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Tag Archives: food chain

Hangingflies from Australia Courting and Mating

Scorpionfly mating sequence

hangingfly prey australia trevor 265x300 Hangingflies from Australia Courting and Mating

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

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Hangingflies Courting

Hi Trevor,
This series is phenomenal, and your firsthand observations are priceless.

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Hangingflies Mating

We wonder if there are other observational accounts of the male absconding with his nuptial gift after getting his way.

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Hangingflies Mating

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Posted 16 November 2010 § Scorpionflies ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: ,
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Black Widow Cannibalism and potential undocumented Bug Love

Spider Trapping a Baby Black Widow
Location: Southern California
November 4, 2010 1:10 pm
We found this spider in our backyard on the patio trapping a baby black widow. We are thinking it is either a male black widow or a brown widow, but are uncertain. We live in Southern California in the Murrieta/Temecula area. We would love to find out what it is. Thanks!
Signature: Courtney

black widow cannibalism 300x206 Black Widow Cannibalism and potential undocumented Bug Love

Black Widow Cannibalism

Hi Courtney,
We are intrigued with your photos of Black Widow cannibalism.  The predator in this photo is an immature female Black Widow that will eventually lose that striped pattern and become a glossy black spider, and the prey is exhibiting the telltale red hourglass of a Black Widow as well.

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Black Widow Cannibalism

Thank you so much.  Is Black Widow cannibalism common?  Do all females change like this?  Would it have started out all black like the baby here? I understand if you can’t answer all my questions, but I thought I’d try.
Thanks,
Courtney

Hi Courtney,
We were going to paste the third of your photos into this response so we could better determine the identity of the victim.  We have never seen data on the frequency of Black Widow cannibalism, but the name and alleged reason may be an indication that there is fact in the lore.  With that said, this may be a virgin adolescent female who is still wearing her prepubescent markings.  That may be a suitor that sacrificed his life for the perpetuation of the species.  Black Widows may be able to mate as adolescents and then storing the spermatozoa until it is needed.  Adult females are glossy black and we have not seen documentation of mature females marked otherwise.

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Posted 05 November 2010 § Black Widow ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged:

Green Lynx eats Honey Bee and secures nesting site

A chameleon lynx spider?
Location: South Pasadena, CA
November 4, 2010 11:15 pm
I’m sending two pictures, which were taken six days apart. I’m nearly certain it’s the same spider. Apparently a lynx spider, though not all that green. It seems to have changed color to conceal itself. It also seems to be displaying a nice pink peace sign, although it’s quite a killer.
Signature: Barbara

green lynx eats bee barbara 300x241 Green Lynx eats Honey Bee and secures nesting site

Green Lynx eats Honey Bee

Hi Barbara,
Judging by the size of your Green Lynx Spider, she is getting ready to lay eggs.  Your second photo shows a tangle of silk that she will probably use as a nesting site if she is not disturbed.  She will remain in the vicinity of the egg sac guarding it and the emerging spiderlings if she lives that long.  There is variation in the coloration of Green Lynx Spiders and your pink individual is most attractive.  BugGuide has a posting of a similar pink female and there is discussion about a comment by Lynette Schimming that older females sometimes turn red.  When she lays eggs, we hope you will send us some additional photos.

green lynx barbara 300x229 Green Lynx eats Honey Bee and secures nesting site

Green Lynx

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Posted 05 November 2010 § Green Lynx ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Florida Predatory Stink Bug Nymphs eat Cricket

Need info on this beetle.
Location: Statesville, NC
November 2, 2010 6:40 am
My son is a Cub Scout and we have to do some research on an animal, plant or insect that lives off of another source of food. He wanted to do this one seeing as though we found these on the outside of our home. What are these? I can’t seem to locate them anywhere…I personally love the skull on their backs, although I am not sure if that is truly what the design is. Any help would be great!
Signature: Thank you, Nikki

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Florida Predatory Stink Bug Nymphs eat Cricket

Hi Nikki,
These are not beetles.  They are immature Florida Predatory Stink Bugs and they are eating a Cricket.  As they mature, these Stink Bugs will stop hunting in a pack.

Posted 02 November 2010 § Crickets, Camel Crickets and Mole Crickets § Stink Bugs and Shield Bugs ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Jagged Ambush Bug eats Skipper

The Armored Assassin

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Jagged Ambush Bug

The Armored Assassin
Location: Mid-Missouri
October 29, 2010 9:34 pm
While I love all bugs, I think one of my favorite has to be the Ambush Bug. It is just a armored shell of terror. He sits hidden inside or behind a flower bloom waiting for his prey to land for their last sip of nectar. He emits a type of authority and force like I rarely see in the insect world. Sure, all Assassin Bugs are made up of terror to other insects, but to me, none give that incredible look of strength in the same way as the Ambush Bug. For me, this is as good as it gets and I feel fortunate to have had about half a dozen sightings of them this year..many times with prey in hand.
Here are 3 of my favorite pictures from the past couple months of my favorite assassin bug….if not my favorite bug, period.
My ID: Jagged Ambush Bug – Phymata fasciata (I’m certain on Phymata, fairly certain on Phymata fasciata).
Signature: Nathanael Siders

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Ambush Bug feeds on Skipper

Hi Nathanael,
Thanks again for submitting some wonderful images as well as your first hand observations.  Ambush Bugs were originally classified in their own family, but recent years have seen a change in the taxonomy, and they are now a subfamily of the Assassin Bugs.  We agree that this is a Jagged Ambush Bug in the genus Phymata, though we do not feel qualified enough to determine the exact species as the members of the genus are all quite similar.  Can you recall the identity of the prey in your one photo?  It appears to be a Skipper butterfly.

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Jagged Ambush Bug

You are correct, it was a skipper that became his meal.  I have also seen them eating syrphids a good bit around my house.

Posted 30 October 2010 § Ambush Bugs § Skippers ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Jumping Spider eats Moth

Hungry Jumper

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Jumping Spider: Thiodina sylvana eats moth

Hungry Jumper
Location: Mid-Missouri
October 27, 2010 3:44 pm
Hello Bugman. I came across this jumping spider (Species: Thiodina sylvana is my best guess) a few weeks back on a Friday evening after work. He was scurrying around rather frantically and as you can see, he was looking in dire need of a meal. I snapped a few pictures before he hid out. I went out shooting the next afternoon and I found what I think is the same jumper snacking on a moth. I love these little jumping spiders so I was happy to see him getting fed (at the poor Moth’s expense of course). It was really neat to be able to see her activity over the period of a couple of days.
Signature: Nathanael Siders

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Jumping Spider: Thiodina sylvana

Dear Nathanael,
You are just about the perfect contributor.  You have a catchy subject line for grabbing our attention.  Your letter has content and you have identified a difficult challenge, though we still have to verify if we agree with your identification.  You have gorgeous, perfectly sized images.  In the past, we have cropped out copyright information if we needed to crop into the photos for posting purposes, but your images do not need to be cropped.  The compositions are incredible.  Thank you for taking the time to make such a valuable contribution to our website.

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Jumping Spider: Thiodina sylvana

Ed. Note: We decided to verify the identity of this Jumping Spider on BugGuide, and we found Nathanael’s photos already posted.  We agree with his identification but we think it is important to also indicate the variability of Thiodina sylvana by linking to this image of a black individual on BugGuide.  We wonder how Nathanael is certain that this is not Thiodina puerpera.

Thank you so much for the nice comments.  I am glad to hear you appreciate my contributions and will keep them coming if that’s okay.  I had forgotten all about submitting those to bugguide.net.  I did consider Thiodina puerpera but there are a few significant differences that I noticed.  Mainly, the coloring on the top of the head is different between the two female species.  In Thiodina puerpera, the top of the head seems to be mainly white and black whereas the Thiodina sylvana has orange areas mixed in.  The orange present on the head of the spider in my photos, among some of the subtle patterns on the head are what led me to Thiodina sylvana.  Not being an entomologist, I rarely feel confident enough to feel 100% sure, but I did a good bit of searching to find an ID on this “lady” and the Thiodina sylvana was the only species that fit all the characteristics of my spider as far as I could tell.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my judgment call.  Do you know if some female Thiodina puerpera that have orange on their head as well?

Thanks Nathanael,
We hope you realize that we are not entomologists.  Daniel teaches photography, and his assessment of the quality of your photographs has much more validity than any confirmation we might attempt regarding this species.  We have located a photo of Thiodina sylvana that has orange coloration on the head, but it is a male, and it can be found on bugGuide.

I actually did think you all (or some) were entomologists.  Daniel’s compliments on my photography mean that much more to be coming from a photography teacher.  I appreciate all the interaction you have given me with my submission.  You definitely have a wonderful site and I am happy to be able to contribute some of my photos.
Nathanael

Posted 27 October 2010 § Jumping Spiders § Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Ants Attack Mantis

ants swarming over mantis
Location: Albuquerque, NM
October 25, 2010 8:51 pm
Hi,
Thanks for identifying the blister beetle picture I sent in a few weeks ago. Today I found a mantis being swarmed by ants on the north side of Albuquerque, NM. The mantis was struggling and flopping around a bit but I couldn’t tell if the ants were biting it or not. Is this a common occurrence? I found one flickr image of ants feeding on a dead and somewhat dismembered mantis in Spain, but no other information. I also didn’t find any example of this type of observation on your site. My hypothesis is that the mantis was sluggish from the cold morning and overpowered by the ants. Thanks very much!
Signature: Matt

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Ants Attack Mantis

Hi Matt,
We suspect that this Mantis may have been injured, though perhaps you are correct that it was just sluggish from the cool weather.  Ants often forage in hoards and they will not hesitate to begin gathering food for the colony from a still living creature.  We wish your photo had a higher resolution and that we were able to ascertain the identity of the ant species.  They look very small and perhaps they are nonnative.  Invasive Ant species like the Argentine Ants in Southern California and the Gulf States are severely affecting biodiversity by replacing native species and we cannot underestimate the long term effects they may have on sensitive ecosystems.

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Ants Attack Mantis

Hi Daniel,
Thanks for getting back to me. I’ve attached the full resolution pictures in case the ants can be identified. By the way, is the mantis a Mediterranean Mantis? Thanks!
Matt

On a second look at mantis pictures, it looks more like a California Mantid, Stagmomantis californica. Is this right?
Matt

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Ants Attack Mantis

Thanks Matt.  We are inclined to agree that this does appear to be a California Mantis, or possibly the closely related Stagmomantis limbata which is profiled on BugGuide.  At any rate, the Mantis is a female.

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Posted 26 October 2010 § Ants § Preying Mantis ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Orbweaver with Prey

Gorgeous orange girl
Location:  Leander, Texas (Near Austin)
October 20, 2010 8:24 am
Greetings,
I keep and breed tarantulas, and have a deep appreciation for ”true” spiders. With approximately 860 known species, Theraphosidae are easily identified, however true spiders continue to vex me with their variety. This beautiful girl is ”hanging out” on my deck, located in Leander, TX, about 10 minutes out of Austin. I have never seen anything besides Latrodectus with such a remarkable ventral marking. What is this lovely creature?
Signature:  Tarantula Terri

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Orbweaver with Prey

Dear Tarantula Terri,
This lovely creature is an Orbweaver in the genus Araneus.  In the fall, shortly before Halloween, many spiders have matured and reached their full size.  These impressive creatures, especially the Orbweavers, are suddenly very visible as they spin large orb webs and position themselves in the webs.  They attract considerable attention.  It appears the female in your photo has snared a Yellow Jacket.

Posted 20 October 2010 § Orb Weavers ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

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