Insect ID
Location: ???? but a sticker in plastic casing says Columbia
January 23, 2012 5:21 pm
Hi Bugman,
I teach a 4-6 Special Needs Class and have come across this insect that I would like to ID for my students. It is in an acrylic case. Can you help?
Body…..5 cm long…2.5 cm wide…1 cm thick
Color…..Black and Brown
Antenna…..10 cm long with segments (about 9)
Wings…..looks like 1 pair (hard to tell)
Feet look like they have 2 toe-like extensions
Thanks
Signature: D. Jimenez
Harlequin Beetle in Lucite
Dear D. Jimenez,
This is a Harlequin Beetle, Acrocinus longimanus, and it does range in Columbia as well as other places in Central and South America. They are much more impressive and beautiful alive.
What is this butterflies called
Location: Austin, Texas
January 24, 2012 9:54 am
I have taken a picture of two butterflies and will like to know what kind are they, and if they are mating or are co-joined together. thank you for your help
Signature: Mauricio Alvarez
Checkered Skippers Mating
Dear Mauricio,
These Common Checkered Skippers, Pyrgus communis, which we believe we correctly identified on BugGuide, are in fact mating. BugGuide indicates: “Larvae feed on mallows (Malvaceae), including Althea, Abutilon, Malva. Adults take nectar.” Thanks for sending these great photos, and we are especially happy that you show both the upper and under views of the wings.
Mating Common Checkered Skippers
Thank you very much for your help. Feel free to use those pictures in your website.
Mauricio
Striped Beetle??
Location: North-East Goldfields, Western Australia
January 24, 2012 6:15 pm
Hi,
I’m currently working in the Goldfields of Western Australia. This is on a new mine development in a very remote location to the north east of the city of Kalgoorlie. I found this interesting specimen. I think its a beetle and a rather attractive one with its strips. Its currently summer time here, but we have had a fair bit of rain. Hope you can help me identify it!
Signature: Josh
possibly Rhytiphora macleayi from Australia
Dear Josh,
This strikingly beautiful beetle is a member of the family Cerambycidae, commonly called Longhorns, Longicorns or Bycids. Our initial search has not turned up a conclusive species identification. Insects from the more populous eastern parts of Australia are more available on the internet.
We continued to search after posting and stumbled upon the Silver Striped Beetle, Rhytiphora dallasi, on the Shell Picture Card website which states: “Card data: “This is another magnificent Longicorn – a native of Western Australia. It measures about 1 1/2 inches in length and has a distinctive silvery white body adorned with black lines. This beetle is only found during the warm months. Its grubs are borers in native timbers. Family:
Cerambycidae. ” Comments: Nothing appears to have been written on the biology of this species since publication of the Shell Picture Card series.” The Antennae of the specimen on Csiro or the pair on the Worldwide Cerambycidae PHoto Gallery don’t seem to match as they are not striped like your individual. The related Rhytiphora macleayi from the Agriculture of Western Australia website seems a better match.
1
moth? with flash
Location: new zealand
January 24, 2012 4:45 pm
I found this specimen sitting quite still on the garden path at night. it was apparently not bothered by the camera flash.
Signature: greg
Other enquiries suggest that it’s a Huhu beetle: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/insects-overview/8/2/1
HuHu Beetle
Dear Greg,
We are happy to hear you self identified your HuHu Beetle, Prionoplus reticularis. We have at least one previous submission of a HuHu Beetle in our archives, and we are very happy to include your letter and gorgeous photo as well.
Pink moth with long tail
Location: Sierra Leone, Africa
January 24, 2012 6:12 am
Hi guys
snapped this photo this morning and have been unable to find the identification for this moth.
The moth’s [body] was probably 4cm long while the tail was about 20cm long.
Signature: thanks, Keith
Eudaemonia argus
Dear Keith,
What an amazingly beautiful moth this is. We believe we have correctly identified it as Eudaemonia argus and you may verify that on the Bold Systems website. We are copying Bill Oehlke on this response so he can confirm our identification and he may also request permission to post your photo on his amazing World’s Largest Saturniidae website.
Thanks Daniel,
Here is what I wrote to Keith.
Hi Keith,
Daniel is correct. It is Eudamonia argus.
Bill Oehlke
Hi Bill/Daniel
I would be delighted for you to publish the pics.
please do correct my grammar in the write-up though, wrote it all very quickly without proof reading and its missing the the word “body” ( the Moth’s body was 4cm).
Other than that, please find attached the higher res pics I have.
Many thanks in your help on the matter of identification.
Regards
Keith
Eudaemonia argus
Thanks for the higher resolution images Keith, and also for allowing Bill to post to his website as well.
1
Bug under bark
Location: Worthington, OH
January 23, 2012 3:01 pm
Happy New Year to WTB!
Towards the end of December, we had a pretty warm couple of days here in central Ohio. I went outside to pick up some logs for the fireplace, and grabbed some maple logs with fairly loose bark on them. I peeled the bark off and found a ton of these little guys. The longest of them was maybe 1/4” max. To say they were lethargic was an uderstatement. I left them in the sun for about 10 minutes before they even started to move. It appears that they have a healthy appetite for wood, but I have no clue what they are. Any ideas?
Signature: Ed Huston
Flat Bugs
Dear Ed,
You have uncovered a colony of Flat Bugs in the genus Aneurus, both adults and immature individuals of various stages known as instars. Flat Bugs do not feed on the wood. According to BugGuide, Flat Bugs are found “under bark” just as you found them, and they feed on fungi.
Flat Bugs
Daniel,
Thanks for getting back to me. That was much quicker than expected. I’m glad to know that they aren’t human eating micro-zombies or some such thing.
Thanks again!
Ed
Grasshopper or Cricket?
Location: Portugal
January 23, 2012 6:21 am
Dear WTB,
This little fellow was drowning in the pool… I rescued him and he was very kind to let me take a shot.
He is missing one of his horns.
This was taken in plain Summer, August.
Signature: Diogo Ferreira
Cricket from Portugal
Hi again Diogo,
This is indeed a Cricket, and the coloration is somewhat unusual, but we haven’t had any luck finding any matching photos on the internet. The web search produced many more hits of the sport with the same name. What you have called horns are actually sensory organs known as antennae. Also, we believe your “he” is a she. Though the depth of field is quite shallow and the rear portion of the body is not clearly visible, it appears that there is a stingerlike ovipositor, the egg laying organ of many insects including Crickets.
Update: Thanks to Cesar Crash for finding a link to Gryllus campestris, which looks very much like the Cricket in question.
Dear Daniel,
Thank you once again for all of your help.
You’re site is amazing as well as all the detailed information about bugs.
I didn’t realize indeed that it was a she!
Thank’s for all,
Diogo Ferreira
You are welcome Diogo,
Please read Cesar Crash’s comment to this posting on gender and nouns in Portuguese.
Unknown night bug
January 23, 2012 1:11 pm
Dear Mr. Bugman,
I’ve spent some time trying to identify this bug but have been unsuccesful so far.
I’ve spotted it in the middle of a warm summer night in the Netherlands. It did not react to the flashlight of my camera. It seems it has underdeveloped wings and a weird set of ’teeth’ originating from the top of its head bending towards the bottom of its body.
Thanks for the awesome website, keep it up!
Signature: Thanks, Frank
Assassin Bug
Dear Frank,
We believe this is an Assassin Bug, a predatory True Bug in the family Reduviidae. Unless we are sorely mistaken, the underdeveloped wings are an indication that it is an immature specimen. We would not entirely rule out that this is a member of some other Heteropteran family though.
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