Bug Love Frenzy! And a Little Hitchhiker!
I just went out again to check on the bumblebees and a number of others have joined in the fun!
Can you let me know what the little hitchhiker is on the highest bumblebee?
Thanks,
Roberta
Andover, MA
Bumble Bee mating frenzy
Bumblebee Love
I thought you would enjoy this picture of the “bumblebee love gathering” in my garden. I always thought bees mated in the air so I was very surprised to see this in my garden today 
Roberta
Andover, MA
Bumble Bees Mating
Hi Roberta,
After sifting through all the Bumble Bees in the genus Bombus posted on BugGuide, and all the identification drawings on the Bumblebees of North America website, we don’t feel confident enough to give you an exact species identification. Perhaps one of our readers can assist in this matter. We are curious about this group mating behavior. The detail on your photo is not sufficient for us to identify the small fly hitch-hiking on the top Bee.
Daniel:
The bumble bee mating behavior is typical of many ground-nesting bees. Virgin queens are a hot commodity, so males flock to them and compete for an opportunity to mate.
I can’t make out what the fly is, either, but it might be a “no-see-um,” family Ceratopogonidae, most species of which do not feed on people, but suck the blood of other insects.
Eric Eaton
¶ Posted 29 September 2008 § Bumble Bees ‡ ° Also tagged: is it some sort of mantis?
I was out shooting fall color and some insects when I came across this very small insect feeding on another insect. I didn’t really give it much thought until I was editing photos and noticed the mantis like front legs.
Jerry
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Mating Ambush Bugs
Hi Jerry,
While we have heard of many foods as being described as being “better than sex” in the case of your photograph, it seems the male Ambush Bug would rather procreate than eat. Ambush Bugs in the genus Phymata are typically found on blossoms where they wait to ambush insects attracted to the nectar and pollen.
¶ Posted 28 September 2008 § True Bugs ‡ ° Also tagged: Limax copulation
I just wanted to share this image and these Youtube links of a pair of Limax maximus copulating on my toolshed. I took these images in mid-September 2008 in Brunswick, Maryland (Frederick County).
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=k6Jh6zmoH1o
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=cutUEYHozpM
love your site – i visit regularly and recommend you to my friends
wayneO
Brunswick, Frederick County, Maryland
Mating Spotted Leopard Slugs
Hi Wayne,
Several years ago when we posted a response that mentioned that all snails and slugs are Hermaphrodites, so all pairings are same sex, we incurred the wrath of a particularly sensitive reader. The facts have not changed on this issue, and slugs are still hermaphrodites. This species is commonly called the Spotted Leopard Slug, the Tiger Slug, or the Great Grey Slug. More can be read on this Oregon State University website.
Walking stick species???
We saw this in our back yard today. It has a baby on its back. The bug is wingless and has 6 legs. It looks like some kind of small fat walking stick It is certainly adapted for living in trees with its coloring. We live in Southern Ky. (East Bernstadt).’m sending in 2 pics to help you ID it…Can’t wait to find out!! Thanks…this is a really cool site by the way
Ed and daughter Scarlett
Souther, Ky
Mating Walkingsticks
Hi Ed and Scarlett,
Your insects are mating Walkingsticks. We thought they might be Muskmares, but we also thought you were too far north for this species. We believe this is a closely related species in the same genus, Anisomorpha ferruginea, which we located on Bugguide.
sexual dimorphism, Mantid sexual congresS?
daniel & lisa,
find attached .jpeg for your review. the male was somewhat larger than the female. and
attacked the camera last week. i can resend video if interested. took these two along time to finish they’re business. great sight. thanks,
thomas
west michigan
Mating Preying Mantids
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for sending us your photo of mating Preying Mantids. It is actually the female that is the larger of the two. Thanks for your offer of video, but at the moment, we are not introducing this option to our website.
Update/Correction
September 11, 2009
I am surprised no one commented to explain what is really happening here. What you see here is not an example of sexual dimorphism, but something I never saw before – and really worth noting – 2 different species of mantises trying to mate! The male on top is actually a male Chinese Mantis, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis, while the one on the bottom is a female European mantis, Mantis religiosa. It is very obvious to those of us who live in the Northeastern US and know a bit about mantises, that these are 2 different species. The picture is very clear – the Chinese has those vertical stripes on its face, the European does not. The European also has the eye spot on it’s inner ‘upper arm’ (coxa) that is easily visible. And the stripe along the wing is brown in the brown European, while the brown Chinese always has a green stripe. The only time I saw something similar was during the late 1970s, when a male Chinese TRIED to mate with a female Narrow Winged mantis (Tenodera angusti pennis) in my garden, and she promptly ate him before he had a chance. I wonder what sort of hybrid would come out of a Chinese and European….It does not look in the picture that he can get his abdomen onto hers, that she is too short, so I wonder what actually happened here…….
Mantis observer
A calvacade of love….
Hey guys,
Thanks so much again, for your wonderful website and your
posting of insect photos so I can identify some of my critters. My
co-workers now think I have some sort of weird perversion to taking
photos of insect ‘porn’. Hmmmm I wonder if I do. I hope you can use
these photos.
Btw, there was a gentleman who answered a dragonfly question for me
earlier this year…if at all possible, could you pass my email address
to him as I would like to pick his brain about the various dragonflies
around this area, and he said he was from Manitoba.
ALSO, all these photos were taken in aspen parklands area of
southwestern Manitoba in Canada.
Sherry Lynn Punak-Murphy
Natural Resource Technician/Biologist
CFB/ASU Shilo, Manitoba
Mating Big Sand Tiger Beetles
Hi Again Sherry Lynn,
We are thrilled with all your marvelous images, but our archiving method makes multiple species on a single letter a bit of a problem. We would love to have you resend the Blister Beetle images using our new submission form on our newly metamorphosed website. We believe your mating Tiger Beetles are Big Sand Tiger Beetles, Cicindela formosa, based on photos posted to BugGuide. Sadly, we do not keep email addresses from old submissions, but the new comment feature on our website may allow for the dialog you desire.
¶ Posted 19 September 2008 § Beetles ‡ ° Also tagged: Asian longhorned beetle love
Love you site, check out the attached Anoplophora glabripennis shot.
Best,
Mike
Mating Asian Longhorns
Hi Mike,
We are thrilled to have your wonderful documentation of mating Asian Longhorn Beetles, especially since it will be cross referenced in our Bug Love section and our Invasive Exotic section of our new site, which we are currently about to migrate to, however, your photo lacks a location. Was this taken in native China? or is this an example of the species spread in North America? As this species has become established in the U.S., there is much information about the species online, including this UC Davis posting.
Worcester, Massachusetts.
mating pennyslvania leatherwings.
Hey bugman,
I thought I would share with you this image of a mating pair of pennsylvania leatherwings that I captured the other day near our house in Seymour, Tennessee, which is just south of Knoxville. I know you probably get a lot of these, but i thought that the angle on this photo was really cool. Anyway enjoy! I love the new layout of the site!
Michael Davis
Seymour, Tennessee
Pennsylvania Leatherwings Mating
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the positive words about our new site format. Your mating Pennsylvania Leatherwings, AKA Goldenrod Soldier Beetles, is quite a nice addition to our archives
Update: 29 September 2008
It is time for us to select a Bug of the Month, and we almost chose the Locust Borer, but that was our Bug of the Month for October 2007. Pennsylvania Leatherwings, Chauliognathus pensylvanicus, are a good choice, because like the Locust Borer, they are associated with that common wildflower Goldenrod. When the Goldenrod blooms in the fall, there is an entire ecosystem that depends upon it for survival. We have fond memories of running through the fields in Ohio when the Goldenrod was in bloom, after school started but before the cold winter weather arrived. Preying Mantids were everywhere, as were a variety of Orb Weaving Spiders. The Monarch Butterflies were migrating, and the last Swallowtails and Fritillaries and Painted Ladies came to the blossoms for nectar. Wasps and Bees and the beetles that mimic them like the Locust Borer were everywhere on the flowers. Grasshoppers were hopping and flying about. The Pennsylvania Leatherwings were also quite common, but their smaller size kept them from being the dramatic stars in the drama of eat or be eaten that was happening around them..
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