Big ol’ centipede?
I found this big critter right outside my front door this morning. I found your site a short time later – and think it just an Austin Texas sized multi-colored centipede. I saw a few really good pictures on similar ones on your site, but didn’t see many that provided a good indicator of the overall size, so I’ve attached a picture of it on a one dollar bill with bricks in background. Please let me know if I did a bad thing by putting it back in the flower bed. Thanks,
Steve W
Hi Steve,
You really know how to “do the right thing” and releasing your gorgeous Giant Red Headed Centipede, Scolopendra heros, is an excellent example. It is true that centipedes are venomous, and the bite of the Giant Red Headed Centipede is said to be quite painful, but the species is a valuable predator in the ecosystem that will rid your garden of many unwanted creatures. Centipedes are not aggressive and will not bit a human unles mishandled or otherwise provoked.
Edibility Update: (05/08/2008)
Edibility update: big centipedes!
Hi Daniel,
Sometime this year I’m going to finally dine on one of these large centipedes. They’re traditionally consumed in…. in….. well darn it, of all the edible insects/arachnids/other arthropods I’ve learned about, I can’t recall exactly where it’s eaten. I’ll hazard Peru. More importanly, David George Gordon’s Eat-A-Bug Cookbook features a recipe, so that makes it totally legit. All the best,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com
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Posted 07 May 2008
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Hero Swamp Darner?
Hello! My name is Sarah-Ellen Leonard and I’ve been checking your site daily for about 6 months now. The volume of information is impressive, as is your ability to give feedback so rapidly. You have helped me with mealybug infestations and calmed my fears about cicada killers. I haven’t had anything to send in until now: a hero swamp darner, if I have read your site correctly. My coworker here at the University of Illinois found him/her on the sidewalk this morning. He/she is almost exactly 3″ long (sorry for the lack of size reference in the photo!) and occasionally twitches in a feeble fashion. I’m afraid this lovely creature may well be a goner. I just thought a nice image of those lovely eyes would be a worthy addition to your site. Thanks for everything!
Sarah-E
Hi Sarah-E,
Thank you for your kind words of support. We believe you have correctly identified this Swamp Darner, Epiaeschna heros. There are many images on BugGuide to support this identification. While it is sad your specimen will soon expire, at least you got a wonderful photograph of a magnificent insect.
It’s Edible: Sky Prawn
(05/01/2008) Edibility update: dragonflies
Hi Daniel,
Happy May Day. Gorgeous photo of that swamp darner. Not so long ago dragonflies were a popular food in Indonesia, where they’re known as ’sky prawn.’ They’re eaten in both nymph and adult forms, but the former must be cooked because it may be a transitory host of a liver fluke. In old Japanese folklore dragonflies are the steeds of dead spirits.
Dave
www.slshrimp.com
Cool Bug
If you know anything about bugs in Australia we would love to learn what type of critter we have here. At first I thought it was a dead leaf which had blown off of a clump of eucalyptus branches I had just cut for my possums…. until I saw it crawling up the spare possum box on the front verandah! NO idea what it is but I kept a safe distance as the scorpion-style tail looked somewhat threatening! Thanks
Tom
Hi Tom,
This is some species of Phasmid, commonly called Walkingsticks, Stick Insects, or in the case of your specimen, probably a Leaf Insect. We have not had any luck identifying the species. Perhaps our loyal reader Grev, who often comes to our rescue with unknown Australian specimens, will have better luck scouring the internet than we have had. Leaf Insects do not have stingers, and the posture of the tail end is display only.
Update: (04/28/2008) Unknown stick insect from Australia
Hi Daniel,
Extatosoma tiaratum, Spiny Leaf Insect, is a member of the Phasmid family. See: http://miller.emu.id.au/pmiller/books/stick-insects/phasmatodea/phasmatidae/tropidoderinae/extatosoma/index.html … Kind regards,
Grev
Update: (04/28/2008) That Unknown Australian Leaf Insect
Hi Guys,
most likely your stick/leaf insect is Macleays Spectre, Extatosoma tiaratum Here is a reference link with pic http://miller.emu.id.au/pmiller/books/stick-insects/phasmatodea/phasmatidae/tropidoderinae/extatosoma/tiaratum/index.html regards,
Trevor Jinks
Queensland
Edibility Update: (04/29/2008) Australian phasmid: edible!
Hi Daniel,
Hope your semester is wrapping up well. Extatosoma tiaratum is among the walkingsticks and leaf-insects consumed in Papua New Guinea. They’re also a popular display species in the Insectarium world, and among amateur invertebrate-keepers. Best,
Dave
www.slshrimp.com
Help with ID, possible Metallic Wood Boring Beetle in Brazil
Hi Daniel!
First off, great website! I am writing to congratulate and say that I have posted a video a while ago of a strange big beetle found on my parents house in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Attached are some stills of the beetle, some of them are on flickr as well. I had no idea if the insect was a cockroach or a beetle and on the comments for that video I was pointed to your website, where I could find some similar beetles photos, I am suspecting it was something similar to this other 2
Fabricio
Hi Fabricio,
Your beetle is indeed one of the Metallic Wood Boring Beetles in the family Buprestidae. We believe it may be Euchroma gigantea but we might be wrong. Perhaps one of our readers knows for sure.
Update
Daniel:
You are correct in your species ID of the giant buprestid. I’ve never seen a live one, that must really be something!
Eric
Update: (04/06/2008)
Edibility update: big buprestid
Daniel,
Hope things are good with you two. The big wood borer is eaten in both the larval and adult stages. Here’s a source and pertinent text. http://www.food-insects.com/book7_31/Chapter%2007%20Colombia.htm Dufour (1987 ) reported E. gigantea among the foods of the Tukanoans. The Tukanoan name for it is boopica . This, plus other coleopterans used were all woodboring; the larvae were preferred although adults were occasionally eaten as well. The dry weight of the adult beetle was found to be 3.0g. Best,
Dave
White Fat Grubs? Pics included!! Please respond ASAP!! Thanks!
While chopping wood in December, my dad stumbed upon 3 huge white grubs. I wrote you guys immediately but got no response. I wound up keeping them. When my dad gave them to me, they were out of their holes due to my dad cutting them (the holes) in half. The next day, they had knawed back into the wood and covered the opening with what I’m guessing is a mix of saliva and wood shavings. Now as it is almost April, I was wondering what this grub (or insect) is before they pop out of their cacoons. If I shake the wood slightly, I can feel them moving about. Characteristics: Off white VERY small head Black line running down back 6 small, almost nonexistant legs right behind head Thanks!! I hope they are some sort of beetle!!!
Cammy
Hi Cammy,
Sorry we didn’t get to your first request. These are Cerambycid Beetle Grubs, or more specifically, Prionid Grubs. Not sure what species as you did not identify the tree nor your location. Your photo is awesome.
The grubs came out of a water oak (similar to a live oak) in Tampa Florida. The species name would be greatly appreciated.
Cammy
Our best guess is Prionus imbricornus, the Tile Horned Prionus, which ranges in Florida and feeds on oak as well as other trees, shrubs, vines, and according to BugGuide, maize. This is a large and handsome beetle.
Eating Insects
Hi,
I guess that you would post this in your eating insects forum. I spent 8+ years in Japan. I learned (on my own) to enjoy insects as edible fare. The giant department stores there often sold large insects as pets. One type often sold was the larvae and adults of the giant Japanese Rhinoserious beetle (Tripoxylus Dichotomous) I used to buy the larvae (they look like humongouse garden grubs) and would boil them in water, before placing them in jars of alcohol to preserve them. (boiling them helps keep their natural white color when you pickle them.) Well, while boiling them, they smelled so good that I decided to eat some! Here’s what I did: After boiling, I would slice them open and remove the central gut with its digested wood. Then I would cut off the too-crunchy head and six legs. The remaining white body I would dip in hot, melted butter with lemon juice, and enjoy! Yum! The flavor is like a cross between escargot and frog-legs…a sweet, earthy flavor. I also enjoyed the sweet, white bodies of Brood-X, 2004 Periodical cicadas, just after they’re emerging from their underground nymphal shells. I would collect these and sauteé them in garlic butter. Cicadas are extremely clean insects, only drinking tree-juices, and have wonderful sweet flesh.
OK, heres another treat I enjoyed while living in Japan: Dragonfly thoraxes! There were billions of dragonflies flitting around all the ponds there and I netted dozens and dozens of them for my meals. Pop-off the heads, legs, wings, and abdomens, and the thorax is nothing but powerful wing-muscle meat…Extremely delicious and flavorful. Sauteé these in butter and enjoy the sweet, tender flesh which is true red-meat.
I have tried other commonly-eaten insects but don’t really like them: Grasshoppers have an ugly taste, as their guts are filled with their meals and their "spit" which is untasty to me. Ants tend to be sour, what with their formic acid and all. Caterpillars have a wierd taste, like the smell of brand-new rubber garden-hoses. However, Japanese silk-worm moth larvae are good, with their almost tea-like flavor. Remove the heads and six true-legs for a softer-fare. I DO recommend Tenebrio (domestic meal-worm beetle larvae and the larger "super-worm" Tenebriads) as they eat clean grains fed to them and have a sweet grainy taste. Delicious, cooked or sauteéd. Cut off their heads and legs to remove some of the "crunch". I have tried eating tarantulas too. But to me, only the ‘thorax’ portion is edible. The abdomen is filled with the silk-glands and these are too chewy with their liquid silk formula. The taste is quite earthy, but different from their 6-legged relatives. Very "escargot" in flavor, use the same butter formula to cook: Butter, Shallots, garlic, parsley, salt ‘n’ pepper to taste. Insects are quite edible if you can get over the "yuk factor" that is instilled in almost every American!
Fred
Hi Fred,
Thanks so much for your informative letter. If food prices continue to rise, eating insects might seem much more desireable.
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Posted 25 February 2008
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Giant Water Bugs
I have enjoyed reading your informational site. I borrowed one of your photos to illustrate the portion of meat I ate when stationed in Thailand in 1969. The Giant Water Bugs were collected under the street lights at the Korat Air Base, in central Thailand. The native guards would roast them over a little campfire. They taught me to stick a bamboo skewer into the abdomen and slowly roast them. They peeled the exoskeleton behind the head to reveal a tasty morsel of white meat. The taste reminded me of a small sweet scallop. The guard did not have me eat the whole bug, but I understand they can be fried or roasted and eaten whole. At the time the locals called them Baht Bugs because the people could sell them for 1 Baht each at the market. The value was 5 cents at the time. That was fairly valuable since a man working hard labor in the hot sun would only make 15 cents per hour. Our guard supplemented his income by collecting dozens of the Water Bugs, putting them in burlap bags.
I forgot to add my name Thanks for maintaining such a great website.
Lucky Ketcham
San Diego, CA
Hi Lucky,
Thanks for the great anecdote. We will post your letter to our Edible Insects page.
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Posted 07 January 2008
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deung duong
They farm it in South Thailand. These pictures are from the country in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Are they a larvae or grub? Their natural habitat is infesting coconut trees I was told.
Gary J Chandler
Hi Gary,
In parts of the world, the Red Palm Weevil is a serious agricultural pest. According to the Red Palm Weevil website: “Red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus , has different common names such as coconut weevil, Asiatic palm weevil, or Indian red palm weevil. It is a serious pest for coconut in some Asiatic regions and an important pest for the date palm in the Near East. It was recorded in some Arabian Gulf States during eightieths and then reported as a destructive insect for date palms in Egypt at 1992 (Saleh, 1992; Cox, 1993). ” We believe the insects in your photos are either the Red Palm Weevil or a closely related species. Beetle larvae are known as grubs, and Weevils are beetles, so you can refer to these creatures as either larvae or grubs. They are considered edible in Thailand where many other insects are eaten as well.
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Posted 10 December 2007
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What is this wasp
Hello,
First, I apologize for the large file. I do not want to resize it as the wasps are small already. I could not (and did not want) to go closer. I could not find the exact match from whatsthatbug.com . I think they look like polistes paper wasp, but not very sure. Please help identify. The picture was taken in Bangkok, Thailand. The nest (or comb ?) is about 6 feet from the ground. Please also advise if they are dangerous. They look tame to me. Thanks
Wit
Hi Wit,
According to a website we located, this is a Banded Paper Wasp, Polistes sagittarius. The author of the website writes: “This species, in my experience, is rather defensive. It will tolerate people moving calmly around the nest, but any attempt to get close is met with suspicion and defensive behaviour from the workers. The workers attack if the nest is touched, and unlike many other species which wildly sting whatever they can latch on to, this species often aims straight for the head! However, like most Polistines, its nests do not pose a threat in most cases, unless built near very crowded areas.” The species is found in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere in Asia.
Update: (12/10/2007)
Hi Daniel and Lisa Anne,
Hope the end-of-the-semester finds you both well. These paper wasps in Thailand are guarding their grubs, as nearly all of the hymenoptera do. They’re eaten in various parts of the world; ant pupae are exported and are sold here in Providence, but not bee/wasp/hornet larvae or pupae. I haven’t tried any yet, but I’ll get my chance soon. I keep hearing they’re great, and you did get that really cool letter from Tla-i-ga recently about yellowjackets. Here’s an interesting picture [one of a series] of the same kind of thing in China: All the best,
Dave
Killer bug!
Hi all,
I caught this little guy while trolling ditches for inverts for my naturalized tank at work. He was about 2.5″ long and particularily vicious. He killed virtually ever other invert in the tank, stole food from the 9 shiners and 1 “wild-caught” koi and the small frog and generally made a demon of himself. I think it’s a hellgrammite? Or some kind of stone nymph. Anyhow, the tank overheated one weekend during a power failure and i lost killer bug and my frog. 
Keep up the good work! Cheers,
alicia,
Vancouver, BC
Hi Alicia,
This is a Water Tiger, the larva of a Predaceous Diving Beetle. There is an interesting description on a website known as Findarticles. We are sorry to hear about you stewing your local fauna tank. It sounds like a refreshing change for the usual jobsite aquarium. We once kept a Los Angeles River aquarium going for five years. Though the winged insects flew away, the three mosquito fish produced many generations until they finally succumbed to a rogue raccoon. We kept the aquarium outside on the patio.
Update: (11/04/2007) edible: water tigers
Hi Daniel and Lisa Anne,
I hope you both had a good trip to D.C. Both larval and adult predatory/scavenging water beetles are eaten in China and Southeastern Asia. A batch of adult Water Beetles were collected for me in Louisiana this past summer; I hope to receive them soon. They were gathered with light traps that some insect-hunters used; swarms of various insects came. I’m wondering if any of your readers know of people who collect insects this way, and if anyone has tried putting lights over the shallows of a pond to attract larvae and other water insects. If so I’d love to learn about their experiences. Best,
Dave Gracer
www.slshrimp.com/
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Posted 29 October 2007
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Edible Bugs
O’siyo Oginalii, (Hello, my friend)
I am Aniyunwiya (Tsalagi or Cherokee), descended from those who were not captured and sent to out west, or confined to North Carolina. I found your page after a painter asked what the cocoons on my house were. I said, "Bagworms" and he said that could not be right. He was incorrect. I have spent the last hour looking through your site, and have added it to my "Favorites." I would like to share a couple of recipes with you. Yellowjacket grubs can be made into soup after removing them from the comb, which is best achieved by placing the comb upon a fire (or a stove) until the covering is parched–this makes it easier to remove the grubs. Next, brown them in the oven. They are good to eat like this, or they may now be used in soup. Early morning or late afternoon is the best time to harvest the comb. Locusts also are edible. It is best to gather them immediately after they have emerged from their shells, otherwise you will have to peel them. Gather them after dark, or they will not be good. Wash them and fry them. They may be eaten hot or cold.
Tla-i-ga (BlueJay)
Wow Tla-i-ga,
We are sure David Gracer will be thrilled with this information.
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Posted 25 October 2007
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