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Tag Archives: bug love

What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Mating Blister Beetles

black with red stripes
August 23, 2009
I’ve found a half-dozen or so of these guys crawling around behind the barn, although it might be a mistake to refer to them all as “guys”. they have five horizontal red stripes around a tapering body – maybe 3/4 to 1″ long. Head and legs are more like those of ants – little teeny wings (?) with a vertical red stripe. they can move really fast when they want to, but mostly just waddle around.
I’ve looked in all my available references and I’m stumped.
Nancy L.
western AZ at 5000 feet elevation

Mating Blister Beetles

Mating Blister Beetles

Dear Nancy,
We really think Blister Beetles in the genus Megetra are phenomenal looking, and we are ecstatic that you have sent us a photo of a mating pair.

Blister Beetle

Blister Beetle

Posted 23 August 2009 § Blister Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Mating Thread-Waisted Wasps

Thread Waisted Wasps Mating
August 13, 2009
Hi, I just saw these two in the garden, and just found them on your site! Ironic that the description onsite said they could often be seen mating in the garden because that’s exactly what they were doing when I saw them! Hope you can use the pictures and thanks again for a great site!
Kathleen Haines
Newport News, VA (southeastern VA)

Thread Waisted Waps Mating

Thread Waisted Waps Mating

Hi Kathleen,
Thanks for sending us your excellent images of Thread Waisted Wasps, Eremnophila aureonotata, mating in your garden.  Indeed, Bugguide does state:  “Female digs burrow and provisions with a single large lepidopteran larvae. These are reported to include various moths from the families Noctuidae, Notodontidae (especially), and Sphingidae, and also skippers (Hesperidae).  The wasp is commonly found on wildflowers with large clusters of blossoms, such as Queen Anne’s Lace, from summer into fall. One frequently observes mating pairs on the flowers.“

Thread Waisted Wasps Mating

Thread Waisted Wasps Mating

Posted 14 August 2009 § Thread Waisted Wasps ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Cobalt Milkweed Beetle

please verify
August 10, 2009
I found these beetles on milkweed and have tentatively identified them as Blue Milkweed Beetles. Is that your assessment too? And is that the beetles’ genitalia that I am seeing in the second photograph?
Tom
near Mt Shasta, Ca

Cobalt Milkweed Beetles Mating

Cobalt Milkweed Beetles Mating

Dear Tom,
BugGuide refers to Chrysochus cobaltinus as the Cobalt Milkweed Beetle.  Your photo of a couple in the process of mating is a nice addition to our Bug Love pages.  We will try to get an answer on the genitalia question for you.

Cobalt Milkweed Beetle

Cobalt Milkweed Beetle

Posted 10 August 2009 § Leaf Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Painted Bugs from Africa mating in Mount Washington: Bagrada hilaris

July 26, 2009
We noticed some tiny Stink Bugs on our kale and collard greens yesterday, so today we took out the camera and shot some photos.  According to BugGuide, this is a new Invasive Exotic species from Africa, Bagrada hilaris.  It is a very small Stink Bug, about a quarter of the size of the similarly marked Harlequin Stink Bug we also photographed today.  We should try to get one more photo as a size comparison.

Mating Invasive Exotic Stink Bugs in our own garden

Mating Invasive Exotic Stink Bugs in our own garden

We went back out with the camera, placed two specimens in the freezer to slow them down, and took the following size comparison photo between Bagrada and Murgantia and then posted the images to BugGuide.

Bagrada (left) and Murgantia size comparison

Bagrada (left) and Murgantia size comparison

The Natural History of Orange County website has a nice page documenting the life history of what the County of Los Angeles Agricultural Commissioner is calling the Painted Bug in a posted pdf entitled Bagrada_hilaris.

Update:  We wrote to Stephanie at the US Department of Agriculture
Hi Stephanie,
Apparently this new African Stink Bug was first documented in Los
Angeles and Orange Counties last year.  Does anyone need specimens
before I squash what is feeding on my collard greens and kale?
Daniel Marlos

Thanks so much for letting us know. Apparantly, it has been widespread in California for a while now and has been found in La Crescenta, Altadena, Eagle Rock, Pico Rivera, Bell Gardens, Los Angeles, and Long Beach, which are in a roughly 27 x 10 mile swath north-south within the Los Angeles basin in Los Angeles County, California.
Go ahead and squash ‘em. However, I won’t have to put you on the nasty reader list now, would I?
Take care,
Stephanie

Ed. Note:  On killing insects
We need to clarify several things here.  Nasty readers are people who are rude to us, not people who kill harmless insects and other arthropods out of fear or ignorance.  We strive to educate the public regarding fierce looking, but harmless or beneficial creatures that are often squashed or that become unnecessary carnage by other means.  We have no ethical problem with the killing of problematic species, and invasive exotic Stink Bugs feeding on our garden crop would be one of those exceptions.  We are putting ourselves on blast here:  Yes, we will squash all the Bagrada hilaris we find on our produce since we don’t use insecticides in our vegetable patch.

Posted 26 July 2009 § Stink Bugs and Shield Bugs ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged:

Mating Banded Longhorns, or closely related species

fiber optic penis?
July 26, 2009
I knew that subject line would get your attention. I recently took some pics worthy of your BUG LOVE page, but I didn’t know what kind of beetles they were. Then today I checked your site and there it is- a banded longhorn. If you care to zoom in a bit you’ll understand the subject line.
Vince
Northern Indiana

Mating Longhorns

Mating Longhorns

Dear Vince,
These mating beetles may be the Banded Longhorn, Typocerus velutinus, or they may be one of the 15 other members of the genus identified on BugGuide.  According to BugGuide:  “Prominent genus of flower longhorns. Many, if not most, have a zebra-like or spotted pattern. This is probably mimicry of hymenoptera. Several are distinctively marked on elytra: T. velutina, zebra, lunulatus. However there is some variability, some T. velutina, in particular, are weakly marked. Other species must be identified under magnification or from very high-quality photographs. These include T. acuticauda and T. deceptus.“  Thanks for sending your graphic photo of a mating pair.

Posted 26 July 2009 § Longhorn Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Mating Eastern Boxelder Bugs

Bug love (Boxelder style)
July 26, 2009
I belive these to be, Boisea trivitata. Having a little fun on my screen. Just outside, is a boxelder tree, where there are thousands more. Can’t tell which is male, and which is female. Can you help?
Terry
Mound, MN

Mating Boxelder Bugs

Mating Boxelder Bugs

Hi Terry,
Thanks for sending us your photo of mating Eastern Boxelder Bugs.  We almost never get submissions from people who know what they are, but rather they want the large congregations of insects in their yards identified.  We are especially fond of some of the alternative names for Eastern Boxelder Bugs, including Democrat Bug, Populist Bug, Politician Bug.  According to BugGuide:  “Apparently these political terms are primarily used in the Central Plains states as I’ve seen references to such from KAN, NEB, & IOWA. “

Posted 26 July 2009 § Box Elder Bugs ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged:

Hastate Hide Beetles, Not Northern Carrion Beetles

Unknown beach beetle
July 17, 2009
These beetles were discovered during horseshoe crab spawning season on Pickering Beach, Delaware. I’ve yet to find a good match in any of our bug books. We did collect one that looked very dead, but it crawled inside a crab carcass and hasn’t been seen since. Can you help with an ID?
I’ve been visiting periodically since last July when I identified and observed a grapevine beetle from July through the end of November.
LKStimeling
Pickering Beach, Delaware

mystery beetles

Hastate Hide Beetles

Dear LKStimerling,
Were it not for the antennae on the individual on the far left, we would say that these are Carrion Beetles, more specifically, the Northern Carrion Beetle, Thanatophilus lapponicus.  BugGuide has several images including some mounted specimens.  One photo of a specimen from Alberta Canada is a dead ringer, but for the antennae.  The individual in your photo on the far left most certainly has lamellate antennae which Comstock in our 1940 edition on page 41 defines as “the segments that compose the knob are extended on one side into broad plates.”  On page 487 of the same volume under the family Silphidae, he writes:  “The segments near the tip of the antennae form a compact club, which is neither comblike nor composed of thin movable plates;  sometimes the antennae are nearly filiform.”  Finding these beetles during the spawning of the horseshoe crab might be significant.  Since Carrion Beetles are attracted to putrefying flesh, and since there is probably a bit of carnage during the mating, the presence of Carrion Beetles makes sense.  Since we have pretty much decided that this if probably NOT a Northern Carrion Beetle, based on the antennae alone, we are stumped.  The lamellate antennae are often found in the Scarabidae, but we aren’t happy with that ID either.  We are forwarding this mystery to Eric Eaton to clean up. As a side note, we are thrilled that your photo includes what would seem to be a mating pair in the center, which qualifies this image for our Bug Love page.

Immediate Update
Immediately upon posting we decided to do additional research.  We backtracked to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea that includes both Scarab Beetles and Carrion Beetles.  There we found the family Trogidae, the Hide Beetles.  We found our match, antennae and all, and now we need to try to determine the genus.  Our frontrunner is Omorgus scabrosus, based on the drawing of the scutellum by Phil Harpootlian on the family page on BugGuide.  That would make this a Hastate Hide Beetle.  Since they are found on carrion in the late stages of decomposition, all that we stated earlier regarding the presence at the Horseshoe Crab spawning holds true.  Since our archiving taxonomy is sketchy at best, we will be filing this with the Carrion Beetles.

Posted 17 July 2009 § Carrion Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Mating Gaudy Grasshoppers in South Africa

South-African Grasshopper
June 10, 2009
I saw many of these grasshoppers in this part of South-Africa. I really wonder what type it is and why this species if flourishing?
David
Tsjisjikamma National Park, Plettenburg Bay, South-Africa

Mating Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers

Mating Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers

Dear David,
These are mating Gaudy Grasshoppers, or Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers, or Bush Locusts in the family Pyrgomorphidae.  We believe your species is Phymateus leprosus.  One of the reasons this species is flourishing is that it is poisonous, and not many predators will touch it.

Posted 15 July 2009 § Grasshoppers ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Hogweed Bonking Beetles: mating and feeding

What R These?
July 13, 2009
Hi
These are found on one paticular plant right now which they feed upon and become intimate as well. I’ve included a pic of the plant. The beetles are1/2″ in length at most. I have never seen these in the field that I walk on a regular basis for the past 5 years. Are they new to this area. Thanks
Yeffer
Eastern Ontario Canada

Common Red Soldier Beetles

Common Red Soldier Beetles

Hi Yeffer,
The Common Red Soldier Beetle, Rhagonycha fulva, is, according to BugGuide:  “well-established in British Columbia and Quebec [Pat Bouchard]; recently recorded in Ontario from BugGuide photos … native to Eurasia; introduced to North America some time ago.”  BugGuide also indicates:  “adults feed on small insects that visit flowers larvae feed on snails, slugs, and ground-dwelling insects” and especially interesting, that it is also called Hogweed Bonking Beetle. “  The Garden Safari website indicates it is because “The Hogweed Bonking Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva) is often seen in copula on plants and flowers.”

Common Red Soldier Beetle

Common Red Soldier Beetle

Posted 14 July 2009 § Soldier Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Mating Japanese Beetles

Metallic looking beatle skeletonizing grape leaves
Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 7:34 AM
We have a swarming of metallic looking beatles skeletonizing our grape leaves. It isn’t anything like the pictures of Western skeletonizing bugs shown.
wlarson
Iowa

Japanese Beetles

Japanese Beetles

Hello wlarson,
These are mating Japanese Beetles, Popillia japonica , an invasive exotic species accidentally introduced to New Jersey in 1916. Since that time, the Japanese Beetles have spread throughout much of the eastern U.S. BugGuide does not list any sightings in Iowa, but there are reports from many surrounding states and the westernmost reports on BugGuide are from Kansas. Japanese Beetles feed on the leaves, flowers and fruits of countless ornamental plants, and they are most fond of roses. There are commercial traps available that lure the Japanese Beetles with bait and keep them from feeding on the plants.  Mom in Ohio says the Japanese Beetles make the leaves of her plants look like lace doilies.

Posted 07 July 2009 § Scarab Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Mating indigenous One-Eyed Sphinxes

Possible Lime Hawk introduction to NW Washington State
Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 8:02 PM
Greetings
Early today my mother was in the back yard and discovered these motrhs in the midst of breeding. We took pictures and then she went back and captured one of them.We had never seen anything like it( and since they don’t seem to be indigenous , I know why…)
Dave Hinds
Samish Island ,Washingon

Mating One-Eyed Sphinxes

Mating One-Eyed Sphinxes

Hi Dave,
Despite the resemblance to the introduced Lime Hawk Moth we just posted, your mating One-Eyed Sphinxes, Smerinthus cerisyi, are in fact native to the U.S. and range in Washington state.  You can read more about this lovely moth on Bill Oehlke’s excellent website.

Posted 05 July 2009 § Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Mating Imperial Moths

what is this bug?
Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 2:15 PM
these 2 bugs were discovered 3pm july 3rd on our maple tree. They are each about 4inches across. please help us identify!
Katharine Mead
ne ohio

Mating Imperial Moths

Mating Imperial Moths

Dear Katharine,
We are quite thrilled to post your photo of a pair of mating Imperial Moths.  Just yesterday we posted a photo of a single male.  Of your pair, the upper moth is the female.  Female Imperial Moths have mostly yellow wings while the male has more purple markings.

Posted 04 July 2009 § Giant Silk Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

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