Subject: unknown bug
Location: Southern Pennsylvania
October 13, 2012 6:19 pm
I had this bug, and was going to use it for an insect project due at school, but know one could figure out what it was. I thought it was a bee at first, but then I saw that it had two sets of wings. the head and thorax look good but the abdomen is crazy.
Signature: cary

Pigeon Horntail

Hi cary,
Normally we don’t respond to desperate pleas for assistance from students and their parents when they need identifications immediately, but your question has some very astute deductions.  This is a Pigeon Horntail, and it is in the same insect order as bees, Hymenoptera, which includes wasps and ants as well as sawflies, wood wasps and parasitoid Hymenoptera.  This female Pigeon Horntail is a Wood Wasp and she is a female.  She uses the stingerlike ovipositor at the end of her abdomen to deposit eggs into dead and dying hardwood.

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Subject: Pine grub of some sort
Location: western NC
October 11, 2012 7:05 pm
Hello! I found these little fellows munching on a lil pine tree…. Have since collected them and sent them out in the woods, to munch on pines a bit further away from the house. (or for other animals to munch on, perhaps)
I am assuming they’re grubs, because they don’t have feet all the way down like ’pillers do…just a few at the front and a couple at the back end.
I realize bugs serve a purpose, but I’m wondering…should I have squished these? I hate killing anything, even the harmful bugs.
Signature: not a bug hater

Possibly Pine Sawfly Larvae

Dear not a bug hater,
We cannot be certain because there is not enough detail in your photograph, but we believe these are Sawfly Larvae, possibly the Introduced Pine Sawfly, Diprion similis, which you can find pictured on BugGuide.  Here is a remark from BugGuide:  “Introduced from Europe: first reported in North America in 1914, in Connecticut. Although a serious pest at times, it normally stunts rather than kills its hosts. It can be a more serious problem with young trees and in cases such as Christmas trees where appearance is important. It has natural enemies and diseases, so large outbreaks are only intermittently seen.”

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Subject: HELP!!!
Location: Western Sydney Australia
September 28, 2012 4:26 pm
Hi Bugman, I found groups of these what appear to be caterpillars that seem to have fallen out of a tree onto a driveway at a group of factories – they seem to be working together to move across the driveway, but I’m concerned for their wellbeing, especially that they may be squished by a car…
Signature: Yo, Dumbo

Spitfires

Dear Yo, Dumbo,
Though they are often mistaken for caterpillars, these are the larvae of Sawflies, members of the insect order that contains wasps and bees.  In Australia, the larvae of Sawflies in the family Pergidae are commonly called Spitfires.  You can compare your photo to the ones posted on the Brisbane Insect website.

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Subject: wasp in redwood
Location: Sonoma County, CA
September 23, 2012 10:25 pm
Howdy Bugman,
I run a small bandsaw mill unprofessionally and am current building a small house with it. I’m working on siding now out of a redwood that I dropped a year and a half ago and I kept running into these half pupated whatsits with creepy long legs. I thought they were Old House Borers but their legs looked too long for a beetles and also adding to the trouble was I kept beheading them with the saw which I’m sure you understand makes identification difficult. Finally uncovered this rather large metallic looking wasp that I miraculously missed with the saw. I dug it out and it sluggishly wandered around and I took a not so clear picture. I thought about killing it but if I spend a few minutes with an insect or arachnid even if they give me the heeby jeebies I feel bad and put them somewhere out of harms way. In this case I stuck it over on the scary old circular mill with removeable teeth. A little while later I saw it flying around and busily landing on things. Sin ce fall is fast approaching is this guy (gal?) going to make it or was it planning on overwintering in my siding?
Signature: best to all, Erik

Wood Wasp

Hi Erik,
This is some species of Wood Wasp or Horntail in the family Siricidae, and since you found it in redwood and redwood is a conifer, it is most likely in the subfamily Siricinae.  There are only two genera listed on BugGuide, and we are having a problem identifying this to the species level.  We will try sending the image to Eric Eaton to see if he can provide anything more specific.  Your letter was filled with helpful information on the habits of Wood Wasps and Horntails.  We also located this very informative posting from the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis.

Eric Eaton Responds with some surprising news
Daniel:
This really is a great story.  Ok, from what I can gather, the only species of horntail known to infest redwoods in California is Sirex areolatus, and I reach that conclusion with the help of a very recent online reference:
http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/technology/pdfs/GuideSiricidWoodwasps.pdf
Still, the ovipositor in this female specimen is very long.  I’d like to forward this e-mail to two of the authors of the above paper, whom I know from prior correspondence.  There is always the possibility I’m wrong, or that this is a new species, or an introduced species from elsewhere….
Lastly, with Erik’s permission, I’d like to use his image and story in a blog post about this species.  I’d need his last name to assign proper credit, of course.
Eric

Hi,
Thank you so much for the identification I am fascinated by just about everything and enjoy learning more about my neck of the woods. Not actually my neck of the woods but I work there and that’s close enough. Just to be clear, I only thought about killing it because I was afraid it would generate future generations of wasps in my lumber. However upon reading that UC Davis article I understand they don’t infest or re-infest finished structures. This will learn me to get my butt in gear when I cut trees! Quite a spectacular wasp I’m glad I can say I didn’t kill it.
Thanks again,
Right, as for Eric’s request yes by all means. If it’s any more help, the larvae were found only in the sapwood of the redwood while the pupating ones and the adult were just in the surface of heartwood.
Best to all,
Erik Dolgushkin

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Subject: what is it?
Location: wirral, UK
August 19, 2012 6:06 pm
just trying to ID this?
Signature: ian

Lesser Willow Sawfly Larvae

Hi ian,
These are Sawfly Larvae and we found a photo on FlickR that looks identical that identified them as Lesser Willow Sawfly Larvae, Nematus pavidus.  We verified that ID on BioLib as well as on Naturespot UK.

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Subject: Resend Please?
Location: Western North Carolina (outside Asheville)
August 4, 2012 9:50 am
I recently asked you about a bug identification of the attached photo. I just accidentally deleted your message (which was in my spam folder), and as it turns out, there’s no way to get it back. I didn’t even get to read the message. (Note to self: Drink more coffee before trying to do email in the morning.) Can you please resend your response? Thank you so much, and my deepest apologies for my morning-brain stupidity!
Signature: Starlie

Birch Sawfly

Hi Starlie,
We cannot recall if there was additional information in your original email.  This is a Birch Sawfly Larva, Arge pectoralis, and we fear it is not well.  There is an unusual constriction in the body that makes us suspect that this individual might have fallen prey to a Tachinid or Chalcid or some other parasitoid that has laid her egg on the Sawfly which now has an internal parasite eating away at its internal organs.  Or, it might be that your aerial perspective shot shows the typical curve of the body with the terminal abdominal segments appearing to create a constriction.  You can refer to this BugGuide image as well as the BugGuide information page for more details on the Birch Sawfly.

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