possible ichneumon wasp?
June 10, 2010
Hi Bugman,
I was wondering if you could help me identify this insect–I was thinking it was some sort of ichneumon wasp? I found it fluttering around on the ground; it was around 1.5″ long. I think the antennae are fascinating!
Dakota
Western North Carolina
Crane Fly: male Ctenophora nubecula
Hi Dakota,
This is sure an interesting Crane Fly. The feathered antennae are very distinctive. We are going to begin searching the Crane Flies of Pennsylvania website in the hopes of properly identifying this spectacular Crane Fly. The closest match we found, but one that is definitely not your species, is Limonia (Rhipidia) duplicata (Doane) on the Limoniinae subfamily page. BugGuide has an image of a Crane Fly from Alaska in the genus Ctenophora that also has pectinate antennae, but again, it is not a match. We went back and looked at the genus Ctenophora on the Crane Flies of Pennsylvania website and we believe it must be the correct genus, but still no hit on species. We will try to write to Dr. Chen Young for assistance.
Crane Fly: male Ctenophora nubecula
Dr. Chen Young provided identification
Hi Daneil,
This is a male Ctenophora nubecula http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/cranefly/tipulinae.htm#Ctenophora_(Ctenophora)_nubecula and here is a key http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/cranefly/idkeys.htm#23A to tell all the Ctenophora species apart in east North America.
Daneil, I was wondering if you would ask the person submitted the images if it would be okay for me to post these two images on the PA crane fly website. The second image truely showed the characters of the structure of the antennae of this species. A higer resolution of the images would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Chen
Thanks so much for all the information, and the speedy response! I would love to have my photos on the crane fly website. If he or any of his crane fly brethren come around again, I’ll try to capture a few shots.
Thanks again,
Dakota
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for all of your efforts and the images. Please also give my regards to Dakota.
Best wishes,
Chen
¶ Posted 11 June 2010 § Crane Fly ‡ ° Also tagged: What Larvae is This?
June 10, 2010
I’d like to know what moth or butterfly caterpillar this is. It’s on a grape vine and is a little over an inch long.
Jayne Wilson
Houston area, Texas
Probably Eight Spotted Forrester Caterpillar
Hi Jayne,
We know we have seen images of this Moth Caterpillar in the past, but we cannot recall what it is. It superficially resembles the caterpillars of the Grape Leaf Skeletonizers in the genus Harrisina pictured on BugGuide, but that is not a correct identification. We are going to post your photo and letter and we hope that our readership can assist in the identification. Though your photograph is quite lovely the way you have composed it, we cropped it to more closely concentrate on the caterpillar.
Thanks for the response, Daniel. I’ll check back to see if anyone has more info.
Jayne
Karl provides some information
Hi Daniel and Jayne:
This caterpillar probably looks familiar to you because it looks similar to several that have been posted on WTB before. It looks a lot like a Fruit-Piercing Moth (Noctuidae) in the genus Gonodonta, but all the white hairs on the body suggest it is likely another Noctuid, a day-flying Forester Moth in the genus Alypia. Many of these moth caterpillars look quite similar and the head and tail regions are not visible in Jayne’s photo, but I think it is likely an Eight-Spotted Forester (Alypia octomaculata), previously posted by Laura in 2007. You can use the WTB search function to also find numerous images of adults. There are many good caterpillar images on the internet, like this one on pbase. Eight-Spotted Forester caterpillars feed on grapes and Virginia Creeper. I can’t say for certain that that is the genus, but that I am pretty sure that Alypia is the correct genus. Regards.
Karl
Now I’ve had a chance to look at photos of the moth — I think I can confirm that it is an Eight Spotted Forester. I remember seeing what I took to be a black butterfly with white spots on the Star Jasmine a month or so back. It looked exactly like the photos I found online.
Thanks, Jayne
Jayne provides photos of imago Eight Spotted Forrester
June 11, 2010
I’m attaching some photos that I took at the end of May that I thought were of butterflies. Now I know they were Eight-Spotted Forester Moths.
Thanks for posting my original caterpillar photo, and to Karl for providing more information.
Jayne Wilson
Eight Spotted Forrester
Skinny Guy with Long Hairy legs
June 5, 2010
My kitty found this guy living in my windowsill. He has a tiny body but his long legs make him quite big about – about the size of a silver dollar. He’s light brownish and has little leg hairs. Please help us identify him.
Baja Bug Girl
San Felipe, Baja California
Possibly Funnel Web Spider
Dear Baja Bug Girl,
We are uncertain as to the identity of your spider, but our best guess is a Funnel Web Spider in the family Agelenidae which is well represented on BugGuide. Your letter did not indicate if there was a web in the windowsill. We hope one of our readers will be able to assist with this identification.
¶ Posted 06 June 2010 § Spiders ‡ ° Also tagged: Pupal case embedded in decaying rat?
June 1, 2010
Hello! I have long loved your website and need your help! This large, hive-shaped brown growth is emerging from the throat of a large brown rat my cat killed. You may be able to see the significant maggot population under the forearm, but the corpse is still intact for the most part. It appears larger than most of the fly pupae I have found descriptions of on the internet. Can you help? I am very curious – almost mistook it for a cancerous growth! Thank you!!
W. Barker, huge fan!
Sierra mountains, Northern CA
Thing on a Dead Rat
Dear W. Barker,
If we had just read your letter and there was no photo, we would have argued that the creature was a Rodent Botfly in the genus Cuterebra, but the thing on your dead rat looks nothing like the Rodent Botfly Larva pictured on BugGuide. We are going to post your letter and photos and request assistance from our readership.
Thing on a Dead Rat
remarkable big insect
May 25, 2010
spring photo in a little village near the sea
what is this???
greece
Shieldback Katydid, we believe
We believe this is a Shieldback Katydid in the subfamily Tettigoniinae. We will contact an expert in Orthopterans, Piotr Naskrecki, to see if he is able to provide a species name or correction.
Piotr Naskrecki provides an answer
Hi Daniel,
This beauty is called Callimenus macrogaster (Tettigoniidae: Bradyporinae.) Whether it is a shield-back is still a matter of discussion, although recent molecular data indicate that Bradyporinae may indeed by closely related to shield-backs (Tettigoniinae.) This species has an interesting defense mechanism, and if perturbed squirts hemolymph at its attacker.
Piotr
¶ Posted 26 May 2010 § Katydids ‡ ° Also tagged: ID of beetle
May 19, 2010
The young girl next door bought me this beetle for identification. It has a body length of 7 mm. Can anyone help? We live in Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Rick Speare
Roseneath, Townsville 19°21′S 146°50′E
Leaf Beetle
Dear Rick,
This is a Leaf Beetle, and we thought it resembled the genus Calligrapha which is well represented on BugGuide, a site devoted to North American species. BugGuide pictures a green species, Calligrapha serpentina, and it looks strikingly like your beetle, though the markings are slightly different, possibly within the variation found in the species. We found a single Australian Calligrapha on the Backyard Arthropod Project website, but it does not appear to be the same species as your individual. No Leaf Beetles pictured on the Brisbane Insect Website look like your specimen. Karl supplies an answer
May 25, 2010
Hi Daniel and Rick:
It looks like Calligrapha pantherina (Chrysomelidae), a species of leaf beetle that is native to Mexico and Central America. It was introduced to Australia’s Northern Territory in 1989 as a biocontrol agent to help in the fight against the invasive Spinyhead Sida (Sida acuta), also a native of the tropical Americas. It is host specific and apparently has been a successful introduction that has become established in the wetter areas of north Australia from Brisbane to parts of Western Australia. Regards.
Karl
The truth is out there – 07.05.10
May 6, 2010
Hi Daniel,
Greetings once again from sunny Phuket.
How are you ?
Some staff of mine have run into this curious little oddity and asked me if I could assist in identifying it.
To me it’s clearly alien – possibly from alpha centuri or the crab-stick nebula. Its no surprise that a week after Stephen Hawkins informs us that aliens are amongst us that we find him (her, it or them).
What do you think ?
With kind regards,
Mark.
Mystery: Caterpillar we presume
Hi Again Mark,
How is the Atlas Moth population doing? We presume this is a caterpillar, but that is just a guess. It surely is a strange looking creature. We haven’t the time to research this at the moment, but we hope our readership will kick in and assist.
Dear Daniel,
Thanks for your quick reply.
Atlas moths have been quiet of late – lets see if they come by later in the year.
Have had a few snake cases recently. One was a Bungarus Kraits which I had to encourage gently with a house broom into a bucket before throwing her over the wall. Give me caterpillars any day !! Also one case of a 2.5 metre King Cobra that was dispatched with a single shot by one of our Security Supervisors using a home made catapult and glass marble – one shot, one metre away straight in the centre of his head. Turns out he used to be Thai Special Forces. Not my preferred method but the on-site team had to act fast as we have families and kids present.
Fingers crossed your readers will be able to assist.
With kind regards,
Mark.
Karl provides a Family
May 20, 2010
Hi Daniel and Mark:
Judging by the number of people who liked this post there seems to be considerable interest in this strange and lovely creature, so it would be a shame if it goes unidentified. I have to believe that it is a slug caterpillar, a moth in the family Limacodidae. The slug-like appearance and the fact that the head is invisibly tucked under the first thoracic segment are characteristic of Limacodid caterpillars. It’s one of my favorite insect families because of the amazing and beautiful diversity of their caterpillars, but also because of their nasty reputation for inflicting painful and sometimes dangerous stings when touched. Not all are dangerous but certainly many are (the danger is in the small stinging hairs on their bodies). In Asia they are often referred to as Nettle Grubs. It is a very large and globally distributed family, but unfortunately they are often difficult to identify because of the general lack of information, particularly in the case of tropical species. The “Thailand Nature Explorer” site (Siamensis.org) has posted a nearly identical photo of a Phuket caterpillar (scroll down to Answer #14) that is tagged as a Limacodidae (Answer #30). You can hit the ‘Translate’ button at the top of the page, or if you can read Thai you may get better information than I was able to get from the dubious translation. I wish I could have found a better answer but this one will probably require an expert. Regards. Karl
Hi Karl,
We had faith that you might eventually come through on this one. Mark may be able to get the locals to translate the Thai, or I may walk up the hill to talk to my neighbor about the information.
Identify shiny blue bug in photo
May 4, 2010
I think this is a jewel bug. It was found at a height of about 1.5 m over the ground, on the leaf of a creeper. The area had lots of trees.
The bug was spotted on April 10th 2010, The winter had ended and hot summer was begining.
Evan John Philip, NISER
Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India.
Unknown True Bug
HI Evan,
We really don’t have time to track down the species, but this appears to be a Shield Bug and some species are called Jewel Bugs. Your photo is so gorgeous that we want to post it. Perhaps one of our readers will have time to post a comment with a correct identification before we return.
I like This
