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.
what’s eating this cicada? (besides the fact that it’s dead)
Hi Bugman!
Love your website, and apologies if this was already covered in a chapter. There are just SO many photos on your site I don’t know where to begin! Anyhow, I was outside when I heard a small battle being waged on my lawn, looked over, and saw this ?? (hover fly? wasp???) attacking this cicada. Next thing I knew the cicada ceased to be (it was now an ex-cicada) and the fly/wasp had dragged the cicada over to the nearest tree and started flying/climbing up the trunk. Below is my Kodak moment of this adventure. What is the fly/wasp creature, and what on earth was it doing? Thanks for your help!
Curiously Yours, Sandy in Evanston, IL
Hi Sandy,
This wasp is a Cicada Killer, and the Cicada isn’t dead, yet. The female Cicada Killer digs a burrow that is her nest and then hunts Cicadas. She stings them to paralyze them and then gets them back to her burrow. Since the Cicada is so heavy, the wasp will climb a tree to gain altitude. The paralyzed Cicada then becomes the larval food source. She will lay a single egg and the paralysis keeps the meat fresh until the egg hatches. The larva then eats the Cicada alive.
cicada killer picture
Here’s a picture of what I think is a Cicada Killer based upon the information on your website. ve never seen any cicadas (we call them locusts here); however we have about 5 or more of these cicada killers flying around our property. They seem to dig holes in the ground, pushing out the dirt into piles beside it. I photographed one this morning on our sidewalk where we live in Warren County, New Jersey. I recently found your website while doing a search for bug information on
www.google.com . Thanks for doing such a great job on your site! Take care,
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
We are very happy you found us and love your photo of a Cicada Killer.
Wasp Pictures
I realy like your website. It was posted on Cynical-C Blog. Wish I had found your site a long time ago. Attached are some pictures I took of a wasp in Katy, Tx the summer of 2003. Someone told me it is an Ichneumon. Keep up the good work.
David Pearson
Hi David,
This is not an Ichneumon. Check out our Ichneumon page to see those fascinating insects. This is a Social Paper Wasp in the genus Polistes.
Ed. Note Correction: (12/03/2005)
ID corrections, etc. I’ve just discovered your excellent site (directed there by “This is True”), and as a hymenopterist have a few comments: The “Paper Wasp” (07/29/2005) which David submitted is most certainly not a paper wasp! As he said, it is an ichneumonid – antennae with very many segments, metasomal (abdominal) segments distinctly separated, metasoma of typical ichneomonid shape, gradually broadening towards the end. I hope these comments are useful.
Denis
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Posted 29 July 2005
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More unidentified critters
I photographed one at a local park here in Southern Cal. Hoping you could help me identify them.
Thanks
Rus
Hi Rus,
You have outdone yourself with this Tarantula Hawk, Pepsis species photograph. The orange antennae are not something we are used to seeing. Curved antennae signify a female who has a powerful stinger. She uses it to paralyze tarantulas, the food for the larval wasps.
unidentified hornet?
I finally snapped a picture of one of these guys. Maybe they do only have 2 wings. I was wondering if they are nest builders or live in the ground, as I have yet to find their home. Hope this helps!
Thanks,
Brittney from NC
Hi Brittney,
The last few Cicada Killer images we have gotten were from dead insects, so we are very happy to see your specimen flying. They build underground nests stocked with paralyzed cicadas for the young to eat.
bugin me
can you ID this one please ?
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
We have been waiting for years for a photo of a Pigeon Horntail, Tremex columba, a relative of wasps and sawflies. It is found in hardwood forests of Eastern North America. The female, like your specimen, uses her ovipositor, which looks like a stinger, to deposit eggs into wood. The larvae eat fungus infected wood of elm, beech, maple, oak and other deciduous trees. The larvae live for about two years inside the wood and they often become prey to Giant Ichneumons.
don’t know what this bug is – can you help?
Hi,
I took the attached pictures on Wednesday, July 20th. When I found this bug it was just sitting on something. I didn’t see it move at all. It has wings but I didn’t see it fly. In the picture, you can see someone’s thumbnail for scale reference. I live in Burlington, Vermont if that helps to identify the bug. I haven’t ever seen anything like this before. thanks
Devon
Hi Devon,
This is a Smoky Horntail, Genus Urocerus. They are found in mixed and coniferous forests mostly in the west, but a few species are found in the east. Adults drink nectar and larvae eat wood by tunneling through the sap and heartwood.
Update: Urocerus albicornus
(08/03/2007) Corrections on some ID’s
Dear Bugman,
Today I found a very eye-catching specimen of Urocerus Albicornis, the White-horned Horntail, wandering around on a Douglas Fir in extreme NW Washington State (near Ferndale) and laying eggs. I didn’t know what it was, but I captured it in a very high-tech device (empty paper soda cup courtesy of Burger King!) and brought it home, and after doing a little web-research, found out that it was the critter mentioned above. Actually, it was your website that really helped me make the leap forward finally – I wasn’t getting very far on any of the other so-called “identification” sites. So anyway, after I verified what it was, I tried to get some more information about it, but there doesn’t appear to be very much other than a very very few pictures. Almost NO information to speak of online. However, in the course of my ferreting around I finally came back to your site, and found several other pictures of this very dapper bug. But it looks like they are mis-identified, so I wanted to let you know. In response to the posting by Devon on 7/22/05, you state that it is a “Smoky Horntail,” and in response to a posting on 7/28/07 by Peter, it was ID’d as a “Wood Wasp…might be Urocerus Albicornis.” There were also several other postings that look very much like this bug, only the wings are more rust-colored – these are ID’d as Urocerus Californicus. (9/12/06 by Annie and one other, I don’t remember the date/poster though). I do have to apologize for not taking a picture of it for you guys before I released it, it was a real beauty. I’m glad I didn’t kill it though. … Also, must say, GREAT SITE!!!! Totally fascinating, to say the least. I spent WAY more time browsing around looking at all the cool bugs than the time I needed to find out about the Horntails. Two thumbs up!
Sean in Ferndale, Washington
Cicada Killers
Bugman:
I like your web sight. I thought these pictures would be of interest to you. Hope you can open them up. My gut feeling is that these insects have no compassion for anything. I find this disturbing. But they sure look cool. Talk about aliens (they certainly are among us!) These Cicada killers are real territorial. I’ve seen them chase away moths and Birds in a figure 8 pattern. Can’t seem to stop them. Can we expect more next Summer? Is the venom in these wasps strong enough to really send a person to the hospital? Kindest regards,
-JT
WOW JT,
Thanks for sending in probably the best photo of the year. It looks like it was shot in a studio. However did you get them to pose? Regarding compassion, I’m not entirely sure any insects have it, but the Cicada Killer is showing maternal devotion. She is protecting her nest. That might be akin to compassion. I’m sure the sting is painful, and might send a sensitive person, or surely one with allergic reactions, to the hospital. Again, thanks for the great letter and awesome photo.
Thanks Daniel. The Cicada in that picture was actually still moving very slowly. The Wasp had long gone met it’s maker. I can’t say insects and me have been on good terms, though I respect their right to exist on this planet as much as the next creature.
Horntail or not?
Hi
My mother and her friend at work, caught this after much hysteria (apparently) thinking it was a wasp. We’re in Norfolk in the UK and it looks like, on your site, someone else has found one in the same area. It is about 3 – 4 inches long. Is it a Horntail? I’ve looked around the web and the pictures I’ve found of Horntails have different coloured eyes and abdomens to this, although they share a lot of other similarities. Also any idea whether it would sting? Thanks in advance!
Stuart Millins
Hi Stuart,
This is virtually identical to the insect we received two days ago that we identified as a Horntail. One of our American Species, the Pigeon Horntail, Tremex columba, looks very similar except for the coloration. They do not sting. The female uses the stingerlike ovipositor to deposit eggs under the bark of trees where the young larvae bore into the wood. A websearch of Tremex and Britain might turn up a photo. Please let us know.
Ed. Note: Additional searching turned up information on the Great Wood Wasp, Uroceras gigas as well as this illustration, which seems to positively identify this British Horntail.
Beautiful Six Legged Bug….What is it????
Can anyone tell me just what kind of bug this is? I live just north of Dallas, Texas and found several of these bugs in my yard yesterday July19, 2005. It has six legs and is covered in a beautiful orange to crimson red and black velvet, It almost looks like a large ant. I have never seen this bug before……please respond.
Peter
Hi Peter,
Our site has a brand new search engine and we would just love it if people would use it. Typing in your key words, like velvet, should have led you directly to where you wanted to go, the Velvet Ant page. Your Velvet Ant, Dasymutilla occidentalis, is sometimes called a Cow Killer, no doubt because the sting of this flightless female wasp is quite painful.
Question
I know these pictures are not the greatest but it’s the best I could do at the time. This is what I know to date: I live in Detroit, MI. I have seen about 5 of these in our area. I have lived in MI my entire life 45 years and in this house location for 10 years and I have never seen one of these bugs or their tunnels in the area. They tunnel in the dirt that is between the sidewalk and the grass. Their tunnels seem to always be on a 45 degree angle through the dirt. They mound the dirt up outside the tunnel, it’s a huge mound about as big as my shoe. Could you please help in identifying this creature? Thanks for your help.
Byron E. Freshwater
Hi Byron,
I hope this Cicada Killer met a death by natural causes. The Cicada Killer, Sphecius speciosus, is a large solitary wasp. A female digs a burrow and provisions it with cicadas. The cicadas are often larger than the Cicada Killer. She stings the cicada oftne in a tree, and then flies down toward her nest while carrying the large cicada. If she does not reach the burrow, she climbs another tree lugging the cicada and then attemps again to fly to the burrow. The cicada is only paralyzed by the wasp and once the cicada is buried an egg is layed. When the larva hatches, it feeds on the still living cicada, a source of fresh meat. I would guess that an unusually large population of cicadas in your area this year is also responsible for the increased numbers of Cicada Killers.
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