Yellow, black, orange beetle?
September 11, 2009
Hi,
I am a photographer here in Eastern PA, I go to different National Parks here to photograph insects and others. I found this fellow hanging on a leaf in the dense Nolde Forest here in Reading, PA. After looking online I still can not identify this bug/beetle? Where I found him is was damp and in dense forest. Any ideas?
Monique Francescon
Nolde Forest/ Reading, PA
Immature Green Stink Bug
HI Monique,
We spent a bit of time searching through images on BugGuide, but we are confident we have identified your insect as Acrosternum hilare. Interestingly, you may find it hard to believe that the common name is the Green Stink Bug. This is an immature specimen and the coloration is quite variable. BugGuide also has this disclaimer: “This is our best interpretation of the BugGuide images based upon Herb Pilcher’s images above. The variation in these images may be because the species is very variable, or it may be that we have images of several different species of Acrosternum here. We put these images on both the genus and the A. hilare species pages since, as a number of people have commented, it is not clear that we yet know how to tell the different Acrosternum species apart.”
Hi!
Thank you for your prompt response! Using the name of the bug you gave me, I looked it up and it appears to be a green stink bug nymph…Very cool and thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated.
Monique Francescon
Bug identification and eradication question (addendum)
September 10, 2009
What is this bug, what destruction does it cause, and how do I eradicate it from my garden in a way that doesn’t negatively affect my vegetable/flower garden? Thanks! Forget to tell you that I took this picture a few days ago (9/6/09).
Jane
Loma Linda, CA
African Painted Bugs
Hi Jane,
We encountered this very same invasive exotic insect on our own Collard Greens and Kale this summer in our Mount Washington, Los Angeles garden. At that time, we identified it as the Painted Bug, Bagrada hilaris, an African Stink Bug that has been reported in California since 2008. Then we explained that we had no ethical problem killing invasive exotic insects that devour our food. We had squashed the few specimens we found, but as we got busy, the population got out of control. We eventually found hundreds on our plants and we had to rip out the kale and Collard Greens. The next time we plant vegetables from the cabbage family, we are going to be extremely vigilant to keep the population down to a minimum. We don’t like to spray our food with pesticide, so we prefer to hand pick offensive species. Since African Painted Bugs are Stink Bugs that suck juices from plants, when they are quite plentiful, they might kill the plant. If there are no known predators, the African Painted Bugs might become a very serious agricultural pest in California.
Wheel Bugs mating
September 10, 2009
Just found these and searched for over an hour to find out what they are! I’m happy to say they’re beneficial in my yard, and thankfully I’m not a bug killer in the 1st place unless necessary. Would you like to add the photos to your collection? My 5 year old son is fascinated by them. Thanks for a great web site, its our go to for our bug questions.
Cara Bauer
St. Louis, Missouri
Mating Wheel Bugs
Hi Cara,
We love the interesting angles on your photos of mating Wheel Bugs.
Mating Wheel Bugs
13mm, green, armored tank/assassin bug-like body, with mantid forelimbs and a turtle head.
August 26, 2009
Hello again Bugman!,
Love your site.
I was looking over a stand of ragweed today, admiring all the activity, when I noticed there was a dead fly on one flowerheads, so I began looking deeper, in between the flowers, for a crab spider or something like that…and found this instead. It was scrunched down between flowertops as if lying in ambush. When I spread the flowers apart, it came walking out and stepped right up onto my finger. Didn’t seem to mind me photoing it numerous times, and even let me move it to the B-B-Q grill for better contrast. It only flied away when I tried to move it back to the ragweed. It’s about the same length as my fingernail (included for scale). I’ve never seen one of these before, but it does bear strong resemblance to the assassin bugs, except for it’s head, which is entirely different, looking more like a sea turtle from a Pixar movie. It has forelimbs like a mantid, or possibly a tiny cicada. It was also pretty hard to the touch like a stinkbug, and kind of weighty for it’s t iny size.
Mostly translucent green with a dark band across it’s abdomen, and a hard bony shell of a thorax which has a couple of knobs that protrude forward and up much higher than it’s head.
In a word, handsome.
Thanks much, Jeff Volpert
Topeka, Kansas, USA
Ambush Bug
Hi Jeff,
It would seem that Ambush Bug is an apt common name for your insect based on your letter. Recently Ambush Bugs have been downgraded from a family to becoming a subfamily status of the Assassin Bugs, Phymatinae. Your specimen is one of the Jagged Ambush Bugs in the genus Phymata.
Similar to a Walkingstick
August 23, 2009
This looks like a walking stick but its legs are too close together. It was found in lake wicwas in meredith NH. When placed on shore it walked back to the lake where it held to a rock on the shoreline just under water. Seen at 1:15 pm on August 22, 2009.
Wicwas Bugs
Meredith NH
Water Scorpion
Dear Wicwas Bugs,
This is a Water Scorpion, and it gets its name from the painful bite. Though Water Scorpions do not routinely bite humans, if they are carelessly handled, they do not hesitate. Your specimen is not mature yet as evidenced by its incompletely developed wings. Though aquatic, adult Water Scorpions fly quite well.
Slow Moving, Non-Flying Bug at Hummingbird Feeder
August 14, 2009
Hi! Thanks so much for this site! It’s fabulous!
This insect appeared at a hummingbird feeder and seems to have a probiscus. It was challenged by a hummingbird whilst at the feeding station and lifted up its two front arms but tucked its head and probiscus under. It appears very gentle, moves VERY slowly and likes to drink sugar water. When not feeding, it perches on the top of the feeder, hanging off the sides. It doesn’t seem to mind direct sunlight. It also appears to have bilateral eyes at the tip of an eye stalk. The probiscus curls under, like an elephant trunk. What on earth is this?
Curious Patricia
Bowling Green, OH (NW Ohio)
Wheel Bug
Dear Curious Patricia,
We love your backlit photo of a Wheel Bug.
I finnally got a chance to see one in REAL LIFE!
August 13, 2009
I never thought I’d ever actually get the chance to see a wheel bug, but I finally did get my chance! How Cool! They are smaller than I pictured. I was in Lake Ozark, MO. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE, ( including on the inside of some muscle-mans shirt. ) ( he freaked out and killed one! I wasn’t happy about that, but my mouth is too big for CPR! ; P
Sherri
Lake Ozark, MO
Wheel Bug
Hi Sherri,
We are thrilled to hear that a Wheel Bug sighting made such a big impression on you. Your muscle man story reminds us of the old header we had on our Unnecessary Carnage page when we used Dreamweaver to post information to our website, prior to our site migration. We are working with our web master to get this introduction as a header on the Unnecessary Carnage page once again. Here it is.
Insects are prone to unnecessary slaughter, be it from an overzealous homemaker who doesn’t want to see bugs, or from a strapping he-man who is a closet arachnophobe, or from a youngster who likes to torture. At any rate, we get a goodly amount of photos of poor arthropods whose lives ended prematurely. In an effort to educate, we present Unnecessary Carnage. This page is not intended for the squeamish.
Banasa Stink Bug
August 11, 2009
I found this stink bug on my porch in upstate NY (near Albany) in late June. I identified it through bugguide.net as Banasa Dimiata, a species of stink bug. I hadn’t seen this species on your site in a few years, so I thought you might like the picture!
Naomi
Albany, NY
Stink Bug: Banasa dimiata
Hi Naomi,
Thanks for sending us your excellent photo of Banasa dimiata, a Stink Bug represented on BugGuide.
Big red Bug.
August 8, 2009
Can you tell me what this is?
Patrick Robinson
Statesville, NC
Wheel Bug Metamorphosis
Hi Patrick
Your newly metamorphosed Wheel Bug will turn black or dark gray when its exoskeleton hardens. The colors of your photograph are quite striking.
Green Water Beetle?
August 9, 2009
Every year at my cottage me and my friends put together a small aquarium of insects and other animals that we find in our lake. This year we were surprised to catch something none of us had ever seen before. We thought at first that it was a baby Giant Water Beetle, but later on in the trip we caught another one identical to the first in an entirely different part of the lake. This lead us to believe that it was probably something different. I took some pretty good pictures of them before they were released and I was hoping you might be able to help us figure out what they were.
Max
Southern Ontario
Immature Giant Water Bug with Mite
Dear Max,
This is a Giant Water Bug in the genus Belostoma, and it is an immature specimen. Mature specimens have wings and can fly. Most Giant Water Bug images we receive are the much larger members of the genus Lethocerus. Your one image shows an orange speck on the right hind leg that appears to be a mite.
Immature Giant Water Bug
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