Unknown Mating Beetles
Location: Texas Hill Country
September 7, 2010 4:01 am
Hi there!
We found these guys in our backyard, there’s actually a lot of them. Over the last couple of years they have made more of an appearance then before. I think they like the oak trees in our yard. During the morning they fly around the trees, and by mid-afternoon there buzzing around at head level. I’ve tried identifying them with your catalog, but the only beetles I’ve found are similar are the Japanese Beetles, and these are lacking the dots along they’re sides, aside from not being quite the same color. Thank you for you’re lovely site, it provides endless education for my children and myself.
Signature: Beetle GURL
Green June Beetle Mating Frenzy
Dear Beetle GURL,
The only way we can think of to tactfully refer to this activity is a mating frenzy of Green June Beetles in the genus Cotinis. The ranges of the eastern Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida, and the western Green Fruit Beetle or Figeater, Cotinis mutabilis, overlap in Texas, so we aren’t certain which species you have encountered. You can browse BugGuide for more photographs and see the BugGuide information page of the genus for more general information. You can also read the information page on the Figeater on bugGuide and the information page on the Green June Beetle on BugGuide for specific information on the two species.
Green June Beetle Mating Frenzy
Who am I?
Location: San Diego, CA
September 2, 2010 1:22 am
So, we found these bugs everywhere on the new vegetables that we planted. It is some sort of chinese green vegetable. ( not sure which one, as my kids dumped all the seeds in the dirt =). There are tons of them on the ground near the sprouts and all up in them. What are they, and from the picture it looks like they are reproducing. So how do i get rid of them if they are harmful to my new plants?
Jeanine
Mating Painted Bugs
Hi Jeanine,
In our opinion, the African Painted Bugs, Bagrada hilaris, which were first reported in California just two years ago, will go down in history as being one of the most problematic Exotic Invasive agricultural pests due to their fondness for sucking the juices from plants in the cabbage family. We first noticed hoards of them on our collard greens last summer. It seems mating is the main objective of every adult, and mating pairs like the ones in your photograph seem to be more common than single individuals.
FUN! thank you so much for identifying it for us! my kids will be delighted. Do you know any ways to rid of it?
jeanine
Flying Insect
Taylor, MI (southeast MI)
August 31, 2010 10:40 pm
This is probably a pretty boring insect, but what in the world is this. They were hanging out by the hundreds on a window of a friend of mine?
cgp
Midges
Hi cgp,
We are not going to try to pretend we know more than what our limited understanding includes when it comes to insect identification. These are members of the order Diptera which includes flies and mosquitoes. They are some small gnats or midges, but we have no idea what family much less genus or species. That would take a true expert in the area, known as a dipterist. We can tell you that this is a pair, and the individual with the arrow pointing at him is the male. Many male flies have highly developed antennae which are sensory organs, presumably to help them locate females. Hopefully one of our readers will be able to provide a more specific identification. We just noticed your email contained a second contact with additional information.
Apparently this is a chiromid midge.
– cgp
Dear cgp,
Thanks for providing us with a followup that supports our original vague identification. We are linking to the BugGuide information page on the Chironomid Midges in the family Chironomidae.
¶ Posted 01 September 2010 § Midges ‡ ° Also tagged: this stung my wife
Location: SE PA woods
August 27, 2010 5:08 pm
AND NOW LIVES UNDER A CUP IN THE BACKYARD
THANKS, JMR
Mating Wheel Bugs
Hi JMR,
This is a they and they are mating Wheel Bugs. Wheel Bugs do not sting, but rather, they bite, and the bite is reported to be quite painful, but not dangerous. You should release them from their cup as they are important predators that will help keep the population of plant eating insects in check.
Canoodling Saturniids
Location: Western Pennsylvania (Slippery Rock)
August 27, 2010 9:26 pm
Hi, Daniel,
I am attaching two pictures of mating Saturniid moths, but I could not tell if they were Promethea Moths or Tulip Tree Silk Moths. You’ll notice from the file names that I first misidentified them as Io moths. About six weeks ago, these two were found on the screen over our mud room window, and there they stayed for many hours – literally most of the day. When night fell, they were gone. These are such elegant creatures.
Glenn Marsch
Mating Prometheus Moths
Hi Glenn,
These mating Prometheus Moths are truly lovely. The moth closer to the camera is the dark male, and we suspect he looks larger because of the use of a wide angle lens which is distorting the perspective since the female is generally the larger of the sexes.
Wow, that was quick, and I am impressed. Thanks for the ID. Now I can go to my Flickr site & update the caption.
Best Regards,
Glenn
Mating Skippers
Location: Northern Kentucky, near Cincinnati, OH
August 23, 2010 9:15 pm
Hi Bugman,
Love is in the air and definitely in my garden. The skippers have been abundant and madly chasing each other around for a few weeks.
I’m going to take a stab at this and tentatively suggest that these are Little Glassywings, based on a plethora of other photos that I’ve taken of these adorable little guys and that they are common to my county. I know it’s pretty impossible to clearly identify the species based on these pics.
What cracks me up, watching their mating ritual, is that the female will land and spread her wings and body out, seemingly making herself available for mating, just from my observations.
The male will usually do a little bouncing ’dance’ over her for several seconds and then land next to her. He then curls his abdomen toward her, invitingly. Sometimes she accepts his advances, other times not.
This gal apparently found her suitor acceptable.
Regards,
Ragdoll
Mating Skippers
Hi Ragdoll,
Thanks so much for supplying such a detailed account of your observations of the mating habits of these Skippers. We are currently experiencing technical difficulties and we do not have the time to research your identification, but we will post your email and we hope the images show live. We will link to the Little Glassywing, Pompeius verna, page on BugGuide.
Mating Skippers
Thanks a bunch, Bug Wo/Man, but please, don’t trouble yourself too much trying to verify the species. I know skippers are very similar and hard to identify, and these particular pics don’t really do a lot to help with that.
I just wanted to share some shots and the antics of one my favorite garden visitors. They are so cute with their fat, fuzzy little bodies and great big eyes. Plus, they’re pretty fearless. They’ll almost let me touch them, at times, and seem to be as interested in me as I am in them.
I’m happy that you found the shots worthy of posting and, as always, thanks for such a wonderful site. You’ve given me an outlet for my love of ‘bugs’ and kindled a real desire to learn about them, simply because no question, comment, or assumption is too ignorant for you. I’m living proof of that.
Warm Regards,
Rags
¶ Posted 24 August 2010 § Skippers ‡ ° Also tagged: Leaf hopper love.
Location: Staten Island, NY
August 21, 2010 9:17 am
I thought you might be interested in these pics of mating leaf hoppers
Spuds
Mating Sharpshooters
Hi Spuds,
We believe this may be our first photo of mating Leafhoppers. Your Leafhoppers are Sharpshooters in the genus Graphocephala. They look like they might be Rhododendron Leafhoppers, Graphocephala fennahi, based on photos posted on BugGuide.
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