Red, Black and Yellow Centipede Like Insect
July 12, 2009
Hello Bugman. I encountered this centipede like creature while walking on an old blacktop in Central Arkansas just west of Little Rock. I have never seen something like it. Sorry that I could not get a better picture of him. At first he was crawling around free, but when I uncovered it, it curled defensively into a ball and would not stretch back out. Hopefully the distinctive colors will help.
Ben Batten
Little Rock, AR
- Glowworm
Hi Ben,
This is actually a beetle larvae known as a Glowworm. Sadly, you did not get to witness its bioluminescence since your sighting was during the day. We found a very similar image on BugGuide, but your specimen has even brighter coloration.
Enoplognatha ovata?Not a lot of brightly coloured spiders in Ireland so… July 12, 2009
Love love love love the site. I live in a rural area of Ireland and have not come across too many pretty, brightly coloured spiders here so it was a nice surprise to see this girl moving into our bathroom a few days ago. She was making it very difficult for us to get a pic of her so that we could get a closer look and search for an ID. But the other day as I got out of the shower she was out and about without a care in the world. So in a bath towel and up a ladder I took as many pics as I could and only one seemed fit to show to anyone – I stopped after snapping over 20 as it was all becoming a bit ‘Carry on…’ plus I didn’t want to slip and be found and have to explain what I was doing!
After trawling the internet and books I think she is Enoplognatha ovata but not 100% and I have definitley never seen anything like her before.
She seems to be taking up residence along with several other house spiders who share our bathroom and she just stands out so well against the white tiles we can’t help but check to see if she is still there everytime someone goes in.
Keep up the great work – I teach animal care/science students animal behaviour and we spend lots of time discussing evolution and biodiversity so I like to hammer home the importance of ‘creepy crawlies’ so your site is one of the top links I recommend they visit to develop an appreciation for such essential organisms. Cheers!
Anne Rogers, Meath, Ireland
Ballivor, County Meath, Ireland, Europe
Candystripe Spider
Hi Anne,
Thanks for your complimentary letter. We believe you have properly identified Enoplognatha ovata, and our research turned up the colorful common name Candystripe Spider on the Eurospiders Website. It is a Cobweb Spider in the family Theridiidae.
Giant furry ant or bee without wings?
July 11, 2009
I found this inside out house. He was about 5/8 inches long.
David Brownell
Jocotepec, JAL, Mexico
Velvet Ant from Jalisco
Dear David,
Your insect is a flightless female wasp known as a Velvet Ant, but we do not know the species. It is probably in the genus Dasymutilla. We already posted another individual from Oregon today. Your photo is awesome.
Male Dobsonfly
July 10, 2009
I live near the Susquehanna river in NE Pennsylvania and often visit with my camera. Today I went down after work, dropped my camera bag on the bank and went to work photographing wildflowers.
I turned back to my bag in time to see this guy crawling up to the top, where he latched onto the handle and proceeded to flap his wings furiously (thus the motion blur, sorry). Seriously, I think he was humping my bag. I’m wondering if he mistook my hairclip for a female 
I took a few shots, then found a stick and shooed him away. And of course, took a few shots of him on the ground. That one is blurry because I am a chicken and didn’t want to get too close.
Jeanne
Northeastern PA
Male Dobsonfly
Hi Jeanne,
We already posted two Dobsonfly images today, but your letter is so wonderful and you photo is so great, we really needed to add it to our site as well. Thanks for an excellent contribution.
three unknown insects
July 10, 2009
I am enclosing three photos of bugs we have found around our Phoenix AZ home. We liv next to a wash and have lots of lizards and birds, and expect to have some insects but two spiders we cannot identfy and now a giant beetle. Can you help us?
Deborah
Phoenix AZ urban neighborhood near wash
Palo Verde Root Borer
Hi Deborah,
We already sent you a quick response identifying your Solpugid and Tailless Whipscorpion, neither of which is an insect, and neither of which is venomous or harmless to you. The third photo we are happy to post to our site. It is a Palo Verde Root Borer, Derobrachus hovorei. According to BugGuide it is found in the “southwestern United States (AZ, CA, NM, NV, TX) and northern Mexico” and adults are attracted to lights. Thanks for including the quarter for scale.
what is this thing?
July 11, 2009
I’ve seen a few of these the past few nights, only at night. The ones I’ve seen are near a light source, and rather inactive. Two sets of wings, a soft abdomen, 6 legs, 2 antennae, and claw like pinchers at it’s mouth. this one is about 2.5″ long and a wingspan of 3.5″. I have never seen anything close to this before.
Ryan
West suburbs of Chicago
- Female Dobsonfly
Hi Ryan,
This is a female Dobsonfly, a common insect throughout the eastern U.S. We also just posted a photo of a male Dobsonfly from Ecuador. You should compare the modest mandibles on your female to the impressive set on the male of the species, though we suspect the Ecuadorean individual is of a different species.
A Cool Site!
July 11, 2009
I wished to thank you for such an amazing and informative site; this from a non-bug lover who would have to honestly admit to some unnecessary carnage in her lifetime especially a creepy, crawly anything…
butterflies, (caterpillars of course) lady bugs (the only one loved out of the beetle family) and a few others I’ve never murdered, though lets not go into carpenter ants and the wealth of stories there!
Either way, I began to research a funny looking beetle I have come across both last summer and this summer and though I did have a beetle farm (I am an adult) last summer, I could not find one informative answer to what type it was. Having Googled ‘Common Household Canadian Bugs’ early this morning, your site came up and yet I do not see this beetle here either:( No worries I’ll take a photo at some point.
By providing such an incredible site however, you have educated my mind and I won’t be so quick to tissue squish a harmless insect the next time, afterall God created all even if some of what he created isn’t all that pretty! If bugs had a voice, I’m certain they’d agree:)
Lastly I was very much amused in finding your Nasty Reader Award in the uncaterogized section and laughed heartily over a response to someone named Johnathan by a ‘loyal bug fan,’ in the reason his pictures were not sent by e-mail of his bug, was simply because said bug ‘was up his arse.’ The explanation and vivid imagination with which one of your loyal bug fans winged into their response was delightful reading at best. Simply a great way to begin my day.
So again thank you and I have bookmarked your site to begin an adventure into learning while one day I may be able to report that ‘I am now A Reformed Bug Squisher.’
Dear Reformed Squisher,
Thanks for your awesome letter. We are happy that we amused you. We have been without a computer for two day and were unable to make any new posts, but our fast new computer is allowing us to expedite the response process. Though we doubt we will ever be able to respond to all of our mail, at least we will be able to respond to more of it. Your letter will have a permanent home on our fanmail page.
Butterfly ID requested
July 10, 2009
Butterfly ID requested
Can someone tell me what this butterfly is? I photographed it in June near Zilnia, Slovakia in Europe. Both photos are of the insect. Thank you.
Jim Zuckerman
Zilnia, Slovakia
Silver Studded Blue
Dear Jim,
What we could say before doing any research is that your butterfly is a Gossamer Winged Butterfly in the family Lycaenidae and the subfamily Polyommatinae. Now that we have a brand new computer, our internet research is so much faster. We quickly tentatively identified your butterfly as a Silver Studded Blue, Plebejus (Plebeius) argus, on the Butterflies of Europe and North Africa website. The bright blue coloration indicates a male. Sadly, we cannot link directly to the image on the previous site, but the Butterflies of Norway site has mounted specimens. They are not as pretty as the living specimens.
Silver Studded Blue
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