object found in the desert
Location: Mojave Desert
December 7, 2011 9:53 pm
Hi,
I found this egg-shaped object in the high desert (Joshua Tree area). It’s about 1 inch long and looks like it’s made of sand, with openings on top and bottom. Somebody’s home?
Very curious, thank you.
Signature: Marianne
Desert Thing
Dear Marianne,
We aren’t exactly sure what this thing is, but we suspect is was created by some insect or other arthropod. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to provide an identification.
Desert Thing
Mother Wolf
Location: NSW, Australia
December 4, 2011 5:17 am
Hi again! Thought you might like this picture of a wolf spider and her egg sack. We found her while we where planting a mulberry tree.
Thank you!
Signature: Emma
Wolf Spider carrying her egg sac in her Chelicerae
Dear Emma,
We agree that this looks very much like a Wolf Spider, and that it most closely resembles the Garden Wolf Spider, Lycosa godeffroyi, which is pictured on the Brisbane Insect (and Spider) website. There is however, one very perplexing mystery for us. Wolf Spiders drag their egg sacs behind them from the spinnerets and Nursery Web Spiders including Fishing Spiders carry their egg sacs in their fangs or chelicerae like your individual. Here is a photo from our archive of a Fishing Spider with her Egg Sac and here is a Photo of a Wolf Spider with her Egg Sac, also from our archive. The Find A Spiderwebsite concurs with our statement: “Females produce a white or pale blue spherical egg sac and this may be carried around attached to the spinnerets. When the spiderlings hatch out they crawl onto the female’s upper surfaces, almost completely covering them. It is presumed this serves as an efficient means of dispersing the young spiders.” We hope to get some additional information on this mystery. Unfortunately, we cannot really make out the eye pattern arrangement in your photograph.
Wolf Spider or Nursery Web Spider???
I have a theory about why she was carrying her eggs like that. We disturbed her burrow when we where digging the hole for the tree. So she probably had to grab them quickly, and didn’t have time to do the spinneret/silk thing. It was a shame to wreck her home, but we have LOTS of these spiders around our house. Kind of hard to avoid them. We moved her away after I’d gotten some pictures, so hopefully she found a safe spot for them to hatch.
Thanks for the theory Emma. We still hope to hear from a few folks we contacted.
Eric Eaton responds
Daniel:
You are correct to at least the family level. I suspect her egg sac became detached from her spinnerets and so she is carrying it this way for the time being; or perhaps the sac is about to hatch?
Eric
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Double antennae’d Diprionid!
Location: Central Illinois
December 3, 2011 8:04 pm
Hey there! I thought I’d send in some pics of a very interesting sawfly I found a couple months back, but only got to keying a couple weeks ago. Seems this little Diprionid has forked antennae! Really it only has two antennae, with only two scapes and pedicels, but four flegelli. Do you think this is normal for the species, or did I stumble upon a mutant? It’s got my entomology professor (and me!) baffled.
As always, loving the site! It really helped me stay motivated in my Entomology class. Thanks for all your work maintaining it!
Signature: Entomologist in Training
Fork-Horned Sawfly
Dear Entomologist in Training,
By far you have better qualifications to answer that question than our entire staff combined. We will post your intriguing images and letter and we hope our readership can provide any information.
Fork-Horned Sawfly
Probable spider coccoon in Romania
Location: Brasov, Transylvania, Romania
November 29, 2011 3:42 am
Greetings from Romania. I recently tidied up my study and found 5 cocoons underneath a cloth. They had been laid on a picture frame which had been underneath the cloth (actually a cloth bag for an Australian Barmah hat). They measure 1 inch long and less than half inch wide (2.5 cms by 1.2cms). They are clay coloured and are hard to the touch just like baked clay.I opened one and found 8 dried dead spiders inside. They each have 8 hairy legs under the magnifying glass. I have attached a photo. Have you any idea what they are?
Signature: Dr Haydn Deane
Mud Nest
Dear Dr. Deane,
Spiders do not form a cocoon and insects that form a cocoon create a solitary cocoon. What you describe sounds like a Wasp’s Nest. There are many wasps that build a mud nest that is provisioned with insects or spiders for a developing larva, generally a single larva per cell. The structures in your photograph do not resemble any mud Wasp Nests that we are familiar with, but spiders tend to be a common prey for wasps that build a mud nest. The other puzzle is why that picture frame was chosen as the location. For now, this will be posted as a Mystery on our site.
possibly a Wasp Nest
Dear Daniel, Thanks for the prompt reply. You are completely right. I opened another of the nests and inside was the creamy coloured grub in it’s red- brown thin sleeve. The grub is soft but does not move. Pictures enclosed
However I am very puzzled as these mud wasps are not known in Romania. They have been discovered in the Czech Republic and Italy. We live in Brasov, Transylvania in the mountains at an elevation of 600mtres. The cloth that was covering the site of the nests was from an Australian hat. Could it be that the wasp was inside the lining of the cloth bag and travelled all the way to Romania from Australia, then deciding to lay it’s eggs on my photo album lying underneath the bag? Seems a bit far fetched! And it flew in through the window of my study on goodness knows how many occasions with the mud!!
I have done a bit of my own research and it matches the black and yellow mud spider nest, see
http://wiki.bugwood.org/HPIPM:Black_and_Yellow_Mud_Dauber
I did see a very strange looking wasp in our garden matching the description of the Black and Yellow Mud Dauber this autumn. I have never seen another.
Best regards
Dr Haydn J H Deane MB BCh BAO
Hi again Dr. Deane,
Though the species of wasp you found might not be found in Romania, we feel quite certain that there must be some local species. Since Mud Wasps are somewhat particular about their host prey, we don’t think it likely that an Australian wasp managed to provision five nest chambers in a foreign land. We did not receive the grub photo and we would love for you to resend it.
Daniel, Apologies, Here are 3 almost the same but may be of interest to you. I do have a small stream outside my study window so that is presumably where the mud was collected
Many thanks for your help
Best regards
Haydn
Mud Wasp Larva
Thanks Haydn,
We would urge you to allow the remaining cells to mature and metamorphose into adults that can easily gain access to the outdoors come spring.
1
¶ Posted 29 November 2011 § Nests ‡ ° Also tagged: Is this a bagworm?
Location: Fish Hoek, Cape peninsular
October 24, 2011 4:15 am
I found this group under a rock each measures about 8 mm long.
I am in Fish Hoek, Cape peninsular area.
(In Zimbabwe we used to get big bagworms that made their sleeping bags out of thorns etc)
Signature: Brian
Possibly Caddisfly Pupae
Hi Brian,
We don’t know what this is, but we don’t believe they are Bagworms. Our best guess is perhaps the Pupae of Caddisflies or Caseworms. The larvae are aquatic and build “homes of sticks, shells or grains of sand. Each species has a very distinctive case. Caddisflies also spin silk. Was this rock overhang near a stream? If not, then we are most probably wrong. We hope one of our readers can provide some information. The North Carolina State University Entomology website has a nice page on Caddisflies.
Hi
Interesting – thanks for the comments!
There is no steam nearby – in fact I on a very rocky and rather dry area of sandstone hill/mountain about 2.5 km from the ocean. (Fynbos)
The drawings on the www.cals.ncsu.edu website are similar – but I think I will have to ask the local university Zoology Dept
Thanks
Brian
Then Caddisflies must be wrong. This needs more thought.
A dozen ten lined June bugs in my basement (so far) in October!!
Location: South Eastern Idaho
October 24, 2011 9:03 pm
We recently purchased a 100+ year old home. The home had been vacant since the spring. When we installed a new furnace and brought the home up to temperature last week 10/15/11 I noted a few days later several large bugs lying around in the basement. All were dead or nearly dead when found. I looked around and noted that in the area of the basement where the concrete floor doesn’t cover that there are some bore holes, about the size of an adult’s finger into the clay floor in this area. I was surprised to find them all dead and even more surprised once I found a picture on your website that let me guess what kind of bug it is.
Am I seeing an infestation? Are they waking and dying because we warmed up the home and they think it is spring? Will I have this happen over and over or are these beetles going to exhaust thier numbers after this false spring?
Signature: Rick
Ten Lined June Beetle
Hi Rick,
Since the larvae and pupae of the Ten Lined June Beetle live underground for several years, and since the ground temperature is a significant factor in the emergence of insects that live underground, it is likely that heating the basement triggered an early emergence for the brood of Ten Lined June Beetles you found in October. We suspect that the clay floor might have provided a suitable location for a female to have laid eggs since the grubs feed on the roots of trees and shrubs. We strongly doubt that the eggs were laid outside and the grubs tunneled to your basement. We think it is more logical that at some point a female was trapped in the house and laid eggs on the floor. We doubt that this pattern will repeat in future years, though it is entirely possible there is an isolated population of Ten Lined June Beetles that have been cyclically reproducing in the home if the required roots are near the surface of the clay floor.
Any idea what did this?
Location: Ames, IA
September 19, 2011 3:47 pm
Hi,
Here’s another mystery photo from my cousin in Ames, IA. When I looked at the photo, I couldn’t determine it’s size so couldn’t tell whether it was made by insect or bird. Dinah’s answer is: It was definitely an insect pupae about 1 or 1 1/2 inch long wrapped in an asparagus frond.
I’d very much appreciate it if you could help in any way.
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon
Mystery Pupa
Hi Anna,
This looks like a pupa, probably a Moth Pupa, and it looks nostalgically familiar. Our editorial staff seems to remember seeing this mystery thing in the fields in Ohio, but we need to do additional research. We are going to contact Eric Eaton to see if this looks familiar to him.
Daniel,
Thanks so much for your help. I know you go above and beyond for me and now you’re helping my wonderful Iowa cousins also!
Anna
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bug identification
Location: Indiana
September 13, 2011 12:18 am
Hi Bugman
This bug was found in Indiana in September. It was floating in water and seems to be missing the head. It’s around 4 inches long. Would love to know what it is.
Signature: Amy
What took the Preying Mantis's head off???
Hi Amy,
This is the third image of a decapitated Preying Mantis we have posted this week, and we suspect birds are biting off the heads. Here is a link to the second image of a decapitated Preying Mantis we posted a few days ago. We might have guessed that the previous two individuals, which we suspect are males, lost their heads while mating, but this third individual appears to be a female. We counted six abdominal segments, indicating a female, where males have eight abdominal segments.
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