Assassinated and Form Problem
July 26, 2010 8:01 PM
Hi Daniel,
Just tried submitting this picture via the form but as per last time got the error message “Failed to send your message. Please try later.”
Anyway, thought you might like this for your foodchain pages. This is an Orange Ground Assassin Bug, Ectomocoris patricius, that has come off second best to an ant colony.
regards,
Trevor
Orange Ground Assassin Bug eaten by Ants
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for taking the trouble to send this image to us via different channels. Please let us know if the form continues to give you problems when submitting photos because we do not want any interruption in our reception of the fabulous images you provide us from Australia.
1
Green thing eating a fly?
Location: Guelph, Ontario, Canada
July 25, 2010 4:21 pm
Saw this bug on a walk today. Looks like it’s eating a fly. It’s summer and I live in Ontario Canada.
Brittany
Ambush Bug eats Flesh Fly
Hi Brittany,
My, this is a beautiful photograph of an Ambush Bug eating a Flesh Fly. Ambush Bugs in the subfamily Phumatinae (See BugGuide) have recently been downgraded from having their own family status to being considered a subfamily of the Assassin Bugs. Ambush Bugs wait on flowers to ambush their prey, often insects that pollinate the flowers. The fly in your photograph looks like a Flesh Fly in the family Sarcophagidae. Our own Mt. Washington, Los Angeles offices have recently been host to Flesh Flies which seem to enter when the doors are open. We find several indoors every week. Flesh Flies maggots feed on rotted meat, be it animal carcasses or putrefied meat from the market. Adults feed on sweet fluids including nectar (hence the ambush on the blossom), sap and fruit juice. See BugGuide for more information.
Mortal Kombat
Location: Gloucester Twp, Camden County, NJ
July 19, 2010 3:11 pm
This brutal assault was in our front yard. The amber winged-warrior was the perched assailant, snatching its ill-fated victim from mid-flight.
We’d like to know what they are. Research suggests the Amber is Ophion Luteus, a parasitic wasp, while the other seems to be Ammophilia procera or possibly even Ammophila conditor? The tail marking seems to suggest the latter, though sites indicate this is a little known or observed wasp (if correct).
Chris
Hanging Thief devours Wasp
Hi Chris,
This magnificent predator is a Robber Fly in the genus Diogmites, a group known as the Hanging Thieves because of the way they often hang from a single foot while devouring their prey, exactly as your fabulous photographs demonstrate. We do not feel confident identifying this Hanging Thief to the species level, but you can view BugGuide for additional details. We believe you may be correct on the Wasp identification. It sure does look like one of the Thread-Waisted Wasps in the genus Ammophila based on images posted to BugGuide, but again, we do not feel confident taking the identification to the species level.
Hanging Thief consumes Thread-Waisted Wasp
Wooley Booleys
Jul 16, 2010
Hi,
I spotted these in a marsh in Colorado & photographed them. They were on red willow, which was infested with aphids. They suck an aphid dry, then move on to the next aphid. I could not find any ID for these guys.
Thanks for considering my ID request!
Michelle
Dusky Lady Beetle Larvae eat Aphids
Hi Michelle,
At first we believed these might be the larvae of a Lady Beetle known as the Mealy Bug Destroyer, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, a species introduced from Australia in 1891 to control Mealy Bugs on citrus in California according to BugGuide. We now believe they are probably a related species because they are not feeding on Mealy Bugs and also because they are further north than the range indicated on Bugguide. There are other species in the tribe Scymnini, the Dusky Lady Beetles, with similar looking larvae, including those in the genus Scymnus. The larva of a Scymnus species is pictured on BugGuide. The white projections are actually waxy outgrowths.
Hey, thanks! Cool! Do you want to use my photos for that section? If so, you are welcome to.
¶ Posted 18 July 2010 § Lady Bug ‡ ° Also tagged: larva eats snail
July 2, 2010
Hello,
Today I made new photos of this insect
I hope to help you identify it
Best Regards
Dean
Carrion Beetle Larva eats Snail
Hi again Dean,
Thanks for the better view of this larva’s head. One of our readers, Mardikavana, identified the larva from your previous letter as the larva of a Silphid Beetle or Carrion Beetle. Mardikavana wrote in a comment: “My best guess is that it is some kind of Silphidae larvae (definitely not Nicrophorus sp.) Well that’s the first family that comes to my mind:)“ and then later: “For example Ablattaria species larvae prey on snails. I think that Silpha atrata larvae should do the same but I couldn’t get any information about their food preferences.”
Carrion Beetle Larva eats Snail
Update from Dean
July 10, 2010
Hi,
I continued my investigation on behalf of insect larvae that eat snails ……… and Bingoooo I think that I found the answer to the riddle. Insect that I shot it’s a larva of Phosphuga atrata (Family Silphidae), know under name Carrion Beetle,
This insect is not American Carrion Beetle, as your reader suggested.
Apparently American Carrion Beetle is a close relative of Carrion Beetle, which is found in Bulgaria
My assumptions are based on the fact that I have seen similar beetle Carrion Beetle, American Carrion Beetle but obviously not found in Bulgaria
See the next link – http://www.commanster.eu/commanster/Insects/Beetles/SpBeetles/Phosphuga.atrata.html
Links of images - http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Phosphuga%20atrata%20larvae&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi
Links of Web – http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Phosphuga%20atrata%20larvae&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw
Update from Dean
July 10, 2010
Hi again 
I found information that the larvae and the beetles of Phosphuga atrata (Family Silphidae), also known by the name European Carrion Beetle, eat snails
See next URL – http://www.sibnef1.eu/gb/Coleoptera/Silphidae/img139/eco139.HTM
and this pic http://www.sibnef1.eu/gb/Coleoptera/Silphidae/img139/00139002970102.JPG
P.S. Almost one month I read info for this insect and still I’m interested, especially when I find new details
Thanks for the updates Dean.
spider ate the cicada
July 2, 2010
i saw the carnage link and i think this might interest you. my husband took this picture. one day he was in our farm, he heard a cicada doing its loud sound nearby. suddenly it stopped like it got squashed. he was sure he didn’t step on it so he looked around and saw this! he found this spider (smaller than the cicada!) biting the cicada’s head! and it won’t let go. i don’t know the exact id on both insects but it sure is fascinating. poor cicada. amazing spider.
joy
found in our farm in northern mindanao (south of the Philippines)
Jumping Spider feasts on Cicada
Hi Joy,
First we must make a point of clarification. Our Unnecessary Carnage pages are devoted to creatures whose untimely demises are directly related to human intervention. We also have a Food Chain tag that is devoted to the web of life on our planet, and that is where your awesome photo will be archived. Though we do not know the species, the spider is a Jumping Spider in the family Salticidae.
oops! i missed that tag and i dropped the “unnecessary”. 
sorry about that. i was too excited to share the picture. glad it’s worthy to be posted. hehe…
i have another huge insect that we found dead but i’m not sure what killed it… it looked like something with fangs bit it… may i post that under this tag? anyway I’ll send it and you’d know better
thanks for the info on the spider.
this bug killed the wolf spider. what is it??
June 28, 2010
Hi Bug Man. I saw this on the porch Saturday and posted it FB and even my good friend with a BS in Entemology doesn’t know what it is. Help??
Lee Coggins
North Carolina
Spider Wasp and Spider Prey
Dear Lee,
This is some species of Spider Wasp in the family Polpilidae. Adult females sting spiders to paralyze them and then drag them to a nest where an egg is laid on the spider. The paralyzed spider provides food for the growing larva. Adult Spider Wasps take nectar from flowers as food. Your photo is quite blurry, but we believe this might be a Spider Wasp in the genus Priocnessus which is profiled on BugGuide which indicates that they prey upon Agelenid Spiders. Spiders in the family Agelenidae (which are also profiled on BugGuide) are known as Funnel Web Spiders, and many species resemble Wolf Spiders, so it is possible the spider in your photo is a Funnel Web Spider, but again, your photo is too blurry to provide anything more conclusive.
larva eats snail
June 25, 2010
On 22 June morning I went to shoot macro.
I made these interesting images of larvae feeding on a snail.
It looks like a grave-digger of the larva or grub of Firefly, but I’m not sure.
Please help to identify the larvae!
Dean Petkov
Bulgaria, Burgas
Possibly Silphid Larva Feeding upon Snail
Hello Dean,
We believe you are probably correct, though we would not rule out the larva of one of our favorite immigrant beetles in Los Angeles, a Rove Beetle known as a Devil’s Coach Horse, Ocypus olens. Alas, the structure of antennae is not visible in your visually compellingly symmetrical photograph, a study in simplicity and circular composition, and the structure of antennae are frequently used to key out specimens into their taxonomic families, genera and even species. The Devil’s Coach Horse is a magnificent beetle that we believe feeds upon snails. A photo on Flickr identified as the larva of Ocypus olens does not look like your predator, so we would favor the Firefly hypothesis. Perhaps we will get some assistance on this identification.
On a more personal level, my paternal grandfather came from Bulgaria, but his name (hence my name) was changed at Ellis Island.
Probably Silphid Larva feeding upon a Snail
Update
Mardikavana provided us with a comment indicating that this is not a Coach Horse Larva nor a Firefly Larva, and that it might be a Silphid Larva. It has been our understanding that Silphid Beetles are not predators, but scavengers that feed upon carrion.
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