Orange and Black Mystery Beetle in TX
November 18, 2009
Found this colorful beetle tonight; size a little smaller than a dime, mostly orange with black head and markings. He was moving fast so sorry not a better photo.
11/18/09
Evelyn W.
Joshua (South Fort Worth),TX
Earth Boring Dung Beetle
Hi Evelyn,
Despite the rather poor quality of your photo, it is easy to identify your beetle as an Earth Boring Dung Beetle in the genus Bolbocerosoma. Better images are available on BugGuide.
Daniel! Thanks for the quick reply. When I was little, many moons ago, my Mother would scotch tape creatures we couldn’t identify and mail them off to the Dept. of Agriculture. Weeks later, if we were lucky, someone there would write back. I wish she knew how we can do it now, online. with a digital photo and a kind reply the very next day. Love it.
Ev
Spider Eating Bug
November 18, 2009
Dear Bugman, my friend was out in his garden the other day and saw this bug attacking a spider. It eventually carried it off down a hole. The bug was about the size of a small car… or maybe more like 5 or 6 centimetres. Later he found his cat screaming and leaping about with the bug on her back. Are you able to identify this garden terrorist?
Belinda
Wellington, New Zealand
Spider Wasp with Prey
Hi Belinda,
Though your humor amuses us, we should probably clarify for our readership that the cat was safe from being attacked by this awesome Spider Wasp in the family Pompilidae. We are unable to find a matching species on the Brisbane Insect website, so your specimen might be restricted to New Zealand. Spider Wasps feed on nectar, but the young feed on spiders provided by the female wasp. The female Spider Wasp stings and paralyzes a spider and then buries it after laying an egg. The developing, helpless larva then can feed on fresh meat since the sting paralyzed the spider, but left it alive.
Spider Wasp with Prey
Identification Courtesy of Karl
November 18, 2009
Hi Daniel:
I believe Belinda’s Spider Wasp is Sphictostethus nitidus. The common name is sometimes given as the Golden Hunting Wasp, not to be confused with a completely different Spider Wasp from Australia with the same common name. The website for Landcare Research provides excellent information on this and other New Zealand Spider Wasps, as well as a link to a huge downloadable report on the Pompilidae of New Zealand (No. 12 in the “Fauna of New Zealand” series). According to that document there are only 4 genera and 11 species of Spider Wasps in New Zealand, including one other species of Sphictostethus (S. fugax). So it shouldn’t be too hard to nail down this species if one had the time and stamina to plow through all the information provided. Assuming it is S. nitidus, there are three distinct forms (2 on the North Island and 1 on the South Island), distinguished primarily by the degree and pattern of dark pigmentation on the otherwise yellowish wings. Regards.
Karl
Is this a Rain Beetle?
November 18, 2009
Just found in the pool flailing around on top of the water — it looks like the other Rain Beetle pictures on your site and thought I’d ask if that’s what this is to confirm. One picture is on top of the net I got it out of the pool with. The other is on the ground. We had rain last night and everything is still sort of wet around here today. Thanks!
Elaine
Rural Windsor, California (North of Santa Rosa)
Rain Beetle
Dear Elaine,
You are absolutely correct. We are happy that our website was helpful with your Rain Beetle identification. This is the second submission of Rain Beetles we are posting from yesterday.
Rain Beetle
Strange fly with Curly Q Antenna
November 18, 2009
This bug was witnessed in our office this afternoon walking across a desk. Another person in the office said that they saw it earlier and it flew away. I was fascinated by the antenna, which I hope you can see in the picture, as the ends of them do almost a 360 degree loop, like a curly q. If you could give us any help identifying it, that would be great!
Eric
South Florida, right on the ocean, about 50 yards from the beach.
Spider Wasp
Dear Eric,
This is a Spider Wasp in the family Pompilidae though we don’t even want to attempt to try to identify the species. Spider Wasps, as their name implies, prey upon spiders. Adult wasps feed on pollen and nectar, but the helpless young are carnivorous. The female Spider Wasp captures spiders and paralyzes them with her sting. She then lays an egg on the spider and the young wasp has fresh paralyzed living meat rather than a dead dried out spider to feed upon. According to BugGuide, the following are family characteristics of Spider Wasps:
“Typically dark colored with smoky or yellowish wings; a few are brightly colored.
Slender with long and spiny legs, hind femora typically extending beyond tip of abdomen.
Tibiae of rear legs have two prominent spines at apex (distal end, next to tarsi)
Wings not folded flat on top of abdomen.
Mesopleuron with a transverse suture (see this image).
Like the Vespidae, the Pompilidae have the pronotum extending back to the tegulae, the pronotum thus appearing triangular when viewed from the side and horseshoe-shaped when viewed from above.” In your photo, the spines on the rear legs are visible.
rain beetle photos
November 18, 2009
I came to your site to find out what these are. and now i know, thanks! Here’s the photos i was going to use, enjoy!
dr
northern ca. foothills
Rain Beetle
Hi dr,
Thanks so much for the Rain Beetle photos. We also believe the LA Time article we read this past May is once again live on the website. It is a wonderful account of an encounter with Rain Beetles. One of the chapters in our book has to do with insects and weather, and we are going to be writing about the Rain Beetles of the California Sierras. Since we only have twelve days to finish the manuscript, we may write that chapter next.
Rain Beetle
Mammoth bee-looking-spider
November 16, 2009
We stepped out of our house here in Pasadena, CA to go for a walk. In front of my neighbor’s house, we saw an insect moving on the sidewalk like Addams Family’s “The Thing.” You can hear it walking on the cement. I assumed that it might move fast when we had got closer. Instead, it moved slow, and when we had gotten closer and it stood still. It didn’t raise it’s legs in defense like some bugs. The head was golden yellow, the body yellow/brown, and the end was striped yellow and brown. We left it alone, came back, and it was ran over (probably by a bike). My lady said there was four legs; I thought it was three because it looked like a bee, but it didn’t have wings. Every body part was thick, like it was taking steroids. I left it at night, came back in the morning, and it was gone. I need your help. I’ve not seen anything this big since Mexico. I’m having a baby soon and would like to know what’s crawling around my neighborhood. Any help would be awesome. I drew four legs, but it might be three legs.
Andres Dorame
Pasadena, CA 91106
Sketch of Golden Orbweaver, we believe
Dear Andres,
Though your sketch is lovely, it makes it difficult to be certain of an identification. We are guessing you encountered a Golden Orbweaver, Argiope aurantia, a harmless spider that builds a circular web in the garden. The spiders are quite helpless if knocked out of the web, and they will not leave their webs to hunt, preferring instead to snare flying insects that become trapped. Golden Orbweavers pose no threat to humans, despite the large size.
large wasp-type bug with long ‘tail’
November 17, 2009
This bug came in when we opened our back door one evening a few nights ago. Sorry, my husband squished it. The envelope it’s sitting on is a business-sized (10 inch) envelope for size reference. It’s very dark or black with a long jointed looking body, black wings and the really long tail that totally creeps me out. 
Scaredy Cat
North Texas/DFW
Squashed Giant Ichneumon
Dear Scaredy Cat,
This is a female Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa atrata, and she is perfectly harmless. The tail, though it looks like a stinger, is actually an ovipositor. With her long ovipositor, the female Giant Ichneumon drills into diseased wood to lay an egg on the larva of a wood boring insect, the Pigeon Horntail.
after reading your site for over an hour the night that I posted, I learned the purpose of that long tail thingy. Wish we wouldn’t have squished her. It was fear-induced carnage. 
With 3 cats and 2 children she probably wouldn’t have lasted long anyway!
Thanks for responding and confirming what I found on your site. We also have great photos of a wooly caterpiller that looks like what the Japanese Monster Mothra was based upon. Can we just submit photos even when we know what the bug is?
Kim
Hi Kim,
You may submit photos, but please use our question form and provide your location. Also, please do not submit more than one species of insect per letter. We are very happy to hear you were able to make your identification without our assistance.
Giant moth on my screen
November 17, 2009
I was headed to work and found this guy on my screen porch. He was about 6-8 inches in wingspan.
matt
south florida
Black Witch
Hi Matt,
This is a Black Witch, a large neotropical moth that often migrates north.
Most Horrific Thing I’ve Ever Seen
November 18, 2009
Hello!
My roommates and I have been finding these disgusting looking bugs around our house. They are in all rooms and have been found on the floor, walls, and ceililng. Aside from their gross appearance (if it’s not obvious by now, we are a bunch of girls – literally), when they die, all their legs seem to pop off. This makes sense when we smash them, but they’ve also died because we sprayed for them and as they crawl along, slowly dying, the legs seemed to disconnect. Perhaps I should mention they have more legs then I thought possible. They seem to go all around their body. The one in the picture is the biggest we’ve seen so far, it is about two inches in length. The average is 1-1 1/2 inches. Please help!
Horrified in the Heartland
Central Illinois
House Centipede
Dear Horrified,
If you are not seeing any cockroaches, it is probably because these beneficial and harmless House Centipedes are feeding upon them at night. Should you succeed in eliminating all the House Centipedes, you may find that the Cockroaches and Bedbugs and Silverfish will proliferate. Our advice is to learn to live in harmony with the House Centipedes and allow them to keep your home pest free.
Thanks Daniel! It would be nice if the “good” bugs would clearly identify themselves and not look so scary. Perhaps I will try and convey that to them next time I see one. Thanks again!
November 16, 2009
The butterflies inhabit a pond shared with 10 crocodiles in a village called Banani.
Puddling Caper Whites in Mali
This village is one of 10 Dogon villages located beneath the Bandiagara Escarpment which contains ancient Tellem cave dwellings in Mali, West Africa.
AJ
Puddling Caper Whites in Mali
Dear AJ,
Your photos are stunningly beautiful. These butterflies are a species in the group known as Whites in the family Pieridae. The butterflies are puddling, drinking water with dissolved chemical salts. This unusual practice is characteristic of many butterflies the world over. We will try to identify the exact species when we have time. We found one photo online on a Harvard website labeled Brown Veined White Butterfly that looks very close to your specimens. Continued searching found another visual match on the Birdman in Tanzania website, and the Brown Veined White is identified as Belenois aurota. The species often has spectacular migrations with thousands of individuals. The Marketgid Website also calls the species the Caper White. Maybe Karl can take a stab at this ID.
Puddling Caper Whites in Mali
Mystery bug on red cedar
November 16, 2009
These pictures were in Eastern Long Island in August. They were on eastern red cedar in a “grove”. Trees had cedar quince rust, even on trunks. I think they may be involved in disease spread. Move very fast in “herd” like fashion. Third image is azalea lacebug, thought you might be interested..it shows the helmet and cowl fairly clearly!
Dr. Andy
Bridgehampton, NY (Long Island)
Tree Cattle
Dear Dr. Andy,
The Barklice you wanted identified are perfectly harmless. They are sometimes called Tree Cattle. The pictured individuals are immature and the adults will have wings. Thanks for also including the photo of the Azalea Lace Bug.
Azalea Lace Bug
IT HAS TOES FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!
November 17, 2009
Dear King of Bug-kind,
Yes, we are girls, but we are usually fairly cool-headed. This thing has the body of an ant, the legs of a spider, the stripes of a honey comb, and seems as if one can plug it in and make it a light! It is the lenth of my index finger (adult medium). It is the width of my thumb. It has six legs with five toes, AND the middle toe is veeerry long on the back two legs. It has feelers and is trying to feel its way into our apartment. I want answers and I want help.
Sally Case & Nikki Cramer
Hermosa Beach, CA
Potato Bug
Dear Sally and Nikki,
Potato Bugs or Jerusalem Crickets are quite common in Southern California. They are quite harmless, though they do have strong jaws and will not hesitate to bite if provoked. Their somewhat human appearance has led to the common name Children of the Earth. Potato Bugs are one of our most common identification requests, and we only post a fraction of the letters regarding them that we receive. Your letter really amuses us, so we are posting it.
