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Native Bee Nest we guess

On · Category: Nests, Solitary Bees Tagged With: · Add Comment

Larvae on a Log
Location: Audubon, PA
May 26, 2011 9:16 am
Dear WTB, While I was reorganizing my woodpile, I came across this larvae nest and found it very interesting. I never saw anything like it before. After I took the picture and scraped the nest off of my log, the yellow substance was a really fine powder, kind of like pollen. Do you have any idea what these little worms will turn into?
Signature: Cheryl


Possibly Bee Nest provisioned with Pollen

Dear Cheryl,
Please forgive us.  We absolutely cannot research this tonight.  It was a long day (14 hours of teaching, monitoring, attending awards and scholarship presentations, and conducting SLO assessments.  The students actually accused us of being grouchy today.  The end of the semester is rough.  Enough of that.  We believe this is a Solitary Bee Nest and we believe the yellow substance is Pollen.  Time will tell.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Leafcutter Bee or Not??? Theodore Payne Foundation Talk

On · Category: Administrative, Bees Tagged With: · 3 Comments

Ed. Note: May 21, 2011
Now is one of those times that being more aware of insect anatomy and not making identifications based on superficial visual identifications would come in handy.  We no longer believe this is a Leaf Cutter Bee.  We don’t believe any Leaf Cutter Bees gather pollen on their legs.  It looks like this native Bee is gathering pollen on its legs, or perhaps it just has long yellow hairs on its legs.  We wish someone would write in and give us a clear cut explanation of what species of Bee this is.  I am going to include more native Bees in my Theodore Payne Foundation talk on Saturday, 28 May, 2011 at 1:00 PM.

What's That Bee???

See the whole original posting HERE.
If you know your native Southern California Bees, please help with this identification.  It would be wonderful to know what it is before Saturday.

Daniel Marlos lectures at Theodore Payne Foundation
The Curious World of Bugs with Daniel Marlos
Saturday, May 28, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
A special lecture on those wondrous creatures called bugs – including native
species that pollinate, predate and mate in the most curious ways, and
exotic species that can wreak havoc in our gardens. Daniel is an artist and
photographer and the author of The Curious World of Bugs: The Bugman’s Guide
to the Mysterious and Remarkable Lives of Things That Crawl. The program
includes an exploration of Daniel’s popular website, whatsthatbug.com, and
ends with a book-signing.

The Curious World of Bugs

Register early as space is limited.

 


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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

What's That Fly???? possibly Flower Fly

On · Category: Flies Tagged With: · 1 Comment

What’s that bug, lol?

Unknown Fly

Subject: What’s that bug, lol?
Location: Northeast Ms.
May 21, 2011 10:42 am
What a neat site! I am fascinated by insects, so I will be here often, lol! I found this bug in my house last night. I live in NE Ms.
After moving him/her outside, I took these photos. I thought it was a lightening bug, my husband thinks Wasp, and I have friends on FB that think it’s a Cicada. I don’t think it’s any of these. I figure this is a pretty basic insect that I should know, and feel rather dumb that I don’t, lol! I have been all over the internet looking at images and have had no luck identifying it so far.
Thank you for your time! ;)
Signature: PHolland

Unknown Fly

Dear P Holland,
We are having a terrible time trying to identify this insect.  Here is what we are certain of:  It is a Fly.  Beyond that, we suspect it is a Flower Fly in the family Syrphidae.  The closest match we are able to locate on BugGuide is Monoceromyia floridensis, but sadly, the details of the antennae are not clearly visible in your photos.  BugGuide indicates that species if found in Florida, but Mississippi isn’t that far from Florida.  Perhaps it is a close relative.  The positioning of the wings has allowed us to eliminate any of the Thick Headed Flies found on BugGuide which also have some similar looking species.  It is evident that this fly is a wasp mimic because of the narrow waist and coloration.  Many Flower Flies mimic bees.  We hope one of our readers will write in to confirm or refute this identification.

Unknown Fly

Thank you for the quick reply!!!  I had 2 more folks insist earlier today that it’s a wasp. Ha… they were wrong!!!!

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Tarantula Hawk and unidentified Wasps from Joshua Tree National Park

On · Category: spider wasps Tagged With: , · Add Comment

Pepsis colleagues
Location: Joshua Tree, CA
May 1, 2011 2:02 pm
Speaking of tarantula wasps, took this photo in Joshua Tree. What are the smaller pollinators on the same plant? Thanks!
Signature: Tracy

Tarantula Hawk and other Wasps on Milkweed

Dear Tracy,
Thanks for supplying us with another image of a magnificent Tarantula Hawk on Milkweed.

Tarantula Hawk

The other Wasps remind us of Tiphiid Wasps, but we cannot find a match.  When we blow up the image to a detail of the smaller pollinators, it is difficult to make out details.  We have requested assistance from Eric Eaton.

Unknown Wasps

Eric Eaton Responds.
Daniel:
Wow, those are not familiar to me….Maybe something in the Philanthinae subfamily of Crabronidae (i.e. “beewolves,” “weevil wasps,” etc).  No doubt that most, if not all, specimens in the image  are males.
Send a link to the image and I’ll post it to the Entomo-l listserv (they don’t want you to attach images to e-mails broadcast to the group).
Eric

Doug Yanega provides a theory
Friends:
Hoping someone recognizes these.  Thank you in advance for the assistance.
We just did a Bioblitz at JTNP this weekend, and the only wasps similar to those in the photo were Aphilanthops subfrigidus (see BugGuide). When were those pictures taken?
Doug Yanega
Dept. of Entomology
Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA

Hi again Tracy.  When was this photo taken?
Thanks

Hi Daniel.  It’s an old photo… I’d say circa 2000.  Yikes, that’s dated — I hope that doesn’t pose a problem.  I pulled it up when I saw the recent tarantula wasp posting.  Love your site.  It was spring.  I remember the Ocotillo blooming.  Am guessing March, as June is too hot and Jan/Feb nights there can be really cold.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Wasp Moth from Mexico

On · Category: Tiger Moths and Arctiids Tagged With: · 1 Comment

Whats this bug
Location: Cancun Mexico
April 27, 2011 4:01 pm
Took this picture in January in Mexico South ofCancun in 2007
Looks like a fly?, Antennae like a butterfly, and weird fuzzy legs….
Very cool though
Signature: Sean

Clearwing Moth from Mexico

Hi Sean,
What a positively gorgeous Clearwing (we know it seems like a misnomer) Wasp Mimic Moth in the family Sesiidae, an interesting group nicely represented on BugGuide. We will try to correctly identify the species for you.  Perhaps Karl will give it a shot.

Correction Courtesy of Karl
Hi Daniel and Sean:
Wasp Moth is a somewhat generic term used to describe wasp mimicking moths from several families. This one is actually an Arctiid moth (Erebidae: Arctiinae), Horama plumipes, which ranges throughout Central America and as far north as southern Texas. Regards.  Karl

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Unknown Spanish Insect may be Mealybug

On · Category: Aphids, Scale Insects, Leafhoppers, and Tree Hoppers Tagged With: , · 1 Comment

Strange small bug
Location: Girona, Spain
April 27, 2011 7:05 am
Hi,
I found this bug in my garden.
I have never seen anything like it before, could you let me know what it is & if it’s poisonous?
Signature: Alix

Unknown Insect from Spain

Hi Alix,
We just returned from a holiday and despite our posting a notice that we would not be responding to emails, we are positively swamped with identification requests.  We decided to look at the most recent requests and found yours, and this one is a bit of a puzzle for us.  We have confessed on numerous occasions that we do not have a background in entomology, and we need to use the internet for much of our research.  Judging by the antennae, this sure appears to be a beetle, but we are not sure if it is larval since it doesn’t have wings, or if it is a wingless adult, or if it is something else entirely.  Alas, we are also quite busy with our day job and we haven’t the time to research this, but we want to post it in the hopes that one of our readers with more knowledge can provide a comment.  We also wrote to our longtime contributor Eric Eaton to see if he can email us an answer.

Unknown Insect from Spain

Eric Eaton Responds
Daniel:
… The bug in the images is probably some kind of mealybug-type thing that has lost much of its usual waxy coating.  Pretty big for a scale insect, but I don’t think it can be anything else.  Try looking up Pseudococcidae for Spain and see what turns up.  …
Eric

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Longhorned Borer Beetle from Sweden

On · Category: Longhorn Beetles Tagged With: · 2 Comments

Unidentified bug!
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
April 18, 2011 11:32 am
Hi!
This little bug appeared in the back of my house. I have never seen a bug like this before and would be very thankful if you could identify it for me.
The bug was about 15 mm long, from head to toe.
Thanks!
Signature: Daniel from sweden

Longhorned Borer Beetle

Hi Daniel,
This is one of the Longhorned Borer Beetles in the family Cerambycidae, though our initial search could not find any possibilities for a species identification.  We will set your letter to post while we are out of the office for the holiday.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

What's That Arizona Caterpillar??? Hooded Owlet Moth perhaps?

On · Category: Cutworms and Owlet Caterpillars Tagged With: · 2 Comments

Second Unknown Caterpillar in AZ
Location: Tucson, AZ
April 17, 2011 10:13 pm
Hi there, My daughter found two of what appear to be the same caterpillars as your reader in Gilbert, AZ. We found them on a snapdragon vine in our back yard in Tucson. I have done exhaustive research and have been unable to identify the caterpillar. Just thought you would like another example of the same critter in the same general geographic area.
PS We are keeping them in a quart mason jar with fresh clippings of the plant on which we found them, and hope to observe them through their metamorphosis. Perhaps then we will be able to identify them.
Signature: Alicia & Sadie

Unidentified Caterpillar

Dear Alicia & Sadie,
We looked through so many Caterpillar images on BugGuide when we received that previous letter that we were seeing cross eyed.  We are no closer than our original guess that it might be a member of the genus Cuculia, the Hooded Owlet Moths, though we couldn’t find any examples on BugGuide that had those markings.  Also the heads on the Hooded Owlet Moth Caterpillars were not pink like the head on the Gilbert, Arizona Caterpillar.  Your caterpillar, on the other hand, looks very much like this Hooded Owlet Moth Caterpillar in the genus Cuculia that is posted to BugGuide.  Though we may be wrong, we believe we may have your identification correct.

Unidentified Caterpillar

Excellent! I too am seeing cross-eyed after searching in every Arizona caterpillar database I could find online, as well as several for northern Mexico. Thanks so much for being such an awesome resource.
All the best,
Alicia in Tucson

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination