bee?
Location: Croatia
December 26, 2010 6:11 pm
hey bugman,
we went to croatia this summer and took some lovely photos of mating bugs and now were wondering: what are they?
Signature: Evelyne
Mating Olive Bee Hawkmoths
Hi Evelyne,
We quickly identified your mating Olive Bee Hawkmoths, Hemaris croatica, on the Sphingidae of the Western Palaearctic website.
Giant Ichneumon wasp and mates
December 29, 2010 1:32 pm
I wish I would have discovered your web site earlier in the year. I had the unusual pleasure of discovering the Giant Ichneumon along with her small males in my garage. It was an awesome experience to see her and two of the smaller blue black males. They were flying around the garage and attracted to the fluorescent light. At the time I did not know what they were. My husbands first reaction was to grab the bug spray….needless to say I did not allow that to happen! Why is it that so many people want to destroy what they do not understand? Anyway, I love your site!
Signature: Kristi Bird
Giant Ichneumon Mating Activity
Dear Kristi,
Thanks for sending in an awesome letter. WE wish you had enclosed a photograph. We found a photo in our archives that illustrates male Giant Ichneumons congregating around females to accompany your letter in our posting. It was originally submitted in 2007.
Special Mosquitos?
Location: Palolo Valley, Honolulu, HI
December 16, 2010 5:39 pm
Found these two getting busy on the shoe rack this morning… I hope they don’t recognize and remember faces for an attack later on when they’re done… Are these special mosquitoes or something? They sure don’t look like a regular Mosquito!
Signature: TH
Mating Banana Stalk Flies
Dear TH,
Wow, what an awesome photo you have sent to us. We have no idea where to begin researching the identity of these unusual looking mating Flies, but we can assure you that they are not mosquitoes. Like so many other creatures in Hawaii, we suspect these might be an introduced species, possibly from Asia.
Immediate Update
We quickly found a match for your mating Flies. They are identified on BugGuide as Banana Stalk Flies, Telostylinus lineolatus, in the family Neriidae, the Stilt Legged Flies. The Cook Islands Biodiversity website has a page devoted to the Banana Stalk Fly, and they list the other common names Banana Fly, Push-me-Pull-me Fly and Push-pull Fly. The range is listed as “Sri Lanka – Indonesia / Australia – Marquesas, Hawai‘i” and it is considered a pest species, but the site does not indicate why. The Rainforest Revelations website has this information: “With enormous eyes, this tiny, tropical, stilt-legged fly maintains a confident distance from human approach, by swiftly running around the blind-side of whatever surface it is on. … Telostylinus lineolatus inhabits tropical north Queensland, where it aggregates on flowers and rotting fruit. They are members of Neriidae, which is a relatively small family of true flies (Diptera) with long, stilt-like legs.“ The Evolutionary Biology Lab Research website has this information on the family: “Neriidae is a relatively small family of true flies (Diptera) with long, stilt-like legs. Most species are found in the tropics. Neriids have very interesting behaviours, and many species are strikingly sexually dimorphic, with males having much longer legs, heads and/or antennae than females. Like piophilid flies, neriid larvae have the ability to leap during the stage just before pupation when they migrate from the larval feeding substrate to the pupation site. Very little research has been done on this interesting group of flies.”
Butterflies
Location: Singapore
December 4, 2010 8:18 am
I shot these at the Butterfly Conservatory in Singapore a couple of years ago. They are really stunning but I don’t know the species.
Can You ID them?
Thanks.
Signature: Tom Whitney
Mating Common Birdwings
Hi Tom,
Your mating butterflies are Common Birdwings, Troides helena, which we identified on the Arkive Images of Life on Earth website where it is stated: “The common birdwing is amongst the largest and most beautiful butterflies in Asia (3) (4). The dramatic contrast of golden yellow hind-wings and glossy black forewings gives this species a striking appearance (3), and serves as a protection mechanism by warning potential predators that it is distasteful (2). The upper surface of the golden hind-wings features black boarders and veins, with females additionally possessing a row of large, triangular black spots (4). A prominent pink saddle distinguishes the caterpillar of this species, and the pupa has a leafy appearance that helps to camouflage it from predators.“ The Common Birdwing was the Butterfly of the Month in January 2010 on the Butterfies of Singapore website. Your other butterfly is also a Birdwing, and it really resembles a male Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing, Ornithoptera alexandrae, which is found in New Guinea. The Butterfly Facts website has a photograph that looks very similar to your image, and you have to scroll down the page to find it. Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is thought to be the largest butterfly in the world, thought he females are larger than the males, and the Butterfly Corner website indicates that it is found in Singapore.
Male Queen Alexandra's Birdwing
Male and Female Golden Orbweavers
Location: Medina County, TX
December 3, 2010 12:11 am
Hi,I thought you guys might want to see what I found. I found them at the end of summer. Keep up the good work!
Signature: Bug Hugger
Mating Golden Orbweavers
Dear Bug Hugger,
Thank you so much for providing our readership with a photograph of a pair of Golden Orbweavers, Argiope aurantia. We have countless images of the gorgeous female spider with her distinctive markings, but this may be the only image of a male of the species posted to our site. It is positively marvelous that your camera was handy to capture this amorous pair. The large female easily grabss the attention of even the most distracted person due to her size and black and yellow markings, but the diminutive male generally gets overlooked.
Male Golden Orbweaver with his mate.
Bug Love
Location: Missouri
November 20, 2010 2:38 pm
I took these photo of a lovely pair of praying mantises mating in the garden bed. The male seems to be of a rather unusual color morph. I regret to say I did not stay long enough to discover the result of the relationship, or whether the male survived the encounter. I believe they may be Carolina mantises (stagmomantis carolina), but I’m not sure.
Signature: Helen
Mating Mantids
Hi Helen,
Sadly, there is not enough detail in your image for us to conclusively identify the species, but the Carolina Mantis is a possibility.
Scorpionfly mating sequence
Hangingfly with Fly Prey
Scorpionfly mating sequence
November 16, 2010
Location: Australia
Hi Daniel,
Hope you like this sequence.
The male had to wait for less than a minute with his robberfly for a female to arrive. When she did, he started to make what we would call beckoning motions, by repeatedly curling and uncurling one rear claw. All the time he slowly moved his abdomen into position for mating. When he locked with her she immediately let go of the grass and started to thrash around, at which time he passed her the fly and she settled in to dine while he went about his business. After mating her grabbed the fly back and took off, probably to use it for his next conquest, the cad.
regards,
Trevor
Hangingflies Courting
Hi Trevor,
This series is phenomenal, and your firsthand observations are priceless.
Hangingflies Mating
We wonder if there are other observational accounts of the male absconding with his nuptial gift after getting his way.
Hangingflies Mating
mating walking sticks
Location: Florida
November 13, 2010 4:11 pm
I found these two out in the warm sun on my screened porch and wanted to share the picture.
Signature: Photo Snapper
Mating Muskmares
Dear Photo Snapper,
These mating Two Striped Walkingsticks are commonly called Muskmares because they are frequently found in flagrante delicto as in your photograph and because they are capable of spraying a caustic substance with great accuracy, often directly into the eyes of a predator. They should be handled with caution.
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