cave invertebrates
Location: Lanao del Norte, Philippines
November 15, 2010 1:12 am
i would like to ask a help to identify these specimen. i collected these invertebrates from the cave in the Philippines. i find it hard to identify them because i have no standard taxonomic keys and other references. Please kindly help me because they are needed to be identify for my thesis. I hope for your help, as soon as possible. Thank you for your consideration.
Signature: immediately
Snails from the Philippines
Dear immediately,
We do not recognize your snails.
3
Cephalopod like Door Creature
Location: Richmond, Virginia, USA
October 20, 2010 7:55 am
On October 18 at about 8 pm I found this creature attached to the outside of the glass on my back door. Although I never saw it move after a 2 hour period it had changed position from the bottom right to about the middle left of the door window. It is slightly bigger than a 5-cent nickel.
After taking the pictures I put it in a small votive glass with a piece of cardboard, secured with rubber bands, on top. That left a less than 1/8 inch gap on one side of the glass jar which is much less than the width of the creature. I placed it outside my garage door at 11 pm and went to bed. I checked on it at 8:30 am the next morning and it was still in the same position in the jar. Checking again 3 hours later and it was gone apparently having slid through the 1/8 inch gap. I have not seen it since.
Signature: Bob from Richmond
Monkey Slug
Hi Bob,
This interesting creature is the caterpillar of the Hag Moth and is called a Monkey Slug. It should be handled with caution as it is a stinging caterpillar.
¶ Posted 20 October 2010 § ‡ ° Insects
Location: Orlando, Fl
October 13, 2010 3:22 pm
Dear Bugman, I was out by the lake taking pictures, when I spotted this little guy. I’ve lived in Fl all my life, where weird bugs are the norm. But I have never seen anything like it before. Could you please tell me what type of insect this is? Thanks, I appreciate your help!
Signature: Sincerely, Karen V
Monkey Slug
Hi Karen,
This is a Monkey Slug Caterpillar, but it looks quite different from other Monkey Slugs on our website, and we believe that this is because it is an earlier instar. We did find a matching image on BugGuide.
¶ Posted 13 October 2010 § ‡ ° Trilobite Beetle!
Location: Pulau Tioman, Malaysia
July 31, 2010 9:22 am
Just back from Pulau Tioman in Malaysia. Saw some reasonably strange critters, including this trilobite beetle.
You might also like this land planarian.
Bert
Land Planarium
HI again Bert,
We really appreciate you sending us your excellent image of an Asian Land Planarium.
¶ Posted 31 July 2010 § ‡ ° Spotted Leopard Slugs Mating
April 21, 2010
Hi WTB!
I snapped these photos of a pair of what I think are Spotted Leopard Slugs doing the wild thing hanging from a thick strand of slime attached to the side of my house. At one point, there were two males trying to get to the female, but one fell off. This was the end result. A gooey sky blue slime wad. I never knew slugs mated like that! I thought maybe you could use this for your site.
Keep up the great work! I slug-love What’s That Bug!
Rebecca White
Charlotte, NC
Spotted Leopard Slugs Mating
Dear Rebecca,
The mating positions of these hermaphroditic Spotted Leopard Slugs is positively salacious. All slugs are hermaphrodites, so you are mistaken in believing that the third member in the encounter was a male. The close-up photograph you included is quite graphic, and viewers should exercise caution before reading more. Several years ago we posted a photo of Spotted Leopard Slugs mating and that letter sparked quite a controversy. You can read about it on our archive.
Spotted Leopard Slugs Mating
¶ Posted 21 April 2010 § ‡ ° Tagged: bug love Photo of slug with eyes showing
August 14, 2009
Hi Folks –
I love your site and thought you might enjoy this photo of a leopard slug in which I can even see the eyes! I found him/her in the undergrowth of my garden outside of Philadelphia, PA in August, where we’ve been having an incredibly wet summer.
Thanks for your good work!
Betsy
Merion Station, PA
Leopard Slug
Hi Betsy,
Thanks for sending us your photo of a Leopard Slug, Limax maximus, a species introduced to North America from Europe. Eyesight in Leopard Slugs is quite limited, as the primitive eyes at the stalks of the tentacles are sensitive to light and dark, but not much else. We found a nice Leopard Slug page with basic information, and the Bottlebrush Slug Page created by James K. Sayre has left us with a new appreciation for these lower beasts that proliferate in our garden and eat tender young plants.
¶ Posted 17 August 2009 § ‡ ° Banana Slugs
Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 7:23 PM
Here are a few pictures of banana slugs. The first picture is of a spotted banana slug…I have no idea why some are spotted and others aren’t, just different species? The second picture shows how big they can get. And in the third picture I was lucky enough to come upon the banana slug as it was devouring a flower petal. One of the weirder things I’ve seen, as it ate it extremely fast- but not the best picture. Enjoy!
katebell
Northern California
Banana Slug
Dear katebell,
Thanks so much for sending in these photos of Banana Slugs, Ariolimax columbianus, in such a timely manner. According to the Pacific Natural History Projects website: “The Banana Slug can grow up to 12 inches (26 centimeters) and is the world’s second largest slug. … The coloration of the Banana Slug may be a bright yellow, slate-green, or white with or without black spots. “ Further in the website, it is indicated that: “During mating season, the slime contains a chemical, which entices other slugs to follow.
Slugs are hermaphroditic which means they have both male and female reproductive organs. Normally, slugs trade sperm with other slugs, but can fertilize their own eggs. They may lay 12 to 100 eggs at a time and up to 50 to 150 eggs each year. The eggs are pearl-like in color and about the size of a person’s pinky fingernail. The eggs are laid in clusters under logs, rocks, and in the soil. Eggs are laid in the early spring, late summer and early fall. Most adults die after laying eggs. The eggs laid in the late summer or early fall may not hatch until spring. It takes three to four weeks for the eggs to hatch.
Slugs may feast upon a variety of plants as well as fungi and decomposing vegetative matter. The slugs use their radula to scrape food off the source. The slugs may be preyed upon by garter snakes, ducks, geese, shrews, moles, beetles, crows, and salamanders. Raccoons have a trick to deal with the slime. They will roll the slug in dirt to coat the slime.
Slugs have a pair of tentacles which they use to gather information about their environment. The pair of tentacles located on the top of the head has a small black spot at each tip. These tentacles are used to detect lightness and darkness. Slugs prefer dark and moist areas. The second pair of tentacles is located at the lower anterior end and functions as a nose. These tentacles pick up chemical smells especially during mating season. Most of the food sources are located by using both pairs of tentacles. ”
Banana Slug
¶ Posted 06 July 2009 § ‡ ° Hard shell purple bug at the coast of Puerto Rico
Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 7:12 PM
I was staying at a hotel on the east coast of the island of Puerto Rico and went to the shore to look at the ocean at around midday. This thing was purple, had a hard shell, did not move at all, about 5 inches long and 3 inches wide. It was withing the rocks. This was in summer 2006.
Melyssa
East coast of Puerto Rico
Chiton
Dear Melyssa,
The creature in your photograph is a Chiton. Chitons are primitive marine molluscs that have shells composed of 8 plates. The shells provide protection against waves which enable Chitons to survive on stormy rocky coasts. Chitons are sometimes called Sea Cradles.
Comment:
Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 5:58 AM
Hi Daniel, Ah, another mollusk! This is Acanthopleura granulata (Gmelin, 1791), the West Indian fuzzy chiton. The shell plates of this chiton are actually brownish and are usually very eroded. The pink/purple color on this one is due to a layer of encrusting calcareous red algae. For more info see the Wikipedia article (which I put together.) Best wishes to you,
Susan J. Hewitt
Comment Update:
Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 4:43 AM
I wanted to add:
1. That these chitons do move around, but only at night, grazing on microscopic algae which grows on the rock surface. Each one returns to its same spot on the rock at the end of the night.
2. That the maximum size of this species is about 3 inches in length.
3. There is a really excellent book on the chitons of P.R. called “Los Quitones de Puerto Rico” by Cedar I. Garcia Rios.
Susan Hewitt
¶ Posted 27 February 2009 § ‡ ° 
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