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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Smashed Mole Cricket in Australia

whats this bug.
we found these bugs one night while sitting outside, the fact that they were there didn’t worry us. but what worried us was the fact that the bugs “watched” us, they turned there heads around and fully “looked” at us. unfortunately they were exterminated as there were young children present. what are these bugs and are they harmful? there were 2 but ants got them. this one was the most intact
julie greenwood
perth western australia

Hi Julie,
These are the remains of a harmless Mole Cricket. Mole Crickets have a nearly worldwide distribution. They are omnivorous, nocturnal, underground dwellers that are sometimes considered agricultural pests. In an effort to educate the public about random acts of killing, we have created an Unnecessary Carnage page in an effort to keep the public from killing first and asking questions later.

Posted 15 February 2008 § Crickets, Camel Crickets and Mole Crickets ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Update: Giant Australian Potter Wasps??? Potter Wasps: Same or different species????

Murder or Mating? Can you guys help?
Hi Guys,
Hope all is well over there. Here in Queensland we are having severe weather with lots of flooding and as a by product my driveway has become a mud puddle, which today attracted the wasp in wasp1.jpg. This wasp is about 1.5 inches long. It has no sooner settled to gather water or mud when an orange potter landed on it and tried to fly off with it (wasp2, wasp 3).

Are the two the same species, despite the marking variations, engaged in courtship or is wasp1 a different species and is under attack? Wasp4 shows the potter after the other one escaped marriage/murder. Hope you can help.
Trevor Jinks
Queensland, Australia
16th February 2008

Hi Trevor,
What an amazing photo documentation you have taken. We are going to take a guess at this answer. We believe both of your wasps are Potter Wasps, but we are not sure if they are the same species, two subspecies, or two different species that may hybridize. Except for the striped abdomens, they look very similar. The fact that the unknown color variation was gathering mud is good evidence she is a female wasp building a nest. This could also be territorial behavior for the mud puddle turf since the wasp that remained is also gathering mud, and is probably also a female. We located a website with 8 different species and subspecies of the genus Eumenes, but sadly, there are no photos.

Update: (02/16/2008)
Potter wasp: Same or different species
Dear Daniel,
The two wasps are different. The striped looks like a Mud-dauber (Sceliphron laetum). http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_wasps/MudDauber.htm Interestingly, as I type, one of these insects keeps flying between me and the computer on her way to nest she is building behind a poster on the wall. The attacking one looks like the Orange Potter http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_wasps/PotterWasp2.htm http://agspsrv34.agric.wa.gov.au/ento/pestweb/Images/potterwasp1.jpg For a good site showing the difference between the two see: http://hvbackyard.blogspot.com/2007/02/7-entombed-and-eaten-alive.html We have both types of wasp visiting our pond. I often see the Mud- dauber at the edge of the pond collecting mud. The Potter tends to land on the surface of the pond to fetch water. Amazing that one is attacking the other! As an aside: apparently, fossilised mud nests of potter wasps have enabled scientists to date rock paintings in the Kimberley region of Western Australia as being at least 17,000 years old. Best wishes,
Grev

Hi Grev,
We always appreciate your input. The first link that you provided did not lead to the Mud Dauber you indicated, but instead to the Yellow Potter Wasp, Delta campaniforme. Continued searching has provided another possibility: The Large Potter Wasp, Abispa ephippium. The Geocities site includes several images of this species, and it seems to exhibit some variability in the abdominal striping. It seems it is also known as the Australian Hornet. We also found a reference to three species of Giant Australian Mason Wasps in the genus Adispa, including Adispa australiana and Adispa splendida. At this point, we are even more confused, but are favoring either one or more species in the genus Adispa.

Update: (02/19/2008)
Daniel:
Re: the Australian potter wasps, I strongly suspect they are male and female of the same species, in the subfamily Eumeninae of the family Vespidae. With all due respect to “Grev,” they are definitely not mud daubers (genus Sceliphron, family Sphecidae). Not even close.
Eric

Posted 15 February 2008 § Hornets and Wasps ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged:

Golden Orb Weaver eats Cicada in Australia

Food Chain Pic
Hi Guys,
It has been a bumper year down under for Golden Orb Weavers, I have never seen so many in any year before. This lady is enjoying a tasty cicada. In this pic you can clearly see the golden colour of the web that gives them the name. Taken February 10 2008, Boondal Wetlands, Queensland.
Keep up the great work.
Trevor Jinks
Australia

Hi Trevor,
We can always count on you for a great photo. We believe your Golden Orb Weaver is Nephila edulis, though there are several other species in the genus found in Australia. This is a great addition to our Food Chain pages.

Posted 10 February 2008 § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Golden Orb Weaver

To whom it may concern,
I’m not too fussed about knowing what this spider is, but thought I’d send some a couple pictures I took of it. We did have to move it from it’s web to mow the lawn, but it was a very healthy specimen judging from it’s food supply. The web itself was reasonably strong too.
Victoria

Hi Victoria,
Though you did not provide a location in your email, your email address hints at Australia. That helped us identify your spider as a Golden Orb Weaver, Nephila ornata. The common name is due to the color of the silk, not the color of the spider.

Posted 10 February 2008 § Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Dewdrop Spider and Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver

pictures you don’t have yet!
Hi there! While perusing your site, I noticed you didn’t have any photos of the dewdrop spider. These minuscule kleptoparasites were all over the webs of our golden orbweavers last summer. There were sometimes as many as ten in one web. Also, I know you have loads of spiny orbweavers, but I didn’t see any that were yellow. My husband and I found this one while hiking with friends in Bastrop State Park, Texas. Keep up the great work!
Milly from Texas

Dewdrop Spider Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver

Hi Milly,
Thanks for sending us your great photos. Researching the Dewdrop Spider led us to information on an Australian species, Argyrodes antipodianus. More searching led us to Nick’s Spiders and a North American species, Argyrodes elevatus. BugGuide lists three genera of spiders under the category Argyrodes, Argyrodes, Faiditus, and Neospintharus, because they have not yet been separated to the genus and species level. The Dewdrop Spider of Australia gets its common name from the silvery abdomen which gives it the appearance of a dewdrop. It is also called a Quicksilver Spider. Your yellow Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver, Gasteracantha cancriformis, is not as common as the white form of the species.

Posted 10 February 2008 § Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Jewel Beetle from Australia: Temognatha goryi

Black and Yellow Beetle
Hi
Could you please identify the attached picture of a beetle for me? I photographed it in the Lamington National Park Qld. Regards
Fran Jenkin

Hi Fran,
This is a Jewel Beetle in the family Buprestidae. We believe it may be in the genus Themognatha as evidenced by this website. The Global Insects site has even more photos. Perhaps our faithful reader Grev can add to this.

Update: (03/30/2008) ID’s
Hi Daniel,
Corrected ID’s follow. Readers, and in particular the contributors of the pics below, are welcome and invited to contact me re ID’s for any Australian Buprestidae, which I have been studying and surveying their distributions etc since 1978. I am always interested in new distributional data especially from remote areas.
This beetle is Temognatha goryi:
Cheers
Allen

Posted 06 February 2008 § Metallic Borer Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Helena Gum Moth: Caterpillar and Adult

not an Emperor Gum Moth Caterpillar?
Hi,
I almost stepped on this one this morning, I had thought it was an Emperor Gum Moth Caterpillar, but after looking at other photo’s on the web, it doesn’t seem "tufty" enough. looking at the photo (and measuring my hand), it’s probably about 90mm long near Ballarat in Central/Western Victoria, Australia Also seen at same location, I was assuming that this … is an Emperor Gum Moth ? can you confirm any of my ramblings ? thanks,
Glenn

Hi Glenn,
In our opinion, both your caterpillar and moth are a close relateive of the Emperor Gum Moth, the Helena Gum Moth, Opodiphthera helena.

Posted 03 February 2008 § Giant Silk Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Entometa fervens, NOT Guava Moth Caterpillar

Strange caterpillar on Lemon-scented gum tree; SE Qld
Dear Daniel (I think that’s your name)
We found this caterpillar on a lemon-scented gum tree on our property this morning; thought it was a growth on the trunk until we looked closer and could actually see its legs. It seems to have attached itself onto the trunk and hasn’t moved for over two hours. Questions are: 1. What is it? 2. Is it damaging the tree (which is only a young sapling)? 3. Should we leave it alone or remove it? I did look on your website but my computer is soooo slow I couldn’t open all the info you had on caterpillars. Hopefully this one is new to you so that I’m not wasting your time. My caterpillar (whatever it is) is on the move – but taken 24 hours to move about 4 inches. It is itself about 4 inches in length. I’m looking forward to finding out what it is and have e-mailed all the people I think may have an idea of what it is, but so far no gel. Hope you can shed some light on what is probably a very common caterpillar. Many thanks
Heather

(02/03/2008) Strange caterpillar on Lemon-scented gum tree; SE Qld
Dear Daniel and Lisa?
So sorry – didn’t mention that my caterpillar is on our property in Warwick, South East Queensland, Australia. I’ve lived here for nearly three years and am amazed at how many bugs there are! I’m having fun looking at your site, even if you don’t have time to answer my query. You might be interested to know that I found it by accident; all I did was type in “identify caterpillar Australia” and up popped your very informative and ‘pretty’ page. Hope I’m not being a pest e-mailing you yet again.
Heather from Warwick, Queensland

Hi Heather,
We have spent a goodly amount of time trying to identify your fascinating caterpillar, but to no avail. We suspect it is in the superfamily Noctuoidea, family Noctuidae, the Owlet Moths or the or an Underwing Moth in the subfamily Catocolinae (family Erebidae). There are some taxonomical errors on the Caterpillars of Australian Moths website we tried searching. An American underwing caterpillar posted on BugGuide shares many similarities.

Breaking News: As we struggled with this posting, and trying to create all the links, we believe we have identified this caterpillar as a Guava Moth, Ophiusa disjungens, based on photos posted to the Geocities website. Though many caterpillars in the Catocalinae group look similar, gum is listed as a food plant of the Guava Moth Caterpillar

Dear Daniel
Thank you for your prompt reply to my query (see below). However, I also received a reply from Don Herbison-Evans (whose website I found on your site, thank you) and he thinks it is Entometa fervens. I had a look on the link, http://www.usyd.edu.au/museums/larvae/lasi/fervens.html and, sure enough, it is almost identical to my visitor. I took a video of the caterpillar last night and it had become very active indeed – I may have a new hobby!

Hi Heather,
Thanks for the update. We stand corrected.

Posted 02 February 2008 § moth caterpillars ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Australian Fishing Spider?????? or Bark Huntsman Spider????

Hello Bugman!!
my name is phil and i live in a small town called wondai in QLD australia and i found this spider on a dirt road in the bush on one of my long walks, it was about 5 cm in diameter, was very low and close to the ground and was really really fast. What is it?

We thought this looked like one of the American Fishing Spiders in the genus Dolomedes. Some research we did indicates, according to Wikipedia, that there are several Australian species, but we have been unsuccessful in locating any images that will corroborate this. If this spider was near a body of water, that is additional support that our speculation is correct. Perhaps our faithful reader and contributor Grev will have more luck with an exact identification.

Posted 01 February 2008 § Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Blue Eyes Lacewing from Australia

Identification of ?Robber Fly and Scorpion Fly
Dear Bugman,
Happened upon your site tonight and am most excited! Have bought several books and trying to identify local species in our Southern Tablelands area of NSW, Australia. Hubby and I spend a good deal of time at Bungonia State Recreation Area doing the lazy man tours of the gorgeous bush to see what interesting things we c an find…..we are never disappointed! What first started out as just native flowers and now turned into fauna and in particular, BUGS! I’ve attached two photographs taken this month and am hoping you can identify them. They’re beauties! Cheers!
Katherine & Ricky Lee

Hi Katherine and Ricky Lee,
What a positively gorgeous Blue Eyes Lacewing, Nymphes myrmeleonides, which we identified on the Geocities website. According to Wikidpedia, it is one of the largest Lacewings in the world. It belongs to the family Nymphidae and the order Neuroptera which contains other insects like owlflies and mantispids.

Dear Daniel,
What a beautiful photo Katherine and Ricky Lee have taken of the Blue Eyes Lacewing! Congratulations to you both. These insects are around our place a lot lately. You can recognise them before they land by their distinctive manner of flying – as though their wings are a bit disjointed. They like to sit underneath leaves and look up and out at the world. I recall that my first email to you was about the eggs of the Nymphes myrmeleonides, which you posted on the Eggs page, so perhaps Katherine and Ricky would like to do a bit of cross checking and watch out for the eggs. Regards
Grev

Posted 28 January 2008 § Neuropterans: Lacewings, Antlions, and Owlflies ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Robber Fly from Australia

Identification of ?Robber Fly and Scorpion Fly
Dear Bugman,
Happened upon your site tonight and am most excited! Have bought several books and trying to identify local species in our Southern Tablelands area of NSW, Australia. Hubby and I spend a good deal of time at Bungonia State Recreation Area doing the lazy man tours of the gorgeous bush to see what interesting things we c an find…..we are never disappointed! What first started out as just native flowers and now turned into fauna and in particular, BUGS!I’ve attached two photographs taken this month and am hoping you can identify them. They’re beauties! Cheers!
Katherine & Ricky Lee

Hi Katherine and Ricky Lee,
Getting different species of insects in the same letter complicates our posting, so we are giving your Robber Fly its own posting. We can’t tell you the species, but perhaps our faithful reader Grev will write in and positively identify your specimen. The Geocities website includes some similar looking Robber Flies.

Posted 28 January 2008 § Robber Flies ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Immature Cotton Harlequin Bugs from Australia

help with ID
Hello Mr. Bugman:
I’m an Extension Agent on Cape Cod, Massachusetts and my friend, who is traveling in Australia, sent this ‘bug’ picture. It was taken at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney and I’ve tried to identify the “bugs.” My guess is that they are tortoise shell beetles of the family Chrysomelidae . However, my collegue who studies ticks and is known as the “tickman” disagrees and says they are bugs – and not beetles. Could you please help me with identifying these creatures? Thank-You,
Diane

Hi Diane,
These are immature Cotton Harlequin Bugs, Tectocoris diophthalmus. According to the Geocities website, they are in the family Scutelleridae: “Species in this family are know as Jewel Bugs or Shield Backed Bugs . Bugs in this family are usually colourful with metallic colour of spots. Shield-backed bugs are plant suckers. They can be distinguished from other bugs by their scutellum completely covered the whole abdomen and wings. This is why sometimes they are miss-recognized as beetle. They are easily distinguished from beetles by having sucking mouthparts and the shield on the back is continuous, not the divided wings cover with separation at the middle. This family are closely related to stink bugs (Family Pentatomidae ). They also produce offensive odors when disturbed. We found three species in this family. ” Elsewhere on the site, it is noted that: “The bugs are also known as Hibiscus Harlequin Bugs . Females are orange with small patches of metallic blue scatter over their body. Males are metallic blue with red patches. Their patterns can be quite different between individuals. Males are smaller than the females in size. Their scutellum completely covers the whole abdomen and wings. “

Thank-You!!!! You’re a great resource for help in identification. I forwarded your reply to my friend who’s traveling in Australia. She really appreciated it and is bedazzling her friends with her local “bug” knowledge. Thanks again,
Diane

Posted 25 January 2008 § True Bugs ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

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