Giant Robberfly Foodchain Picture
Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 11:07 PM
HI Guys,
Just had an encounter with the biggest robberfly I’ve ever seen. To give you a sense of scale the perch it has chosen is as thick as a mans index finger. It seemed to have some orange colouration under the wings but I couldn’t get close. This was taken with a telephoto lens in a very shady spot so please excuse picture quality.
Aussietrev
Queensland, Australia
Robber Fly
Hi Trevor,
As always, thank you for another awesome submission to our site. If you identify the species of Robber Fly, please let us know.
ID for that Giant Robberfly
Hi Guys,
That giant robberfly is exactly that apparently, thanks to Eric Fisher at diptera.info for the ID, the Giant Yellow Robberfly Blepharotes coriarius
Here are two links that show some more detail of the guy, nearly 2 inches long!
http://www.thebegavalley.org.au/1622.html
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_robbers/LargeRobberFly.htm
regards
aussietrev
Green lynx spider eats bumble bee
Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 7:35 AM
Hi Bugman. Maybe this is the true reason for the bee shortage. We saw this food chain demonstration while hiking Moss Park in Orlando, Fl. on Nov.1st. The sun was setting and so we also saw gorgeous orb weavers busy spinning their webs. None of my past submissions have been posted so since this is your favorite spider, I hope my photo will make it to your website. By the way, I impressed my husband when I blurted out “oh, that’s a green lynx spider”! (just a little identifcation I picked up from my visits to your site). Thanks for the great website.
Elizabeth from Orlando
Orlando, Fl.
Green Lynx Spider eats Bumble Bee
Hi Elizabeth,
What a marvelous photo of our favorite spider, the Green Lynx Spider, Peucetia viridans.
¶
Posted 06 November 2008
§
Green Lynx
‡
°
Also tagged:
Large Fuzzy Fat Catapillar with dangles
Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Found this critter right outside my kitchen window, seemed to move very slowly over the week. Then started growing the dangling things off of his/her body.
M.Sims – Garland TX
N. Texas (Dallas/Ft Worth-area)
Pandorus Sphinx Caterpillar parasitised by Braconid Wasp
Hi M.,
This is a Pandorus Sphinx Caterpillar, Eumorpha pandorus, and it has been parasitized by a Braconid Wasp. The Brachonid Wasp lays its eggs inside the caterpillar and the larvae feed on the internal organs, eventually emerging and pupating on the outside of the caterpillar. You can see some of the pupae have “hatched” and the adult Braconid Wasps have emerged. Sadly, the Pandorus Sphinx Caterpillar will die.
Spider Wasp: Pompilidae family
Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 8:25 PM
Hi Daniel,
This wasp was scurrying up a gum tree with a large spider for lunch.
See http://www.geocities.com/ brisbane_wasps/YellowAntWasp.htm for more information about this predator.
Grev
East Coast Australia
Spider Wasp with prey from Australia
Hi Grev,
Nice to hear from you again. Thanks so much for helping to expand our new What’s That Bug Down Under? portion of our website. By the way, adult Spider Wasps don’t eat spiders. The spiders are food for the wasp larvae.
Mantis eating Leaf Creature
Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 6:21 PM
Hello Bugman. I thought your great web site might like to see this shot I took of a Mantis snacking on some kind of leaf look-a-like insect. I almost passed right by them.
This is in a “Lum Yai” fruit tree in Northern Thailand.
Love your site!
Dan
Northern Thailand in foothills.
Mantis eats Leaf Insect
Hi Dan,
Thanks for sending us your wonderful Food Chain images. Since our site migration a few months back, our readership is now able to click on the smaller image to enlarge and your photos really demand this closer inspection. We believe your leaf creature is a Phasmid known as Phyllium siccifolium. Bugsincyberspace.com has some nice images of living individuals.
Mantis eats Leaf Insect
Unknown Naiad, Firefly larva, and Dipluran? Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 4:59 PM
Hi BugMan,
I love your website, I’ve been interested in insects since I was younger and always dreamed of being an entomologist. When I entered high school I drifted away from my hobby but in the past few years my inner insect passion has returned.
While looking for insects to photograph at the Kalamazoo Nature Center in SW Michigan I found this strange insect on a tree beside the trail. At first I thought it might be some kind of true bug nymph based on its appearance but an entomologist at the Nature Center thought it looked like some kind of naiad. I found it several yards away from a small marsh/pond, but we had recently experienced a heavy rain storm and flooding at the time I took the photo back in July/August so it may have washed away from the pond after the waters receded if it is aquatic. If I remember correctly it was fairly small maybe a quarter of an inch or less. I went back a few hours later to study it more but it was gone.
The next two photos I took a few days ago in my grandparents’ woods just outside of Scotts, Michigan. The first insect I found under the bark of a rotting log, to me it looks like some kind of firefly larva but I have no idea what it’s holding, remains of a slug perhaps? The second I also found under bark of dead log, it looks like a Dipluran but I don’t really have any idea. I’m not an expert by any means but if you can better identify it, I’d greatly appreciate any of your help.
Thanks for your time,
Phillip “SITNAM7″ in Climax, Michigan
SW Michigan, in Kalamazoo and Climax woods
Firefly Larva eats Slug
Hi Phillip,
Thanks for your wonderful letter. We are only posting your image of the Firefly Larva eating the Slug at this point. It really complicates our confusing system of archiving if there is more than one specimen in a letter. We are most excited about the Firefly Larva because it is the only image we have of it feeding. We sometimes have problems distinguishing Firefly Larvae from Netwing Beetle Larvae, but the former feed on snails and slugs, and the latter feed on fungus. This is an excellent addition to our Food Chain series.
¶
Posted 19 October 2008
§
Beetles
‡
°
Also tagged:
Is this a cicada killer?
Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 11:03 AM
My son Sam, 10, took these cool pictures in August of what we thought might be a cicada killer burying it’s prey. It seems to have many things in common with a cicada killer except that its prey is not a cicada and its legs are not orange. What else could it be? Thanks for a great site!
Jim and Sam Schwartz
Prairie, 35 miles west of Chicago
Sand Wasp with Stink Bug prey
Hi Jim and Sam,
We already have numerous images of Cicada Killers and prey on our site. Your photo has us much more excited. This is a species of Sand Wasp, most probably in the genus Bicyrtes. According to BugGuide, the female wasp “Provision nests with hemiptera, especially stinkbugs ( Pentatomidae ), also leaf-footed bugs ( Coreidae ), and sometimes assassin bugs ( Reduviidae ). The nest is “mass-provisioned”, i.e., stocked just once, then closed ” Your specimen appears to have a Stink Bug. We are going to contact Eric Eaton to see if he agrees that this is Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus, and since BugGuide doesn’t have any images of the predator and prey together, we suspect he may request that you post this to BugGuide as well.
Sand Wasp with Stink Bug prey
Thanks for your wonderful note! You and Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus really got the house hopping this morning. It would be a pleasure to send these pictures on. Sammy, who just turned 11, spent the summer taking pictures with an old digital camera of mine and captured some of the coolest insect pictures I have ever seen anywhere. I have a couple of others that we’re trying to identify ourselves before asking for help. Thanks so much for your information and the wonderful resource you provide. I’ve attached a couple more shots in the series. Hope they help.
Jimmy
Mormon Cricket Eating A Grasshopper
Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 4:37 PM
Here’s a photo of a Mormon Cricket eating grasshopper roadkill. It was on a dirt road in the mountains of Southern Idaho. It might work into Bug Carnage…
Also include a side shot of a Mormon Cricket on the same road.
Congrats on the site redesign!
Rush
Mountain Home, Idaho, USA
Mormon Cricket eats Grasshopper Roadkill
Hi Rush,
Your photos are both positively gorgeous. Mormon Crickets are omnivorous feeders. They are credited with destroying crops, but they will also cannibalize one another if there is no other food. That dead grasshopper was just too appealing to be passed by. Your profile shot shows the impressive swordlike ovipositor of the female Mormon Cricket. For clarification, our Unnecessary Carnage section is reserved for the deliberate killing of insects by people for no apparent reason. Thanks for the compliment on our new site design.
Female Mormon Cricket
Spider carrying orange orbs
Sun, Oct 12, 2008 at 6:53 AM
I found this spider while digging a trench in my lawn in April, 2008. There was no web in sight. The spider seemed to be just walking along. My first thought was that it was carrying it’s eggs somewhere. I took a few pictures, then continued with my trench. After a few days, I began to wonder exactly what kind of spider it was and what it was doing, but haven’t been able to find out any more information. Thanks for your help.
TJ1028
Coastal southern California
Harvestman with Parasitic Mites
Hi TJ1028,
Your spider is actually another type of Arachnid in the order Opiliones, commonly called a Harvestman or Daddy-Long-Legs. The orange orbs appear to be Parasitic Mites in the genus Leptus. We originally thought the Mites were merely hitching a ride, a phenomenon known as Phoresy, but a search of BugGuide revealed the parasitic nature of the Mites. There is some good dialog contributed by the BugGuide readership on the genus Leptus.
praying mantis eating a wheel bug, unknown eggs
Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 9:12 PM
HELLO BUGMAN!
Just wanted to share this week’s playground “show” of a praying mantis DEVOURING a wheel bug. The class watched in horror/amazement. We had just seen our first wheel bug of this school year the day before.
We are also including a hatching photo we took this August. The eggs were stuck to the brick wall outside our classroom and we watched daily to see what was going to happen. We’d loved to know what was coming out! Thank you so much for your help!
Always looking for bugs,
Fours and fives in PA
Southeastern PA
Preying Mantis eats Wheel Bug
Dear Teacher of Fours and Fives in PA,
We are gladdened to see that you have taken your classwork home and that your students will be able to find their answers online next week. Our only request is that in the future, you please don’t include multiple postings in one letter as it jumbles our already voluminous archives. Your Mantis photo is awesome in that it shows the Mantis devouring another beneficial predator. If the statistics were available, they might reveal that, since it pretty much sits higher up on the food chain, the Mantis may eat more beneficial insects than problematic ones. Since Mantids are often found on flowering plants, they consume their share of pollinators.
Cicada Killer Having Snack in WV
Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 6:30 PM
These killers surrounded us this summer in Springfield, West Virginia. They like to burrow (?) in the ground – they make little holes like moles and they seemed to have made their home about 50 yards from the river, in a field, with fruit & nut trees. They like to fly at us, but then swerve real quick. We’ve seen them close to 3 inches in length! This little bugger brought down the cicada right in front of me. LOVE THE SITE! I’ve learned sooooooo much!
Julie & Steve
Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia
Cicada Killer and Prey
Hi Julie and Steve,
Thanks for your contribution to our archive of a Cicada Killer and its prey. We should clarify though that that adult Cicada Killers feed on nectar and that the Cicada is not food for the adult. The female Cicada Killer provisions her nest with a paralyzed Cicadas and then lays a single egg on each. The Cicada is a meal for the developing larva. The life cycle is expained on BugGuide in the following manner: “In two or three days after egg laying, a wasp larva will hatch from the egg. The larva immediately begins eating the cicada. When the larva finishes the cicada, leaving only the outer shell (about two weeks), it will then spin a coccoon and hibernate until the following Spring. In the Spring, the larva will leave its coccoon and become a pupa (resting stage). From the pupa, an adult Cicada Killer will hatch. It will dig its way out of the ground and look for a mate. Male wasps die shortly after mating. Females die after laying all of their eggs. “
Canibal – Image 4 of approx. 35
Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 3:16 PM
Hi!
Don’t know if you want – but here is a image of a Canibal Dragonfly. This was shortly after it bit the head off it’s meal. This is the 4th shot taken out of approx. 35 Hope you can use! Thank’s Again!!! and Have a Great Day!
Brent Hansen
Pinellas County Florida
Eastern Pondhawk eats Blue Dasher
Hi again Brent,
It seems that both the predator and prey are Green Darners. We wholeheartedly welcome any comments or corrections on this posting.
When I spotted the two on a Hibiscus – I thought they were mating.
Then – right in front of my eyes – I saw one bite the head off the
other. They flew to the fence at the side of my yard – and that was
where I got my best shots. It sat and ate almost all of the other
Dragonfly before flying away to finish it off.
Dragonflies that I have observed in my backyard are voracious
predators. I was trying to photograph a Green Leaf Hopper on my hand.
It flew away and a Dragonfly whizzed in and snatched it out of the
air. I have shots of that Dragonfly munching the Leaf Hopper.
At certain times of year here – they swarm the pool in our backyard.I
have images of Blues ,Reds ,Golds and Greens. Those were the only ones
that sat still long enough.
But – I sure would not want one mad at me – if you look closely at the
jaw – you will see “TWO” sets of chompers. There is a smaller set to
the top and a larger set to the bottom. If ants can inflict a welt
from their tiny jaws – then I think these guys can literally cut a
nice chunk out of your skin.I am now a little leary letting one rest
on my hand and fingers.
If you would like some other colored images of these Dragonflies – let
me know – I have a couple close up head shots that really show the
texture of the eyes and upper body.
Have a Great Day!
Brent
Correction:Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 12:05 AM
If I may add a correction, the upper one is a male of Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicollis), which is well known to pray on insects of its own size, as well as for cannibalism, but in this case it’s rather a Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis).
I hope this helps.
Renaud, Switzerland
