What is this spongy-fungusy-like bug?
Hello,
We are on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and have many of these strange bugs that carry things that look like sponges or fungus. They crawl on the picnic table under the oaks and pines. They look like moving bread crumbs with white legs. We are attaching a photo of one of the bugs. It’s at the upper left of the photo. Any ideas? Thanks.
You have a great website!
Margaret, Pamela and Meredith
Hi Girls,
I looks to me like you might have a photograph of a Brown Lacewing Larva, Family Hemerobiidae, known as Aphid Lions or Aphid Wolves. The larvae often cover themselves with debris including the empty skins of their victims.
whats this bug?
Hi there…….
My name is Shayla and i live in southeastern wisconsin. i found this tiny little creature crawling on my ceiling and i watched it for a couple of minutes and i put my fingure close to it and it moved from side to side like a crab and so i tried to make it fall onto a piece of paper so i could get a better look at it. it seems to have eight legs also. so i figured i would go online to see what i could find .. i was not able to find out what kind of bug it was but i took some pictures of it with my webcam … hopefully you will be able to help me out as in telling me what this bug is and a little about it?
greatly appreciated,
shayla
Hi Shayla,
You have a harmless (unless you are a small insect or spider), Pseudoscorpion. They are arachnids, related to both spiders and scorpions. They have a worldwide distribution and are often found in homes.
Hello folks.
First, let me thank you for your excellent site. I had found a strange little critter in my home office and wondered what it might be. I found it on your site after many others had let me down. It turns out to be a Masked Hunter". Quite the strange little critter. I thought you might get a kick out of seeing some of the photos I’ve taken of both that "masked hunter" and a solfugid which was out on a parking lot near my office.
Here’s the link.
Mostly these photos have been another excuse to play with my digital camera, and the originals of many are in higher resolution than that shown on the site. If you have any use for some of these photos, just let me know.
Thanks again for your informative site.
Jim Harrison
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the photos as well as the advertisement on your site. Sadly, we are currently down, yet again, due to heavy traffic. We will post your photos and letter as soon as September arrives.
Daniel;
Here are some close ups of that bug I was mentioning: What kind of bug is this?
chris
Hi Chris,
We seem to have lost your original letter concerning this bug. It also had us stumped for quite some time. It is a Burrower Bug, Family Cydnidae. According to Borror and Delong: “They are usually found burrowing beneath stones or boards, in sand, or in the mold about the roots of grass tufts; sometimes they are found in ant nests.”
Hi Spiderman!
Ok..Im stumped. Never seen anything like this. I live in Milton, Delaware…….there seems to be 5 round eggcases within the cocoon. Any idea what they might be? I always heard colored spiders were poisionous. Is this the case? Thanks!!
Connie
Delaware
Wow Connie,
Nice photo of Cyclosa bifurca. Here is what Comstock has to say: “The strange form of the abdomen sharply distinguishes this species from the othe species of Cyclosa in our fauna. The abdomen is long; the basal half bears two pairs of humps; the caudal half is more slender and is bifurcate at the tip. The body is green mottled with white; there is a light wavy band on the side of the abdomen; and the abdomen is bordered with a black line above, back of the humps. On the ventral side of the abdomen, there is a bright red spot between the epigastric furrow and the spinnerets. The legs are banded with reddish brown. I found this to be a common species near Miami, Fla. I first found it in the jungle near the shore of the bay, where it made an orb-web with a string of eggsacs across it like a stabilimentum.” Thank you for your wonderful addition to our site, especially since I could not find any photos online.
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Posted 12 August 2004
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Hi! This spider has been by one of the back windows of our house – not sure for how long but it has us all fascinated. We think that it’s a Golden Orb (thanks to your site) but are not quite sure. Thanks,
Rich Puig
Hi Rich,
Most definitely a Golden Orb Weaver.
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Posted 12 August 2004
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Our site just went down for the month, and though we have 130 letters outstanding, we decided to photograph this event taking place on our Datura plant. We noticed that the leaves were being eaten and found large numbers of beetle grub, chewing hungrily. They had an unusual viscous liquid on their backs. We also noticed a small green and black striped beetle on the plant. Guessing they were different stages of the same species, we researched the Three-Lined Potato Beetle, Lema trilineata, also called the Old-Fashioned Potato Beetle. This beetle obviously went out of fashion when the Colorado Potato Beetle became such a pest. Our Audubon Society Guide states: “Voracious larvae gather in clusters on potato leaves, nibbling lacy holes and eventually consuming all but the midvein. Unlike other larvae of other potato-feeders, they are blanketed in a wet froth of their own secretions. Adults can be distinguished from the Striped Cucumber Beetle by the constriction behind the thorax.”Datura is a member of the potato family, which explains the beetles presence on this hallucinogenic plant.
My bugs
These tiny little bugs swarmed our kitchen a few days ago. They literally covered the counter top and we have no idea where they came from. One minute there was nothing, and then like 10 minutes later they were crawling all over the counter and the floor and flying around the light. There were hundreds of them. They sort of look like fruit flies but they seem bigger and I’ve never seen that many fruit flies together before. Maybe they all just hatched at the same time or something. Let me know what you think.
Thanks
Ayron
Hi Ayron,
You have flying ants. These are the reproductive queens and kings. They swarm and mate in the air, then form new colonies. You must have an ant nest that has an egress into your kitchen.
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Posted 12 August 2004
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Hello folks.
First, let me thank you for your excellent site. I had found a strange little critter in my home office and wondered what it might be. I found it on your site after many others had let me down. It turns out to be a Masked Hunter". Quite the strange little critter. I thought you might get a kick out of seeing some of the photos I’ve taken of both that "masked hunter" and a solfugid which was out on a parking lot near my office.
Here’s the link.
Mostly these photos have been another excuse to play with my digital camera, and the originals of many are in higher resolution than that shown on the site. If you have any use for some of these photos, just let me know.
Thanks again for your informative site.
Jim Harrison
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the photos as well as the advertisement on your site. The story on your site about finding the Masked Hunter on the roll of toilet paper is quite amusing. Sadly, we are currently down, yet again, due to heavy traffic. We will post your photos and letter as soon as September arrives.
New pics
Hey Daniel,
I have a couple specials for you to add to your archives. I seem to be getting better at my photos. The unknown bug was
found in a drift fence array in West Texas, and none of the researchers could figure out what it was. Can you?!
Wendy A.
Hi Wendy,
The Green Sphinx Caterpillar is probably a member of the genus Eumorpha, formerly Pholus. Notice how the head is retracted into the thoracic portion of the body as well as the absence of a caudal horn. We entertain the possibility that it most resembles Eumorpha pandorus in its green form, but the abdominal spots do not appear to be ringed in black in your photo. This is a caterpillar that comes in both a brown and green form. We love your photo of a Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar, Battus philenor. Most photos online show black caterpillars with red fleshy spines. We might be wrong, but we believe there is a red form as well. Your photos really are great.
Orb in the Basement
Since Finding your site spiders have become more intriguing to me. This little guy seems to have a walking person on its belly. Any ideas as to what it might be?
Thanks
Shawn
Battle Creek, MI
Hi Shawn,
I’m very happy you find our site interesting. Sorry I can’t be more exact with your spider. It seems to be one of the Comb-Footed Spiders, Family Theridiidae. The Black Widow is in this family, but your critter isn’t one of the few dangerous spiders we have stateside. Your spider appears to be a very competant hunter, considering the ground beetle and millipede it has caught.
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Posted 11 August 2004
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Tagged: food chain
What the heck is this moth?
I thought this was bird poop until I noticed it kept moving across the glass every time I went by. The only way I could tell it WASN’T bird poop, was when I noticed it had fuzzy feet from the inside of the glass. It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen a moth like that around here.
Kara Hamilton
You had us stumped Kara,
We checked our obsolete Holland Moth Book and found something that resembled your moth, but we were unsure as it was a mounted specimen that showed yellow underwings. The moth is Euthisanotia unio and is a member of the family Noctuidae. Then we did a google search with that name, and somehow found a link claiming the name was changed to Eudryas unio that sent us to Lynn Scott’s Lepidoptera Images that had a photo which also showed the underwings, but it showed the furry front legs as well. A closely related species, is E. grata. Nowhere is anything written about the moth resembling a bird’s dropping, which your photo makes very obvious. Continued searching led us to this page with a nice photo. The common name for E. unio is the Pearly Wood Nymph. The common name for E. grata is the Beautiful Wood Nymph.
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Posted 11 August 2004
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