mating
Location: west central ohio
June 3, 2011 8:07 am
what are these… june 2 west central ohio
Signature: Steve Pierce
Mating Virginia Ctenucha Moths
Hi Steve,
These mating moths are in the genus Ctenucha, most likely Ctenucha virginica, commonly called the Virginia Ctenucha, though it ranges much farther than the state of Virginia. Interestingly, BugGuide does not even include any individuals from Virginia in its range map since BugGuide has not received any submissions from Virginia. The more full figured individual with the more slender antennae is the female and the male is the lower individual in your photograph.
Mating Cecropia Moths
Location: Stow, Ohio
June 2, 2011 2:03 pm
Hello! I just happened upon your website while searching for ”mating cecropia moths” because someone told me that’s what these were when I posted this pic to my facebook account today! So when I saw the ’bug love’ page, I thought maybe you’d like to have copies of these photos. 
These were found around 7:30 in the morning in Stow, Ohio on 6/2/11.
Signature: Sincerely, Misty from Kent, Ohio
Mating Cecropia Moths
Dear Misty,
We are positively thrilled to post your photos on our Bug Love pages. We are sure many of our readers are anticipating the ravenous hoard of caterpillars munching on the leaves of, according to BugGuide: ” various trees and shrubs including alder, apple, ash, beech, birch, box-elder, cherry, dogwood, elm, gooseberry, maple, plum, poplar, white oak, willow. (3)(1) may also feed on lilac and tamarack” that this pair will produce. Should she lay eggs, they will hatch in about a week and you can release the first instars onto a tree in your yard. Surely you have at least one tree on that long list.
Blue Beetle ID
Location: central California
June 1, 2011 1:32 pm
Hello Bugman,
Can you help me in identifying these beetles? Sure are eye-catching.
Thank you very much.
Signature: Dak
Blue Milkweed Beetles
Hi Dak,
These distinctive beetles are called Blue Milkweed Beetles, Chrysochus cobaltinus, and we are quite pleased that you captured one pair in the act of mating.
Hello Daniel,
Thank you for your quick ID and for maintaining such a interesting site!
Dak
Fly-like insect with black lacy wings&gold head or throat
Location: western Pennsylvania (Armstrong County)
May 29, 2011 11:41 pm
I have a photo of 2 insects copulating (at least ( believe that’s what they were doing) in the grass at Crooked Creek Lake/Dam/Park in Armstrong County in western Pennsylvania. I cannot find them in 2 insect books I have and have posted the photo on an About.com Insect forum. I have watched dragonflies and damselflies, and other insects while birding but have never seen this particular insect.
Signature: Thanks from a birder/nature lover
Mating Golden Backed Snipe Flies
Dear birder/nature lover,
Despite the blurriness of your image, these are unmistakably Golden Backed Snipe Flies, Chrysopilus thoracicus, and they are in fact “In Flagrante Delicto”. They were our Bug of the Month in June 2009. They fly in late spring.
Thank you, thank you, Daniel (Bugman extraordinaire). I have become almost as interested in insects as I was in birds and critters. I appreciate your ability to identify the flies in my poor “but idable” photo. I have photos of other insects I was able to id such as the 6-spotted Tiger Beetle some people misrepresent as the deadly Ash Borer and once while birding up near Punxatawney, PA on the Shadow Mahoning Trail a few of us were awed while watching a Giant Ichneumon Wasp fly around us (looking for a log to lay her eggs on no doubt) and none of us had a camera!!!
Marge from Armstrong County, Pa’
Mating Cecropia Moth
Location: North of Indianapolis
May 21, 2011 7:10 pm
Just a picture to add to your collections. Found in Indianapolis 5/20/11. Sooo pretty. I came to you to find out what they were
Signature: Cynthia
Mating Cecropia Moths
Hi Cynthia,
Our Bug Love page hasn’t had a really sexy photo in a few months. Thanks for sending photos of this positively gorgeous amorous pair to add to our archives.
Mating Cecropia Moths
10
Bug love
Location: Cheviot Hills, northern England
May 10, 2011 5:49 pm
Two insects of a type I’ve never seen before getting friendly. I was just wondering what they were.
Gary
Signature: kkjhkj
Mating Green Tiger Beetles
Hi Gary,
These amorous beauties are mating Tiger Beetles in the genus Cicindela, and they are most likely Cicindela campestris, commonly called the Green Tiger Beetle. We quickly located a webpage on British Biodiversity that profiles the Green Tiger Beetle and that provides this information: “They show greater diversity in the warmer parts of the world and only five species of tiger beetle are known in Britain (current British checklist of the Carabidae at http://www.coleopterist.org.uk/). Of these, four are Cicindela species, with C. campestris much the most common.
Tiger beetles constitute the subfamily Cicindelinae within the family Carabidae, or are still recognised by some authors as a separate family, the Cicindelidae. C. campestris is, like most Cicindela species, a creature of open ground, especially heathland on sandy soils in spring and early summer, locally frequent apparently in much of Britain where there is suitable habitat. It runs fast when seizing prey, or if disturbed (or if someone is chasing it in the hope of an in-focus photograph), and it will also readily fly for short distances.” In addition to England, the species is found over much of Eurasia as far East as Siberia.
Short Winged Blister Beetle Love
Location: South Jersey
April 28, 2011 11:29 am
Hey I don’t know if you have a picture of the Oil Beetle in the Bug Love area but I took this in my driveway this morning. Kinda looks they are looking at camera.
Signature: Christian M.
Mating Oil Beetles
Hi Christian,
We do have several mating Oil Beetle images in our archives including this tragedy, but we can never get too much Bug Love. Thanks for your submission. We have begun receiving some marvelous Blister Beetle images from the Southwest where their diversity is quite astounding.
large beetle identified
Location: Pickering Ontario Canada
April 27, 2011 12:41 pm
Hi, I sent you a photo yesterday of a large blackish beetle with blue ”trim” that I thought might be a carrion beetle. I think I’ve now identified it as a European Ground Beetle, carabus nemoralis, and have been delighted to learn that it is a voracious eater of snails and slugs (and less happily, worms). I’ve since found several more of these big beetles in my garden, so perhaps I’ll be slug-free this year. How common is this beetle in southern-central Ontario? I’m just east of Toronto. Thanks!
Signature: Pat V.
Mating European Ground Beetles
Hi Pat,
Your letter arrived when we were out of the office on holiday, and this followup email arrived just as we returned to a very full mailbox. Alas, we are not able to respond to all the mail we received, but we are thrilled that you self identified your mating European Ground Beetles and we love your photograph. BugGuide has a nice information page on the European Ground Beetle.
I like This
