presumably larvae are decomposers. Adults nocturnal, found in woodlands and orchards. Adults come to lights.”

Hermit Flower Beetle

Hermit Flower Beetle

Posted 21 March 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Earth Boring Dung Beetle

Rhinoceros Beetle
Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 9:28 AM
Hello Again!
Found this little guy struggling in a pool, a few months back. I assume he’s some species of Rhinoceros beetle (what else could you call it?). Fairly small – from memory, I’d say just about 1/2″ long, no larger (sorry no size reference in the photo).
Found in Santa Cruz Mountains, Los Gatos CA
Out of curiosity, is there an ideal size photo for submissions? OK if I send you a full-size 8 MB file of some critter in the future?
Cheers!
NewtHunterDave
Santa Cruz Mountains CA

Horned Dung Beetle

Earth Boring Dung Beetle

Dear NewtHunterDave,
We believe this is a Dung Beetle. Dung Beetles and Rhinoceros Beetles are both Scarab Beetles. Males in the genus Phanaeus, known as Rainbow Scarabs, have horns. BugGuide shows a species, Phanaeus amithaon, from Arizona, but we are not convinced this is your species. We also located a BioOne Online Journal posting, Copyright © 1997 William Ericson ,on a new species from Sonora Mexico, Phanaeus yecoraensis, and the detail photos resemble your specimen as well. The horn on your specimen is quite distinctive. We will seek assistance from Eric Eaton on this identification. Regarding the image size, both the Salamander image and Dung Beetle image you sent that we posted were ideal. Since our site migration last September, our site has the option of clicking on the image to see a larger version. We post no larger than 800 pixels wide by 550 pixels high at 72 dpi, and the program selects the ideal thumbnail to display. We prefer larger images so we can crop and resize to maximize what our site offers.

Cool!
I’ll include a couple other photos of this guy from different perspectives in case that helps with the ID.
(Although, for my purposes, ‘dung beetle with a horn’ is probably close enough!)
Also, for what it’s worth, he was shiny, but I didn’t notice any sort of iridescent or metallic/rainbow effects on this beetle.  If I had, I would have tried hard to capture that in a pic.
Thanks!
NewtHunterDave

Unknown Dung Beetle with Horn

Earth Boring Dung Beetle

Update: Freom Eric Eaton
Hi, Daniel:
Sun, 22 Mar 2009
One I actually recognize! LOL! It is one of the “earth-boring scarabs” in the family Geotrupidae. The species is Odonteus obesus. The specimen is a male. There are some nice images on Bugguide, but we could use a few more if the submitter wants to post there. Thanks.
Eric

Thanks Eric,
Since all the specimens on BugGuide are mounted, we will ask NewtHunterDave to post his beautiful live images.

Posted 21 March 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Firefly Larva and Courting Rhinoceros Beetles from Sumatra, Indonesia

“Glowworm” form Indonesia
Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 3:02 AM
Hi!
During my recent holiday in Indonesia I saw some kind of bioluminescent bug (I guess it’s a beetle) on Sumatra, in the Bukittinggi region in the west.
The bug glowed continuously, without any blinking. After a few minutes it stopped, and would start up the light again when touched. It did not move very much, and only slowly, but maybe it was not in best health anymore. The guy from the hotel who lives in the area said he had seen it for the first time, so it can’t be too common.
I would guess it was about 6 cm in lenght. The picture on the following website shows a similar Insect, but unfortunately does not specify what it is: http://4to40.com/encyclopedia/index.asp?id=642

Firefly

Firefly

As an extra I have attached a picture of two large beetles from the same area, which are very common in a riverbed and seem to feed exclusively on the bark of the many mimosa bushes there.
Cheers from Germany,
Till
Sumatra, Indonesia

Unknown Rhinoceros Beetles

Unknown Rhinoceros Beetles

Dear Till,
In our opinion, the glowing larva is an immature Firefly in the family Lampyridae, and not a Glowworm in the family Phengodidae. We love your photo of the courting pair of Rhinoceros Beetles. We have just spent about two hours updating and posting and researching answers, and we are a bit exhausted and need to stop now. We hope one of our faithful readers can provide a correct species name for your gorgeous Rhinoceros Beetles.

Update:
Hi!
With your information of the Genus I looked at some more pictures on the web, and found these for Xylotrupes gideon sumatrensis:
http://beetlespace.wz.cz/e_Xylotrupes_gideon_sumatrensis.html
That looks very close, I think.
Also, X. florensis seems to be restricted to Lesser Sunda and Tanimbar Islands, which Sumatra does not belong to.
Till

Thanks for the update Till.  We can also provide a new link to the NaturalWorlds website that has a bit of information.  The subspecies from Australia on the Brisbane Insects website has a much smaller horn structure.

Posted 20 February 2009 § Beetles ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: ,
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

European Rhinoceros Beetle from France

Seen in France
Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 4:54 AM
Sorry, that I have few information about this bug. I photographed it in the south of France. Its movements were very slow. Thanks for helping
AllanSmithee
France

European Rhinoceros Beetle

European Rhinoceros Beetle

Dear AllenSmithee,
We quickly identified your beetle as European Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes nasicornis, on Wikipedia. There are many subspecies mentioned and pictured on the BioLab website.  We love your photograph.

Posted 19 February 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Eastern Hercules Beetle

Rhinoceros Beetle
Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 7:28 PM
Daddy’s no bug expert, and in fact is not fond of bugs at all, but when asked by the budding naturalist what kind of bug he had found in a friend’s yard, Daddy thought this was probably a rhinoceros beetle, or something like that. Right or wrong?
Daddy
Gavin (Daddy), Caleb (Budding Naturalist) and Isaac
Memphis, TN

Eastern Hercules Beetle

Eastern Hercules Beetle

Dear Daddy, Caleb and Isaac,
This is a male Eastern Hercules Beetle, Dynastes tityus, and it is indeed one of the Rhinoceros Beetles. We haven’t received an image of this species since our site migration in September, and we are guessing this is not a recent photo as sightings generally occur during the summer months.

Oh, good :-)
Actually, we just took that photo on my iPhone the same day that I sent it to you. Caleb has the beetle in a big box right now, with plants and rocks and dirt from where he found it, and was wondering what to feed it …

Hi again Daddy Gavin,
According to the University of Kentucky Entomology Website: “The feeding habits of the adult beetles are not well-known, but they have been observed to eat rotten fruit and the bark of ash trees. ” According to BugGuide: “Adults feed on rotting fruit, sap, to some extent.” Tell Caleb to try feeding him over-ripe bananas.

Excellent! That’s what we will do. We have him in a terrarium now, and he seems to be enjoying his habitat, and is very active right now.
Gavin Anderson

Urge to Release: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Hi again Gavin,
Several of our readers have posted comments urging Caleb to release this noble male Eastern Hercules Beetle, and we are inclined to agree.  Caleb has now had several days to observe the specimen and now if released, he may be lucky enough to find a mate and perpetuate the species.

Posted 17 February 2009 § ‡ Comments (2) °

Costa Rican Dung Beetle with Phoretic Mites

digging beetle with parasites?
Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 8:06 PM
The beetle pictured is quite large and heavy. It is common during certain months in Coto Brus which is about 1100 meters altitude on the Pacific slopes of Talamanca Mts. in southern Costa Rica. This one was on its back and was apparently infested with what look like ticks. I didn’t know ticks parasitised insects. Could you please confirm both the name of the beetle and the creatures in ventral view that appear to be parasites? Third try.
Mary Thorman
highland rainforest sw Costa Rica

Dung Beetle

Dung Beetle

Hi Mary,
Thanks for your persistence. Sadly, we just don’t have time to answer all the letters that we receive. This is some type of Scarab Beetle, probably one of the Dung Beetles. The parasites are Mites. Many Mites are parasitic, but there are also Mites that use flying insects for transportation. These opportunistic Mites often nearly cover certain beetles, most notably Burying Beetles. In the case of the Burying Beetles, the Mites feed on Maggots that infest the carrion that the Burying Beetles lay their eggs upon. That is a symbiotic relationship. The Mites are transported to a new food supply, and the progeny of the Burying Beetles don’t have to compete with the Maggots for a food supply. If this is a Dung Beetle as we suspect, the mites may be using the beetle for transportation, but we suspect, because of their location, that they may be parasitic. We would really need an expert opinion on this matter.

Dung Beetle with Mites: Parasites or Passengers???

Dung Beetle with Mites: Passengers

Letter from the previous day with additional information
Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 8:14 PM parasitic arthropods on beetle
Hi, again! I thought I had sent pictures of this large beetle with what appear to be parasites infesting it. Are the smaller “bugs” on the ventral surface of the beetle ticks? They are very tiny, but . . . kind of icky. And can you help me identify the beetle. They are common during certain times of the year here in the highland rainforests of Costa Rica. They are attracted to lights at night and often bash into window with a loud “bam!” If I go outside I can collect a few to feed to my coatimundi the next day.
Mary Thorman
1100 – 1200 meters altitude, southwestern Costa Rica

Update: From Eric Eaton
Daniel:
The Costa Rican dung beetle is probably in the genus Dichotomius (we have at least one species in the U.S.). Those are indeed phoretic (hitchhiking) mites on it.
Eric

Update: Costa Rican Dung Beetle with Phoretic Mites
Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Hi Daniel:
Further to Eric’s comments, there are several species of Dichotomius in Costa Rica; D. annae appears to be a very close match. A brown coloration in the posterior portion of the striations on the elytra is characteristic of the species. This feature seems evident in Mary’s photo, although it looks confusingly like the dirt on other parts of the beetle. Regards.
Karl

Posted 07 January 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Dung Beetle from South Africa

Dung beetle
Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Photographed in the Langeberg Range in South Africa in montane fynbos ecosystem. Photo is attached
Brett
Langeberg Range in South Africa

Dung Beetle

Dung Beetle

Hi Brett,
On a good day, we have time to post a few letters before work and possibly a few more after work. We seem to keep choosing your letters because you have such great subject lines. Thanks for enlightening our readership on the appearance of a South African Dung Beetle.

Uh oh, I’m not sure how to interpret this but it sounds like you’re mad
at me and saying – gee, it’s a dung beetle. Maybe (hopefully) I’m
misreading your response. I didn’t mean to offend by submitting a number
of items at once. I’m a nature photographer and I always try to write
accurate and specific IDs for the species I photograph. There are a
number if very similar looking dung bettles here and I couldn’t figure
out what it was. Sorry if I goofed somehow. I do appreciate the help
very much.
Brett

My my no Brett.  You have misread the intent in the short response.
Seriously, when choosing letters, welook at interesting subject lines
since we can’t read them all.  Your letters have had such interesting
subject lines that wechose many of them to read and post.  As you may realize, South Africa does not have many insect sources available on the
internet, so we are unable to identify the exact species.  Please don’t
get the wrong impression. Wecould add general information on
the posting about Dung Beetles. Your submissions have been perfect with only one image per email.  You would be surprised at the number of requests we receive that just say identify our bugs with 10 different images attached.
Have a wonderful day.

Great, I get stressed out when I think people are mad at me. I do
really appreciate the help. I’ll post a gallery for you sometime of all
of the very strange insects I’ve photographed in tropical rainforests
(all are ID’ed already). I’ve got a lot of stuff that you guys would
probably find very interesting. I’ve done a lot of shooting in Costa
Rica and some in the Peruvian Amazon. I did the official photo book on
the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in Costa Rica, where I think they
estimate they have 25,000 insects. I have some crazy stuff from there.
I’m in South Africa now photographing baboons.
Thanks,
Brett

Posted 07 January 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Unknown Flower Scarabs from South Africa are Monkey Beetles

Bug orgy in yellow flower
Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 8:25 AM
I JUST MADE A DONATION
Photographed in the Langeberg Range in South Africa in montane fynbos ecosystem. Photo is attached
Brett
Langeberg Range in South Africa

Flower Scarabs

Flower Scarabs

Hi Again Brett,
Thanks for the donation. As you may realize, we are a very small operation and we cannot post nor answer every letter that is submitted to our site. We believe these are some species of Flower Scarab in the tribe Trichiini or at least in the Subfamily Cetoniinae , but we don’t have access to many guides of South African insects, so exact identification is beyond our capabilities. You can search the North American BugGuide section on Trichiini to get additional information.

Update:
Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 4:23 PM
Hi Daniel:
These look like Monkey Beetles (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Hopliini), which occur almost exclusively in South Africa. They are pollen feeders and important pollinators. Atypically for beetles, Monkey Beetles are attracted to host flowers visually, not by scent, and they have co-evolved a very close relationship with a number of plant species. Many host plants rely almost exclusively on these beetles for pollination, in some cases on a single beetle species. Host flowers are typically bright yellow, orange or red and many have ‘beetle marks’, distinctive color marks that have been shown to attract Monkey Beetles. Many species are gregarious and aggregations (as in Brett’s photo) are common. As a group, Monkey Beetles are surprisingly diverse given their limited range, and I was not able to make a more precise identification. Regards.
Karl


Posted 07 January 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Meat Ants devour Scarab Beetle in Australia

Food Chain Meat ants v Scarab beetle
Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 9:37 PM
Our Australian meat ants, Iridomyrmex purpereus, are omnivorous and quite as happy eating the flowers off my zucchinis as any hapless critter that stays still long enough. Farmers will sometimes use a nest as a disposal system for animal carcasses. A nest may have around 85000 ants and they can reduce a full size cow to just bones in about three days. Their bite does not sting but they will chomp on you if you are in their way in bare feet.. This scarab beetle, Exochogenys nigripennisare, will be little more than a snack.
aussietrev
Queensland, Australia although widespread

Meat Ants devour Scarab Beetle in Australia

Meat Ants devour Scarab Beetle in Australia

Wow Trevor,
Thanks for the exciting documentation of the Australian Meat Ants and the Scarab which you have identified as Exochogenys nigripennis.

Posted 11 December 2008 § Ants ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Unknown Scarab from Greece

weird scarabeid
Sun, Dec 7, 2008 at 8:34 AM
found in paros island,greece ,at night ,while we were eating,it was attracted by our lamps.
thanks,LEO
Paros island,greece

Unknown Scarab from Greece

Unknown Scarab from Greece

Hi Leo,
Your Scarab Beetle looks to us like it is one of the Dung Beetles in the Subfamily Scarabaeinae, but once again, we would like to hear from a specialist to confirm this and perhaps provide a genus and species.

Unknown Scarab from Greece

Unknown Scarab from Greece

Posted 08 December 2008 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Asiatic Garden Beetle

Beetle found eatting vegetation of and mating on Ailanthus altissima “Tree of Heaven” plant
Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 5:00 AM
I was studying the Ailanthus webworm this summer in Richmond Virginia, and started doing night time observations on the bug colonies of Ailanthus altissima the “Tree of Heaven” plant. I had started to notice large quantities of herbivoiry other than that of the webworm and when I started doing the night time observatioins, I found this beetle feeding and mating (while feeding it seemed) on the Tree of Heaven plant creating the herbivory patterns that I was curious about. It never fed on any of the surrounding plants, and its patterns of herbivory were seen very widespread and very distinctively around the Richmond VA area. I am very interested to see what this beetle is, because it seems like it may be a specialist to this plant which is something I am looking into. So if you could help me out, I’d really appreciate it! The picture is a little bit out of focus because of the night time (and i’m not the best photographer), but let me know what you think, this is very interesting!
Will
Richmond Virginia

Asiatic Garden Beetle

Asiatic Garden Beetle

Hi Will,
According to BugGuide, the Asiatic Garden Beetle, Maladera castanea, “Feeds at night on leaves of roses, chrysanthemums.” There is no indication that it feeds on Ailanthus leaves, but this native of Eastern temperate Asia was “Introduced and established on east coast of United States.” Then we located another website on the Ailanthus tree that indicates: “The Asiatic garden beetle (Maladera castanea) feeds on numerous plants during night flights, including ailanthus. ” We hope that you are working towards discovering a damaging agent that will eliminate the entire population of Ailanthus trees from the New World. In our opinion, the Ailanthus tree is the most important invasive exotic plant in North America, and we are waging our own campaign to obliterate the population in our rustic Mount Washington, Los Angeles hillside.

Posted 03 December 2008 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Fiddler Beetle from Australia

Yellow fiddler beetle, Victoria, Australia
Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 9:28 PM
I saw a very brightly coloured bug on my back step, and after going through your Australian bugs, I found it was a fiddler beetle. I thought it would be a good addition to your photo collection as it is bright yellow, where all the photos you have they are green. Unfortunately this is the only decent shot I managed to get.
Anthony ‘Timorg’ Cassidy
Victoria, Australia

Fiddler Beetle

Fiddler Beetle

Hi Anthony,
We know that winter is upon us in Los Angeles when the Fiddler Beetle photos from Australia start to arrive in our email inbox.  Sure enough, your letter arrived just as our first major rain storm of the season fell.

Posted 26 November 2008 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

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