Similar to Japanese Beetle in Size
July 13, 2009
This beetle is seen in my garden. It is similar in size to the Japanese beetle. I found this beetle on a grape leaf. It is mid-July and I have been seeing them for about a week.
Cathy
Nothern Westchester County, New York.
Oriental Beetle
Hi Cathy,
Your beetle is a Shining Leaf Chafer in the same subfamily as the Japanese Beetle. We believe it is in the genus Strigoderma based on images posted to BugGuide. Perhaps one of our readers can verify this.
Correction from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
The “shining leaf chafer” you thought might be Strigoderma is actually the “Oriental beetle,” Anomala orientalis, incredibly abundant right now here in western Massachusetts….
Eric
Spiny Spider
July 13, 2009
Found this guy in my hair yesterday (July 12) during a hike. I’ve never seen a spider like this. My husband didn’t believe it was a spider until it spun its silk to drop off a branch. Still not sure what type of spider it is. Sorry for the quality. We didn’t have our good camera on the hike. 
Resa
Atlanta, GA
Spined Micrathena
Hi Resa,
This is a Spined Micrathena, Micrathena gracilis, one of the orb weaving spiders. It ranges over much of eastern North America. We are amused with your comment about the picture quality, and we can only imagine the resolution of your good camera seeing as so much that we receive are either low resolution images taken with cell phones, or blurry large files taken by people who have no idea how to properly focus their cameras.
What kind of bug is this?!
July 13, 2009
Ok, we’ve been catching these things since i can remember and we’ve always called them doodlebugs, but after researching on the internet it seems that my family must be the only ones who call these doodlebugs! So, i’m just curious as to what they really are called. We always would catch these by sticking a long blade of grass or pine needle (anything long and slender) and wait for it to start moving and pushing back up and then just pull it up real fast and they would come flying out!
Also, when you touch them with something they will arch their backs real fast as if they try to stick you with whatever that hump towards the end of their body is. Is this some kind of stinger or something??
Thanks alot for your help!
Tim D.
Bastrop, LA
Tiger Beetle Larva
Hi Tim,
This is a Tiger Beetle Larva in the subfamily Cicindelinae. There is another insect commonly called a Doodlebug, and that is the larva of the Antlion. The method you describe for catching your Tiger Beetle Larva is almost identical to the method used by children to catch a true Doodlebug.
Tiger Beetle Larva Hole
Leafhopper ID
July 13, 2009
Lots of these on our Red Bud tree recently (July). Black body with red underside, red line and one yellow line across thorax; wings black with 2 yellow-orange stripes across them. Approx. 1 cm. length. Antennae inconspicuous.
Mary
Central IL
Two Lined Spittlebug
Dear Mary,
This is a Two Lined Spittlebug, Prosapia bicincta. Spittlebugs are related to Leafhoppers and share many similarities since they are in the same suborder of Free Living Hemipterans, but they have their own family Cercopidae. The immature Spittlebugs live in a mass of foam that resembles spittle. BugGuide indicates that the damage done to plants is mild and states: “In the immature (nymph) stage (surrounded by the ‘spittle’ foam which protects them, and which they produce from juices they suck from the plant) they feed on centipedegrass, bermudagrass and other grasses, including occasionally corn. Adults feed on hollies – they feed on the underside of leaves, and damage shows up as pale mottling not usually visible from above.“
Identification
July 14, 2009
The other day i was sitting in my basement when an insect (6 legs) landed on me. mostly black with red dots, large wings and when i brushed it off of me it then emitted a horrendous smell that was so bad i had to change
n/a
southeast missouri
Pustulated Carrion Beetle: skewered
Dear n/a,
This is a Pustulated Carrion Beetle, Nicrophorus pustulatus. It is one of the Burying Beetles. BugGuide reports: “Reported to be a brood parasite of other Nicrophorus (1). Also reported to parasitize the eggs of Black Rat Snakes–see Ecoscience 7 (4) : 395-397 (2000). The beetle larvae destroy the snake eggs, thus, the beetle would qualify as a parasitoid, a relationship usually seen only among invertebrates.” It appears that this Pustulated Carrion Beetle has been skewered, and we don’t believe it is to enter an insect collection, which would probably qualify it as unnecessary carnage. In the scheme of things, the beetle stinking you up so you had to change your shirt is not as troublesome as you ending its life as payback.
Swarm of red/black insects
June 13, 2009
Swarm of red/black insects
Your letter to the bugman (please provide as much narrative and information as possible) I have what I would describe as a swarm of red and black insects on the side of my house and my neighbor’s house. There are two distinct looking types. One is larger and more black than red while the other is smaller and is more red than black, and there are tinyred ones I can only assume are babies everywhere.
Nathan Elsener
North Central West Virginia
Boxelder Bug Aggregation
Hi Nathan,
Boxelder Bugs like the ones in your photo are one of our most frequently requested identifications. The Boxelder Bugs frequently form large aggregations of nymphs and adults. Other than being a nuisance, the Boxelder Bugs are benign.
Firefly impostor
June 13, 2009
A few weeks ago I noticed many insects that look very similar to fireflies. The body is black and head has red/orange markings. They seemed to appear all on the same day and now we have hundreds around the house. We have never noticed them (at least in this quantity) before. Any idea?
Bugged Out
Philadelphia suburbs
Black Firefly
Dear Bugged Out,
We are trying to answer some older mail we didn’t open in the past month. This is a species of Soldier Beetle, Rhaxonycha carolinus. BugGuide has some additional information on the species.
Correction
Tuesday, 14 July, 2009
I don’t know, this looks more like Lucidota atra, a diurnal species with reduced light organs, but a true firefly. Have a look: http://bugguide.net/node/view/5361
clickbeetle
Black and White Moth
July 13, 2009
This black and white moth was on our window at night, attracted to the light.
David Brownell
Jocotepec, JAL, Mexico
Unknown Mexican Moth
Hi David,
Thanks for writing back and providing a location. Though it resembles the Giant Leopard Moth of the U.S., this is a distinct species. Its legs are quite distinctive. Though we believe it is a Tiger Moth, we aren’t certain. We will contact Arctiid expert Julian Donahue to see if he can identify your moth.
Update from Julian Donahue
Mistaking this moth for a tiger moth is a common one–it has even fooled professional collectors from whom I used to purchase Mexican tiger moths for the Museum (consequently, we have a lot of them in the collection!). (ed. Note: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History)
The moth is in the Noctuidae (to which the tiger moths have been recently relegated as a subfamily: Arctiinae), in the subfamily Pantheinae. It is in the genus Lichnoptera, and its crisp black markings on a white ground make it very similar to Lichnoptera decora, the only member of the genus that occurs in the United States. Poole’s catalog of the world Noctuidae has 15 species of Lichnoptera, all but decora described from Mexico and various countries in Central and South America–and most of these are not as boldly marked as decora (I’m fairly certain that decora also occurs in Mexico). The larvae of L. decora have been reported feeding on apricot.
Julian P. Donahue
Another Correction
Daniel:
I believe this is an Owlet Moth (Noctuidae); subfamily Pantheinae. It looks very similar to Lichnoptera decora, a species that also occurs in the southwestern USA, but it is virtually identical to photos of L. cavillator in my copy of “Butterflies and Moths of Costa Rica” (Chacon and Montero). Anyway, I believe Lichnoptera is the genus. Regards.
Karl
http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zeeb/butterflies/figs/moths/Noctuidae/Pantheinae/L_decora.jpg
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