Pigeon Horntail Photos!
Me again, (Cindy from Ajax, ON). Here’s my last email to you guys. The reason I originally checked out your site was to identify this creepy looking wasp that was crawling up the brickwork of the front of our house. Now that I know it’s a pigeon horntail, and that you had a hard time of getting pictures – here you go! Two of the pics aren’t in great focus, sorry. But one is good. I was kinda afraid of it and didn’t take the time to set up the macro feature on my camera. I’m curious, do these things sting or bite humans? Also, by the description on your site, it appears to me this is a female. One of the pics looks like she’s trying to lay her young in the brickwork. I don’t live near a forested area, but do live in northeast America. Would just north of Lake Ontario be an area where these are typically found? I’ve never seen something like it before. Lastly, is September a common breeding time for them? I took this last year in September & noticed the person who sent you a picture recently took it last month, September, as well.
Again, really cool site.
Cindy
Ajax, ON CANADA (just east of Toronto)

Hi Cindy,
Our DSL signal went dead the day before you wrote and we just regained it yesterday. We are working overtime to post some of the mail that came in during that week (477 letters). Pigeon Horntails do not sting. We don’t know for sure what the breeding season is. Thanks for the image.

Here’s another for ya!
I ran into this on the same hiking trip… Never saw it before and my ID books are at school. Can ya help? Thanks
cg

Hi Chad,
Nice Pigeon Horntail, Tremex columba, image. We can’t wait to post your mating Walkingsticks as soon as we properly identify the species. Where were these images taken?

Apple green caterpillar with yellow dorsal and black spinacles
Hi,
I live in Milan and have a rose creeper on my balcony that has recently become the home for 25+ caterpillars. I have been searching around but I have yet to find out what they are. Your site’s excellent and seems to have everything so I’ve probably just missed it somewhere. Please could you take a look and let me know what you think they might be?
Many thanks!
Lucy

Hi Lucy,
These are not caterpillars which metamorphose into butterflies or moths. These are wasp relatives known as Sawflies. Sorry, can’t tell you the species.

Caterpillar identification (hopefuilly!)
Hi!
I was digging around hoping that I could ID these guys. I am in upstate, NY (finger lakes) and this was taken Sept 13, 2005. They were happily munching on some Pignut Hickory leaves until I disturbed them, and then their butts went up in the air. I tried touching them with a stick, and they have an amazingly strong ability to push on the stick and act quite aggressively. I have never seen these before, and am hoping for an ID. Thinking of going back there and gathering a couple to wee what they become. Probably a dull, grey moth.
Thanks!
Mark Wyman

Hi Mark,
Sorry for the delay. This one was tough. These are not caterpillars, but the larva of a wasp relative known as a Sawfly. We actually found it while researching a spider wasp after our caterpillar searching turned up nothing. It appears to be Croesus latitarsus, or something very closely related. We located a link on BugGuide that says they raise their bodies to defend themselves.

Wasp??
Dear Bugman,
You have a great site. Wish I had found it years ago… I live in eastern Colorado and have never seen wasps like this before. I found two, very large wasps(?) on the ground at the base of a dead tree. One flew off, slowly circled and landed on the same tree and began crawling down, dragging and jabbing it’s "tail/stinger" along the bark. Is it laying eggs? Searching out insects? The other wasp was dead- It has a body length of 1 3/8" (it was the smaller of the two wasps) with 1/4" antenna and tail/stinger. It has the yellow and black stripes on its abdomen. It doesn’t have the common thin wasp waist. I hope you can tell me what these are? It was great fun to watch and photograph. Thank you so much for your time and attention,
CC

Hi CC,
This is a Horntail in the Family Siricidae. The most commonly depicted species is the Pigeon Horntail, Tremex columba, but your specimen is marked differently. We are relatively sure it is the genus Tremex, but are unsure of the species. Horntails are related to wasps but do not sting. That stinger-like ovipositor is used to deposit eggs under bark so the wood boring larvae will have a food source.

Ed. Note: We later contacted Eric Eaton who wrote back: “It IS Tremex columba. The book “Bagging Big Bugs” lists it for the Rocky Mountain states, and the image in there matches yours perfectly. “

Mystery Bug
Hello,
This bug drilled a perfect hole in the ceiling of our newly refinished basement, any ideas? It was found dead under the hole covered in sheetrock dust. Any clues to solve this mystery would be appreciated.
Greg Martin

Hi Greg,
Your Horntail species did not drill a hole into the ceiling, but rather bored out of the ceiling. The larvae are wood borers. Our guess is the wood used in the refinishing was infested, hopefully with a single larva, and when it matured, it drilled its way out.