Make reservations now and support the non-profit Theodore Payne Foundation!!!
Local Lepidoptera: Butterflies and Moths of the L.A. Region with Daniel…
Make plans for your own local National Moth Week event!!!
Posted February 1, 2012
What's That Bug? will be working the the…
creepy crawler unidentified
Location: Horjul, Slovenia, EU
January 31, 2012 8:21 am
Found this thing trying to eat my hardwood floor! The noise…
November 12, 2011
What's That Bug? is profiled on High Country News.
Rock star status
November 14, 2011 11:22 am
Dear Daniel, Thanks for…
Luna Moth
August 11, 2009
I found this moth outside my home in Auburn, Alabama. It stayed in the same place for 2 days then disappeared. It is so beautiful that I made it my background on my computer.
Jessica
Auburn, AL
Luna Moth
Dear Jessica,
Thanks for sending us your lovely photo of a lovely Luna Moth.
The UNKILLABLE bug
August 11, 2009
This bug started to appear a few weeks ago, I found the first one on the living room and quickly squashed it. A couple of days later there was another one and killed it too. About a week later AGAIN the same bug (maybe) came back, I even started to think that it was the exactly the same bug I killed before.
Yesterday I killed this bug again and left it in the living room with a Pringles cap on top of it, the insect was moving and it was trapped.
A few minutes later I checked it again and it was gone, it disappeared as my son claims.
I found it again flying like nothing, I believe this bug can seriously take a beating.
I took this picture with a zoom lens because the ceiling is about 20 feet high.
So if you can help me identify this, I dont know if it is dangerous or not, I have killed one with my bare hands.
Thanks.
P.S. Please don’t make my email public.
Father of Two
McAllen, TEXAS
Ensign Wasp
Dear Father of Two,
You do not want to kill Ensign Wasps. They will not sting you and they are beneficial since they parasitize the eggs of cockroaches. Allowing the Ensign Wasps to live will reduce the Cockroaches in your area. Though the wasp in your image is alive, we want to tag your letter as Unnecessary Carnage because it nearly met with a squashing end like its predecessors. We do not publicize email addresses, but submitting a letter to our website is done with the understanding that we post content to our site.
Butterfly Gardens in Costa Rica asking if we may adopt the term unnecessary carnage
August 11, 2009
Myself and the volunteers at the Monteverde Butterfly Gardens were looking over your site the other day (we use it for IDs that people ask us for), and came across the Unnecessary Carnage page and were so happy and impressed! We laughed so hard that we all ended up in tears, peoples over dramatic response to calling out their (is there any better way to put it? We don’t think so) Unnecessary Carnage was hysterical. Taking people on educational bug tours all day long means that we all inevitably end up hearing tales of harmless arthropods meeting gruesome ends. We have all tried to come up with equally offensive retorts to these horrid tales of violence, however we feel that that your term really hits the nail into the Dobson fly. Therefore we entomologist and bug loving volunteers her e at the butterfly gardens ask we if may officially adopt the term Unnecessary Carnage and use it in our educational programming.
We are Very thankful for your hard work. We want you know that down here in Costa Rica you have a group of people who will be using your term as an act of solidarity for all those of us who flight to protect bugs every day of our lives!
Muchas gracias!
Bryna Belisle
Manager,
Monteverde butterfly gardens Costa Rica
Dear Bryna,
By all mean, use the term Unnecessary Carnage as a means to educate the public. We are honored that entomologists in Costa Rica think the term is appropriate.
Sphinx moth
August 11, 2009
Dear bugman; I have been trying to get a photo of this moth for 4 days . I think it may be a Hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe). Today I decided to catch and cool it in the freezer for 3 minutes. When I took him out he wasn’t moving. I thought I killed him. I was dreading the thought of (UNNECESSARY CARNAGE) or worse yet, involuntary bugslauter. I put him (or her) in the sun hoping he might come around. I took over 30 photos, when he started to flutter, and dropped to the ground. I picked him up and put him back on the flower. he didn’t move for another 10 minutes. Then he just flew strait up, about ten feet and turned, and flew off.
I was browsing through the local library on Saturday, when I came across a book titled KAUFMAN Field Guide to Insects of North America. I’ve owned the Kaufman Birds of North America for many years now, and thought, if this book is half as good as the bird book it will be great. When I picked it up I saw the author was Eric Eaton. I started reading, and almost forgot to stop for lunch. The only problem now is they are going to want it back. Keep up the good work, and write that book!
Terry Sincheff
Mound, MN
Hummingbird Clearwing
Dear Terry,
We do not as yet have a tagged category for Involuntary BugSlaughter, but that would not be quite as serious a matter as our current Unnecessary Carnage tag. We do not consider accidental deaths to be cause for tagging a letter as Unnecessary Carnage. A recent example was the chilling to death of a Gold and Brown Rove Beetle. Since your Hummingbird Clearwing, Hemaris thysbe, survived, this is all a moot point. Your intention in chilling this specimen was to take photos and then to release the moth, as opposed to recent postings where the intention was to dispatch of a perceived threat. We will state again that it has never been our intention to vilify readers who out of fear kill a benign creature that was perceived as a threat, but to educate our readership in the event of future encounters with frightening but harmless creatures.
With regards to the KAUFMAN Field Guide to Insects of North America, it sounds like after taking the library copy for a test drive, you may need to buy your own copy. We are quite certain Eric Eaton would appreciate that. Eric is highly entertaining in print and we are quite thankful that he contributes so much to What’s That Bug? when we need correction or clarification in our identifications.
You may read more about the Hummingbird Clearwing on Bill Oehlke’s wonderful website.
Hummingbird Clearwing
Green Bug!! aka: Possible, preveiously unseen phasmid/timema found in the southern St Croix River Valley just outside the Twin Cities
August 11, 2009
Now I could be totally wrong on all this because I really don’t practice entomology, but it’s been one of those random moments that makes me realize I probably should. Oh, and I also feel I should mention that I’ve seen more fireflies and random small hunting-spiders this year than any year in the past few that I can recall. It could mean nothing, it could mean everything…. {Disregard}
So I caught this random bug last night. It looked like a green grasshopper at first glance, so the first thing I thought was “What’s a grasshopper doing out flying at night?” I looked closer and noticed the long antennae and hind legs.
I looked it up as best I could through Google and ended up here after turning up nothing on Wikipedia and found the closest visual match to be the green timema pictures on this site, however my specimen has transparent/green wings that folded up across its back much like a native green grasshopper.
I let that one go outside last night, then saw another identical bug this morning, only this time, I got pictures and a better view of it.
Took these pictures with my phone so the resolution isn’t the best, but all of the legs have sparse red bristles on them, and the feet of it appear to be a small hook-like structure. They cling easily to most surfaces, even glass so I’m guessing it’s like a house-fly’s feet.
That’s about all the info I have to offer aside from pictures. Hope this is some good material for you guys. If I see another one of these, I’ll catch it and keep it until I hear back from you just in case it’s something important.
Kudos!
Erik C Larsen, mad scientist
William O’Brien State Park, Marine on St Croix, Minnesota, North America
Fork-Tailed Bush Katydid
Dear Erik,
Your letter is so entertaining. This is not a Timema. It is a Scudder’s Bush Katydid in the genus Scudderia, probably Scudderia furcata, the Fork-Tailed Bush Katydid. It is a male specimen as evidenced by its unique forked subgenital plate. You may read more on the genus page on BugGuide.
Correction from Eric Eaton
August 18, 2009
Daniel:
Ok, here are all the identifications:
Also, the “fork-tailed bush katydid” from Minnesota, dated August 11, is actually a male “northern bush katydid,” Scudderia septetrionalis, the only species without a supra-anal plate over the curving subgenital plate (I know, I know that makes perfect sense if you are an entomologist….:-).
Keep up the great work!
Eric
Google Ads confliclicting message
August 11, 2009
Hi Bugman,
I love your site and have it as one of my home pages. I noticed today that your google ads section had a number of exterminators listed. I don’t know if this is something you wanted to discuss with them or not, but it does look odd. It could have been like this for a long time and I just never noticed. Bugs are so much more interesting than ads. 
Joeleo
Texas
Dear Joeleo,
Thanks for your concern.
Though we do not endorse extermination as a solution for every situation, we do understand that sometimes it is necessary. We do not give out extermination advice nor do we dispense medical advice.
Beetle, Fluoresent green head, orange/black body
August 11, 2009
Found this at Clearlake State Park on the road (alive) less than one inch long- see image for coloring. Ranger didn’t know what it was and couldn’t find it in the books at the information center. Thanks
Mary Alberts
Kelseyville, CA on Aug. 8th 2009
Jewel Beetle: Buprestis viridisuturalis
Hi Mary,
This is one of the Metallic Wood Boring Beetles in the family Buprestidae, also known as the Jewel Beetles. We believe we have identified your specimen as Buprestis viridisuturalis based on images posted to BugGuide. We posted a photo of a dead specimen from Acton back in 2006 and at that time we learned from Ken Weiner, a Natural Resource Specialist with Englebright & Martis Creek Lades that “The buprestid from Acton, California is Buprestisviridisuturalis Nicolay & Weiss. It is found in dead Fremont Cottonwoods.”
Can you tell me what kind of bug this is?
August 10, 2009
Just got back from a camping trip in Teller County Colorado and this bug landed on my leg. I have searched high and low on the web for pics of this insect.
Please help, Thanks Jon and Family
Colorado
Giant Wood Wasp
Dear Jon and Family,
This is a Giant Wood Wasp, Urocerus gigas. It is also called the Greater Horntail Wasp or the Yellow Horned Horntail. According to BugGuide: “Range Introduced, originally from Europe and Asia. Habitat Attacks five or more genera of Pinaceae Remarks It tunnels in wood. One of the most dangerous pests of conifers.“ We will be tagging your post as an Invasive Exotic.
Correction: August 12, 2009
Not an invasive exotic wood wasp
Daniel
I was certain that U. gigas the exotic form has yet to be established here in the US. Upon discussion with our entomologist he is positive it is Urocerus gigas flavicornis (Fabricius) which is a native subspecies. Colorado is just one of the states that it can be found. You had me worried there for a minute. Our cups runith over with exotics as it is like Sirex noctillio. Great work as always and glad to see you folks have links to get in touch with the proper agencies that handle exotic invasive pests. I encourage your readers to become aware of exotic invasive pests, report new finds and help protect our resources.
Can’t wait to see your book
Thanks
Brian
Brian.Sullivan@aphis.usda.gov
I like This