More Bug Love
February 21, 2010
Hi, WTB,
Thanks for the nice words about the very recent Cactus Longhorn Beetle photo.
Seeking ID help, please, for this pair of grasshoppers from late September in the foothills of the Santa Rita Moutains in southern Arizona at about 4,400 ft. These are plentiful from mid- to late summer.
Denny Schreffler
Mating Spur Throated Grasshoppers
Hi again Denny,
Another gorgeous photograph. At first we thought these might be mating Lubber Grasshoppers in the family Romaleidae. Many members of the family are large Grasshoppers with bright coloration and BugGuide does not picture anything quite like your specimens, though the Plains Lubber Grasshopper, Brachystola magna, looks similar. We wonder if perhaps it might be a species of Lubber Grasshopper that is mentioned on BugGuide, but not pictured, Spaniacris deserticola. According to information we unearthed on the internet, it is found in Mexico and Arizona, but alas, we cannot find any photos. Perhaps an expert will be able to provide us with additional information. As we continued to try to identify this gorgeous pair, we found a website on the Studies in nearctic desert sand dune Orthoptera that contained this information: “Four decades of the author’s records indicate that Spaniacris deserticola (Bruner) is confined within the periphery of the Colorado Desert. It is usually found, near or within a few hundred feet of sea level, marking the shore line of ancient Lake Cahuilla (except for the Dale Lake record). The preferred host plant is Coldenia palmeri growing on the lower fringes of bajadas, with C. plicata on drift sand being second in preference. Spaniacris can tolerate sand and rock temperatures of 60 C. (believed to be a maximum for Colorado Desert life). Mating takes place at that and lower temperatures. When they are disturbed while on the tops of host plants, their flight is low and direct and of short duration, and they come to rest on the torrid soil for long periods of time. The female, much larger than the male, can sustain the male in flight while mating. The study verified spatial longevity of Spaniacris at Indio, California, after approximately 70 years and for the Kane Springs area after 52 years.“ That suggests that Spaniacris deserticola has developed wings, and that does not appear to be the case with your pair, which inclines us to believe that is not a correct identification. We now believe they are probably Spur Throated Grasshoppers in the subfamily Melanoplinae which includes the gorgeous Painted Grasshopper that also has undeveloped wings in the adult for. The bottom line on this is that we need professional assistance.
Eric Eaton writes back
Daniel:
Anyway, the pair of grasshoppers are Barytettix humphreysii cochisei, and the subspecies is in Bugguide already….They are in the spur-throated grasshopper subfamily Melanoplinae in the family Acrididae. Neither gender has functional wings as adults.
More information, images here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/171279
Thanks for giving me a sneak peek at this great image!
Eric
LITTLE TINY BROWN BUGS
February 21, 2010
bugs are found in our laundry room most commonly. found more feeding on the dog treats in the cupboard. they were boring holes in the food. clinging to the towl in the cupboard. most of them are crawling up walls towward the white ceiling and light
Pat
columbus ohio
probably Drugstore Beetle
Hi Pat,
Numerous small beetles infest stored food products, and the Kendall Research website pictures many of them. Your photo is not ideal for conclusive identification, but we believe this is most probably a Drugstore Beetle, Stegobium paniceum. The West Virginia University extension website has a good pdf document on the Drugstore Beetle, and you may also view BugGuide for more photos and descriptions.
Thank you for your help. I think you are correct and as soon as I can further inspect a bug I will know for sure. Thanks again. Pat
St. Andrew’s Cross Spider from Australia
February 21, 2010
Hi again, I thought of checking out how many posts you’ve got on St. Andrew’s Cross Spiders, and was surprised to see only one (from Singapore). They are very common at our place, so I thought of taking some fresh photos of them for your site, but came across another spider that I haven’t seen before here, and took photos of it. So, I’m sending you a couple of older images that I’ve taken of the St. Andrews. Hope you can use them.
Ridou Ridou
Sydney Australia
St. Andrew's Cross Spider
Hi Ridou,
Thanks for the excellent images. We believe we had additional images of St. Andrew’s Cross Spiders, Argiope keyserlingi, and they might have gotten lost when we did a website migration last year. We may check our old computer for the posts. The Brisbane Insect website has nice images and helpful information on this species.
St. Andrew's Cross Spider
A sizable new spider at our backyard.
February 21, 2010
Hi Bugman, here are a couple of photos of a species of spiders I don’t remember seeing at our Sydney backyard before. Would you be able to id it, please.
Ridou Ridou
Sydney Australia
Golden Silk Spider
Goodness gracious Ridou, you are keeping us busy,
This beauty is a female Golden Silk Spider in the genus Nephila. There are numerous species in Australia, and we are not certain exactly what species this is. The Spiders of Australia website has several identified and unidentified members of the genus. We believe this might be Nephila ornata based on images posted on the Nature Stuff website.
Golden Silk Spider
The Brisbane Insect website has nice images of several other members in the genus.
Golden Silk Spider
Unknown egg cases – help Bugman
February 21, 2010
My daughter and I discovered this array of egg cases on the underside of a branch today, February 21st. The entire array measures maybe 3/4 x 3/4 inch. They are stuck to the branch by a mass of black goo.
Curious in NC
Central North Carolina
Wheel Bug Eggs
Dear Curious,
These are the eggs of a Wheel Bug, Arilus cristatus, the largest Assassin Bug in North America. Wheel Bugs are beneficial predators that will help control the population of many plant eating insects in your garden. BugGuide has an image of the hatching eggs for an idea what the hatchlings will look like.
Wheel Bug Eggs
Thanks so much for the quick reply. We are overrun with wheel bugs here and know them well but never knew what the eggs looked like. My daughter is watching them daily in hopes of catching them hatching.
We really enjoy the site, thanks for taking the time.
Regards,
Bill
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Posted 21 February 2010
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Eggs
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Green, large Moth.
February 21, 2010
This thing careened into my kitchen last night and started laying eggs. It’s about 5 inches in length. The photos are a better description than I could ever give.
Nina
Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand
Puriri Moth
Hi Nina,
Though there is considerable variation in the markings based on photographs online, we are confident that this is the Puriri Moth or Ghost Moth, Aenetus virescens. There are many Maori names for the largest moth native to New Zealand, and found only on the North Island. These names include pepe tuna, mokoroa, ngutara and pungoungou according to the Insects and Spiders of New Zealand website which includes the following facts: “is the largest moth in Aotearoa / New Zealand, and is found only on Te Ika a Māui / North Island; relatives live in Australia, New Caledonia, and Papua New Guinea; caterpillars start life living in a bracket fungus; older caterpillars make a refuge tunnel in the trunk of a large tree; caterpillars feed on the wound tissue of the tree around the tunnel entrance, which is concealed by a silken ‘tent’; pupation occurs in the tunnel; adult moths do not feed, and live only for a few days; moths are active at night.” The New Zealand Farm Forestry Association website has wonderful photos of the life cycle, including caterpillar images. The New Zealand Tramper website has an image of a living moth that more closely resembles your photograph than most of the other online images, though it has more markings than your specimen.
February 21, 2010
Hi Bugman,
I think this beauty is a Parachuting Red-Eyed Leaf Frog. Found him in the vack yard at night.
Jordan
Costa Rica
Parachuting Red Eyed Leaf Frog
Hi Jordan,
Since we already set up an Amphibian page to house our selfishly self-produced images of a California Salamander, we will also post your magnificent images of what we are trusting you have properly identified as a Parachuting Red-Eyed Leaf Frog. We will also post that snake photo you supplied in the hope that someone might assist in the identification.
Parachuting Red Eyed Leaf Frog
February 18, 2010
I tried to send a photo for your Bug Love page, but it failed to upload. Can you accept regular email with attachments?
Eric Eaton suggested that I submit some photos to you (and another site) several months ago, but I’m just now trying that.
Thanks,
Denny Schreffler
Tucson
Hi Denny,
Responding to this email should allow you to attach images. Please include all the information that is required on our form, like the location, and some information about the insect. Also, please confine your images to one species per email.
Thanks
February 21, 2010
Thanks, Daniel,
I “replied” by sending the photo through an different email program a few days ago, so I’m not sure that you received it. Here’s a direct reply with an attachment.
Thought that you might appreciate a pair of Cactus Longhorn Beetles (Moneilema gigas) for your Bug Love page.
Northern Sonoran Desert (southern Arizona), late August during a light rain.
Denny Schreffler
Mating Cactus Longhorns
Hi Denny,
We don’t understand why you had problems originally, and we never received your response through your alternate email program. We are going to contact our web master, who is currently driving across country on holiday, to see if he has a solution to your previous problems. Having received this attached photo, we are positively thrilled that you submitted a totally awesome image of mating Cactus Longhorns, Moneilema gigas. The camera angle is perfect and the quality and resolution are excellent. According to BugGuide, members of this genus “feed on cactus, esp. cholla, Opuntia species.”
what’s this “bug” or instar stage?
February 20, 2010
Came across this centimetre long insect in mid-autumn along a dirt road beside a forested area. It really stood out for such a small creature.
Bonnie
Forks of the Credit River, ON, Canada
Crowned Slug Caterpillar
Hi Bonnie,
This is a Crowned Slug Caterpillar, Isa textula. According to BugGuide: “Larvae are often found on oak, but also eat leaves of many other trees including cherry, maple, basswood, elm and beech.“ This caterpillar should be handled with care as it is capable of stinging.
No clue what this is, found at school computer lab, should i be scared?
February 21, 2010
Hi my friend and I saw this bug at the computer lab at our school crawling up on the wall, we have no clue what it is. It looked black and gray as you can tell it has a lot of legs. Please help! We go to college on a mountain and we swear they have some undiscovered species of insects roaming around.
Sam
Brentwood California
House Centipede
Hi Sam,
The House Centipede is not only harmless, it is actually beneficial since it will eat potentially problematic household intruders.
Strange Looking Bug Not Identified
February 21, 2010
Hello, I see this bug on the leaves of our curry leaf tree. It doesn’t seem to feed on other tree leaves. Just the curry leaf tree.
mei
Malaysia
Tortoise Beetle Larva: Silana farinosa
Hi mei,
This is the larva of a Leaf Beetle in the family Chrysomelidae, possibly a Tortoise Beetle. Providing the name of the food plant, curry, should make the identification easier. We found a Local Beetles’ Battles page of the Asian Entomology Collection and Studies website, that pictures a Tortoise Beetle, Aspidomorpha deusta, and the quote:
“IN 1994, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia entomologist Prof Mohamed S. Mohamedsaid noticed strange white beetles on curry leaf plants. Careful study revealed that the beetles came from a genus restricted to Sri Lanka where it is represented by one species, Silana farinosa, commonly known as the tortoise beetle.
‘The occurrence of Silana farinosa feeding on curry leaves in Malaysia is probably a very recent introduction. It has never been reported before in the country,’ he says.
‘Aspidomorpha deusta’ is a common tortoise beetle east of Java. This foreign species was found on a beach off Kapar, Selangor. –
‘It’s very unlikely that its presence would have gone unnoticed, for the host plant is also an important crop,’ he explains, adding that the leaves of the plant are an essential ingredient in Malaysian cooking, especially curries.
The taxonomist, who works with UKM’s Centre for Insect Systematics, reckons the creatures might have been feeding on dry curry leaves when they were unwittingly packed into someone’s luggage and brought into Malaysia from Sri Lanka.
‘They are real pests as these popular plants are endangered by them,’ he says, adding that the curry leaf plant had never before been attacked by insects as it emits a powerful smell.
More recently, another species of foreign tortoise beetle was found on our shores.
‘In all my years of studying beetles, which included combing the beaches of Malaysia for tortoise beetles, I have never encountered a specimen belonging to the species collected in March last year,’ he says.
According to Prof Mohamed, Aspidomorpha deusta is common from Java eastwards to Papua New Guinea and Australia.”
We then found photos of larval Silana farinosa on the photomalaysia website, and they appear to match your photos.
Tortoise Beetle Larva: Silana farinosa
Metalic Geen Bug with black spots
February 21, 2010
Hi…i’m from India. The other day i had a visit from this fascinating bug. It was sitting on one Holy Basil plant in my Verandah. It’s been vacationing on this plant for the last 2 days.
Can you tell me what bug this is and which family of bugs does this belong to?
Thanks.
Sid
North India
Lychee Shield Bug
Dear Sid,
Your insect is a Jewel Bug or Shield Backed Bug in the family Scutelleridae. Scutelleridae was, according to BugGuide: “formerly considered a subfamily of Pentatomidae” which contain the Stink Bugs. Both families are now grouped into the superfamily Pentatomoidea, and they are classified in the suborder Heteroptera, the True Bugs. We found a matching photo on Flickr, but it is incorrectly titled a Jewel Beetle, and True Bugs are in a completely separate order from the beetles. There are also two different photos of this species posted on photo.net, but they are only identified as Jewel Bugs, without a species name. Continued searching revealed another photo on Flickr with the caption: “Kanch Poka (Green Jewel Bug – Lampromicra spp, under Family Scutelleridae), beetle is common insect in rural Bangladeshi bushes.“ Another Flickr page depicted this Jewel Bug with the name Chrysocoris stolli, which we then verified on Dave’s Garden website with the common name Lychee Shield Bug. The TrekNature website also pairs the scientific name Chrysocoris stolli with the common name Lychee Shield Bug for this species from India.
Lychee Shield Bug
Thanks Daniel for the great info. I found your website on google and its now on my favorite list.
You’ve got a great website for nature enthusiasts. Keep it up. Don’t ever stop it.
I have also made the donation and will make more in future also.
Cheers!
Sid
Thanks for your kind words and your generosity Sid.
