almost lunch
Location: Salad Greens purchased in NS, Canda
September 28, 2011 7:46 am
This was in a box of salad greens I opened in June 2011. I am remiss that I don’t remember the country of origin for the box. It was so unique looking that I snapped some pictures to try and identify but that has not proven to be very easy.
Thanks!
Signature: Angela
Stink Bug
Hi Angela,
This is some species of Stink Bug, and we hope you derive consolation from the knowledge that many Stink Bugs are edible, and should you have accidentally eaten it, there would probably not have been any adverse reactions. Here is some information from the Girl Meets Bug website: “Jumiles: also known as stink bugs. High in B vitamins, these are said to taste either bitter or like cinnamon, and may have tranquilizing and analgesic properties. Apparently, they can survive the cooking process, and thus are often eaten alive. The yearly Jumile Festival involves the eating of thousands of jumiles, and the crowning of a Jumile Queen.” Sadly, it appears that information came from Wikipedia.
Stink Bug
Thanks for getting back to me. I really appreciate your time. Not sure I’ll try eating one if another shows up, but it is good to know it is an option.
Again, Thanks.
Angela
1
what type of moth is this
Location: Noordhoek Cape Town
September 28, 2011 1:14 pm
i saw this moth during the day , and again the next morning in the same spot. Very sunny and warm day.
Signature: RocketGirl12
Equine Maiden
Dear RocketGirl12,
We suspect this may take more time to research than we have this morning, so we are posting your photo as an unidentified moth and we hope our readership will come to our assistance today, our longest and busiest work day of the week.
Karl provides an identification
Unknown Moth from Cape Town
Hi Daniel and RocketGirl12:
Your moth is in the genus Thyretes, probably T. hippotes. It belongs to the Superfamily Noctuoidea and is variously assigned to the Family Thyretidae, Arctiidae, Erebidae or Notodontidae. This sort of taxonomic confusion is not uncommon (particularly online). Arctiidae appears to be the most common but I couldn’t determine if there is a current consensus. It is another one of those African Maiden Moths (Ctenuchinae), specifically the Equine Maiden. Regards. Karl
Thanks Karl. As always, your research is greatly appreciated.
1
¶ Posted 29 September 2011 § Moths ‡ ° big moth
Location: San Pedro California
September 28, 2011 9:23 pm
This big moth, or whatever it is was found in the eaves om my neighbors house. I would guess it’s about 6 inches wing tip to wing tip.
Signature: Delbert Crawford
Black Witch
Hi Delbert,
Your moth is a Black Witch, a common species in Mexico and Central America. As early as the late 19th Century, there were reports of Black Witches making northern migrations in the fall, and they are sometimes found as far north as Canada. In recent years, Black Witches have naturalized in the states closest to the Mexican border. Perhaps global warming is contributing to the northern range expansion. The white diagonal bars on the wings indicates that your specimen is a female Black Witch.
1
Bug that makes a cricket soun
Location: San Francisco, CA
September 28, 2011 11:00 pm
Evidently this critter kept my wife up most of the night last night with a cricket like sound, until she tracked it down and whacked it. The body’s about 5/8” long. It kind of looks like a caddis fly, which I know from flyfishing. but I’ve never seen this exact bug before- it doesn’t fit into any of the categories of typical house pests. She said the sound was pretty loud. We’ve had a lot of very warm weather here lately, which is unusual.Any ideas?
Signature: Clifton Lemon
Tree Cricket
Hi Clifton,
In our opinion, whacking a harmless Tree Cricket for calling out to attract a mate constitutes Unnecessary Carnage.
Tree cricket huh? Wow. Agreed about the unnecesssariness of the whacking. Thanks! I was stumped.
We believe it may be a Snowy Tree Cricket, Oecanthus fultoni. The Snowy Tree Cricket is also called a Thermometer Cricket because, according to Charles Hogue in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, you can tell the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit “if one counts the number of chirps in 13 seconds and adds 40.” According to BugGuide: “These are the crickets you hear in movies and on TV when they want to show that it’s out in nature and very quiet.”
P.S. Perhaps it was a hot evening and your wife was having a bad night.
Cool, thanks so much for your excellent work. I am edified,
Clifton
1
Please Identify This Big, Scary Bug
Location: Near Salt Lake City, Utah
September 28, 2011 7:29 am
Hi,
I live in Eagle Mountain, Utah, which is about an hour southwest of Salt Lake City. I saw this giant, slow-moving bug walking on the road last night. Sorry the picture quality isn’t better; I only had my cell phone. It’s about two inches in length! Very meaty. We have a lot of soldiers returning here from the war, and they’ve brought camel spiders to our area. So, perhaps this bug also came from the Middle East. Thank you.
Signature: Jason Pyles
Potato Bug
Hi Jason,
We just finished posting a photo of another Potato Bug from Washington. Potato Bugs are also known as Jerusalem Crickets.
1
huge bug never seen anything like it!
Location: wooded area, spokane valley, wa
September 29, 2011 2:32 am
This was outside in the. Gravel next to my house. There are plenty of trees nearby and its fall now. Temperatures are about 60-80 the last couple of days. This bug is about 2-3 inches.
Signature: marina
Potato Bug
Hi Marina,
This subterranean insect is commonly called a Jerusalem Cricket or Potato Bug, and we get so many identification requests that we have tagged it one of our Top 10, though most sightings are from Southern California. With the advent of the internet, it became apparent that populations of Potato Bugs can also be found in the more northern latitudes of the western North American states.
1
Unknown caterpiller with warning stalks?
Location: Harrisburg, PA.
September 28, 2011 7:26 pm
I was wondering if you had an idea as to what this little fellow is. The first photo shows the results of prodding him with a stem to move him into better camera view. The orange stalks appear to be some sort of defensive measure. Could you inform me as to what they actually do? Any help would be appreciated.
Signature: Joseph Grabko
Black Swallowtail Caterpillar
Hi Joseph,
One of your photos shows this early instar Black Swallowtail Caterpillar on an Italian parsley leaf, one of the garden herbs that serves as a host plant for the caterpillar that is often called a Parsley Worm or Carrot Worm. Fully grown Black Swallowtail Caterpillars have a striking green, black, yellow and white pattern that your individual doesn’t yet possess since it is an earlier instar. Caterpillars molt five times between the time they hatch from eggs until they metamorphose into a chrysalis, and each of the stages is called an instar. The orange stalks you mentioned are a scent organ called an osmetriumthat is characteristic of Swallowtail Caterpillars from around the world. As you indicated, it is a defense measure that will dissuade predators like birds. Your individual is one of the earliest instar images we have received of a Swallowtail Caterpillar displaying its osmetrium.
Black Swallowtail Caterpillar displaying Osmetrium
1
Moth?
Location: Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA
September 28, 2011 1:01 am
Dear Bugman,
I was at Griffith Park in Los Angeles with my son when we spotted this winged insect. In person, the bug looked like a moth with very sharp, jagged wings. In the picture the wings appear much more translucent and less jagged than they did in person. Please help identify.
Thank you!!
Signature: Curious Bug Mama
Bee Fly: Xenox habrosus
Dear Curious Bug Mama,
At first we thought this might be a Tiger Bee Fly, Xenox tigrinus, but we learned on BugGuide that the Tiger Bee Fly is an eastern species. We believe this is its western relative, Xenox habrosus, which is represented on BugGuide with Los Angeles area postings. Daniel is doing a talk on October 15 at 2 PM at the Lummis Home along the historic Arroyo Parkway (Pasadena Freeway) to benefit the gardens. The talk is on beneficial bugs and is entitled Butterflies, Bees and Things That Go Bump In The Night. Since this talk is about local species, you photo, which is of excellent quality, will probably be included in the powerpoint presentation.
1
