Is this Bittacidae or Diptera? Or something else?
Location: unknown (will provide if later discovered) Ed. Note: Montezuma, Costa Rica
December 17, 2011 11:56 pm
http://i.imgur.com/qvPj4.jpg
My first guess is Bittacidae, but I’m used to seeing them with much thicker legs and longer antennae. The beak also looks unusual for a hangingfly and I can’t tell if it’s wingless. If it’s winged, most winged species rest their wings in a roof-like fashion (with the exception of Hylobittacus apicalis).
Signature: Joseph_P_Brenner
Hi Joseph,
If you don’t know the location, does that mean you did not take the photo? Are you able to provide permission for us to post the photo? We would also need assistance and we do not want to have the photographer contact us in the future to remove the image.
Please advise.
Crane Fly
The photo was taken in Montezuma, Costa Rica. The photographer is looking for an ID and is familiar with and is okay with the photo being posted on whatsthatbug.com. He has already posted the photo on another public forum:
http://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisbug/comments/ngc70/difficulty_threadhorn/
Signature: Joseph_P_Brenner
Thanks for getting back to us so quickly Joseph. We agree with you and with several of the folks on the other public forum that this appears to be a Hanging Fly in the family Bittacidae which is represented by individuals on BugGuide that have more substantial legs. We would not rule out a Crane Fly. We will try to contact Dr. Chen Young at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Crane Flies of Pennsylvania website to see if he can provide anything conclusive.
Crane Fly
Chen Young Responds
Hi Daniel,
It is always nice to hear from you because your image always put a challenge to me and I like it.
This one is in the genus Orimarga, a small slender crane fly.
Happy holidays to you and your viewers.
Chen
THank you!
1
wasp
Location: melbourne, australia
December 18, 2011 6:42 am
This huge ie 4-5 cm wasp was dragging huntsman spider up the window. Spider still seemed alive
I live in Melbourne, Australia and it is December-beginning of Summer.
Wasp not aggressive to me, BUT NOT HAPPY when I hit it with a broom. It dropped twitching spider & flew off!
Signature: Dom
Spider Wasp and Huntsman Spider Prey
Dear Dom,
We have several excellent images of Australian Spider Wasps with Huntsman Spider prey in our archives. The female Spider Wasp stings and paralyzes the Spider and then drags it back to her burrow to act as food for her brood. The adult wasps feed on nectar. We can imagine that it is a difficult task for the female Spider Wasp to locate her prey, sting it and then begin the long haul back to her burrow, and it is quite unfortunate that your broom hitting incident interrupted her task. We hope that now that you are better informed, you will allow these food chain dramas to play out without unnecessary interventions in the future.
1
Emerald ash borer?
Location: Annapolis, Maryland
December 19, 2011 8:54 am
Hi, I found this insect while chopping wood. At first I was concerned that it was an emerald ash borer as it is the right size (14mm long) and shape. It’s head, especially the eyes and mandibles look quite different though.
It was dead when I found it, seemed to be attached to the wood by its rear end.
Thanks!
Signature: ash borer?
Bark Gnawing Beetle: Temnoscheila species
Dear ash borer?,
You are correct that this is not an Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis, which is nicely represented in this excellent online pdf prepared by Gary L. Parsons of the Michigan State University Department of Entomology. On page 55 of that pdf, we located a Bark Gnawing Beetle, Temnoscheila virescens that appears to match your beetle. It is described as: “Length: 8.6-17.8 mm, slightly larger than EAB. Color bright green or blue-green varying to almost dark purplish-blue, often with brassy reflections. Head large, prognathous, and more evident than in Buprestidae, and the connection of the pronotum to mesothorax is narrowed, waist-like. T. virescens occurs in the eastern U.S. with T. chlorodia (Mannerhiem), a very similar species, occurring in the western North America. Both species are predators found under the bark of dead trees where they feed on a variety of woodboring beetles.” That Bark Gnawing Beetle can also be found on BugGuidealong with several other members of the genus.
Bark Gnawing Beetle
On the genus page, BugGuideindicates: “can inflict a painful bite if handled carelessly.” Thanks for providing our archives with this convincing Emerald Ash Borer imposter.
Bark Gnawing Beetle
Sphinx moth?
Location: Sarasota, Florida
December 17, 2011 1:03 pm
Can you identify which species this 3 to 4 inch wingspan moth is?
Signature: John
Streaked Sphinx
Dear John,
We just learned on the Sphingidae of the Americas website that the common name for your moth, Protambulyx strigilis strigilis, is the Streaked Sphinx. We are going to copy Bill Oehlke on our response as he may want to include your sighting data on his website since it is indicated that December sightings in Florida are not common.
Hi Daniel,
Thank you very much for the identification and the website!
John
1
just a question.
Location: Wichita, KS. USA
December 17, 2011 8:07 am
I have been having hundreds or maybe thousands of tiny tiny bugs coming in the micro-cracks in my basement windows. They all die within about a day or so. They are too small to get a good photo. In fact they are so small It’s hard to make out what they are. but they keep gathering at the base of my basement windows and dieing.
Would you mind if I put some of the dead ones in a zip-lock bag and mailed them to you to identify?
Signature: IDK
Springtails
Dear IDK,
We believe these are Springtails. Most likely, they are dying due to the low humidity indoors. Springtails are benign creatures that can become an annoyance when they are plentiful. They feed on mold and fungus and other organic matter and they are instrumental in breaking down organic matter to form humus in soil.
Greyish Beetle?
Location: Calgary AB Canada
December 13, 2011 11:48 pm
Hi There
I’ve seen this bug all over the house and am wondering if you can identify it. Thanks!
Signature: Chelsey
Tick
Tick
Thank you for your speedy reply. We believe (and hope) they are coming off our dog. Most of them have been spotted in his favourite areas (dog bed, our bed, couch). Thinking back now I have also seen the smaller, baby-type ones. I thought it was just a small spider hiding in the trim/moulding around the doors. Thanks again for identifying it.
-Chelsey
Hi again Chelsey,
Sometimes in an attempt to provide as many responses as possible, we just provide a name to a request that we do not post. We had a few spare minutes this morning so we are posting your letter and photo in the belief it may help other visitors to our site identify Ticks which are often found in homes at the onset of colder weather. They most likely did come indoors by hitching on your dog.
Thanks Daniel. We took our dog to the vet and the vet spent 2 hours taking 25 ticks off him. Since then we have found about an additional 10 on him. We’ve scrubbed our house, finding probably 50 ticks (all sizes and shapes but mostly small/baby ones) and finding eggs as well..we’re hoping the cleaning will help prevent them from coming back.
Fortunately neither myself or my husband have been bit, just my dog. We did find one attempting to bite my rabbit as well but he couldn’t burrow far enough to reach the skin past the thick fur.
Do you know what their resistance to cold weather is? It’s floating around -5 degrees Celsius right now (at night going to about -10) and we bagged all of our clothes and put them on our porch, until we are able to wash them, in an effort to try and kill any hiding in our clothing.
We were shocked to hear our local exterminators had no tips on trying to get them out of the house. It’s unheard-of to have a tick infestation here. haha what luck I guess?
Thanks again
-Chelsey
Hi Chelsey,
Alas, we don’t know what the Ticks tolerance to low temperatures is. Many insects and arthropods can withstand low temperatures for short periods of time.
What’s this white bug….
Location: Naples, FL
December 15, 2011 12:55 pm
I have found a few of these white ”ladybug” type insects on my Hybiscus tree in Naples FL. It is December (winter in Paradise). They are about the size of a small ladybug….it doesn’t look like they have eaten any of the leaves…you have to zoom in to see it better.
Signature: SherrieB
Sri Lanka Weevil
Dear SherrieB,
This appears to be a Little Leaf Notcher Weevil, Artipus floridanus, a native species found in “hammock, pineland, mangrove” and considered to be “a minor pest of Citrus and other plants” according to BugGuide. We wish your photo was a closer view because we cannot, however, discount that this might actually be an invasive species, the Sri Lanka Weevil or Yellow-headed Ravenous Weevil, Myllocerus undecimpustulatus, which is also pictured on BugGuide where it is stated: “in FL, recorded from 55 host plant spp., from palms to roadside weeds, including citrus.”
Thanks, I believe that the head is white, so it’sprobably a Little Leaf Notcher Weevil….I checked it with a magnifying glass. I appreciate your time SherrieB
Hi again SherrieB,
A reader just left a comment that this is the Sri Lanka Weevil. We have requested additional information.
Pillbug/cricket hybrid?
Location: Silver Spring, MD
December 15, 2011 1:13 pm
Opened the shed in late November in suburban MD, and saw this just hanging out, waving its antennae at me. I didn’t get too close with the camera for fear of scaring it into jumping at me. What could this possibly be?
Signature: R in DC
Belay that WTB!
Location: Silver Spring, MD
December 15, 2011 1:21 pm
I just looked a bit more on your site, and found my answer – sorry to take up more of your time. Though maybe you liked my picture.
Thanks!
Signature: R in DC
Camel Cricket
Dear R in DC,
We are happy to learn that it only took you eight minutes to identify your Camel Cricket or Cave Cricket, if that is actually the identification you discovered. We have gotten numerous requests to identify Camel Crickets in the past few week. Perhaps their populations are on the rise or perhaps winter is just the best season for encounters.
I like This
