What Bug Is This? It Bit Me Last Night.
Location: New South Wales, Australia
February 3, 2011 6:05 pm
Hi, was laying in bed last night and felt a sharp pain in the back of my thigh and grabbed this bug off me… I have no idea what it is. It left a nice puncture mark and came up in a big welt. Just curious about its identity.. I’m thinking something in the Assassin Family
Signature: Regards Hannah
Assassin Bug
Hi Hannah,
You are correct that this is an Assassin Bug in the family Reduviidae, however, the photo has not been taken from the ideal angle for identification. Your individual does not resemble the thicker bodied Assassin Bugs on the Brisbane Insect website, and it is impossible for us to determine if your individual is one of the more slender bodied Assassin Bugs pictured there.
Nice looking chestnut coloured bug
Location: Kilcowera Station, SW Queensland, Australia
February 3, 2011 5:44 am
This bug has never been seen before here or anywhere else. It’s body is about 4 cm long and is segmented, a bit like a centrepede, it has 15 legs on either side, the 2 at the end are very long. It has nippers at its mouth end like a centrepede too. And beady eyes.
Signature: Toni
House Centipede
Dear Toni,
There is a good reason your creature reminds you of a Centipede. It is a House Centipede.
Thanks Daniel, I would have commented on wtb site but I can’t login even though I have registerd. Thanks for identifying my bug! It’s a great blog, cheers Toni
¶ Posted 03 February 2011 § Centipedes ‡ ° Also tagged: Unknown Tasmanian Tick
Location: Tasmania, Australia
February 1, 2011 8:47 am
Hello, I found this in my house, and was at first very puzzled by it. Looking at it now I think it must be some sort of tick, but I hope it’s not dangerous. I would be very grateful if you could help me. Thank you.
Signature: Joseph Vince
Tick
Dear Joseph,
You are correct. This is a Tick. Ticks are blood suckers and there are many blood born pathogens, so Ticks are vectors for many viral diseases. We cannot say for certain that this Tick is dangerous, but we would urge you to use caution where Ticks are concerned.
¶ Posted 01 February 2011 § Ticks ‡ ° Also tagged: Big Bee / Wasp?
Location: Kalgoorlie Western Australia (Desert)
January 30, 2011 1:18 am
Hi,
can u identify this thing? It was fouund at my hsbands work yesterday (Gold mine, Kalgoorlie Western Australia) after it stung / bit him, mild irritation went away quickly. I have tried to identify it withot success.
Thanks
Signature: Sarah Ryan
Giant Robber Fly
Hi Sarah,
This is a Robber Fly in the family Asilidae. Robber Flies are predators, and though they do not prey upon humans, they can bite if carelessly handled. We searched the Insects of Brisbane website and we believe we have identified your specimen as a Giant Robber Fly, Phellus olgae.
What’s this bug?
Location: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
January 30, 2011 5:44 am
Hi, thanks for the website. I snapped this very large moth in my back yard in suburban Hobart, Tasmania, the coldest (and island) state of Australia. We are in the middle of summer and it was a warmish night of about 15 degrees celcius. I have not been able to find any information online about this moth except that it resembles many of the hepialidae family. I have seen one of a similar size in the bush but this sighting was a first around the city. Hobart is surrounded by mountains & bush so the wilderness is never very far away from suburbia.
Signature: Bug info
Wood Moth we believe
Dear Bug info,
Our first impression, because of the long narrow wings, was that this was a Hawkmoth in the family Sphingidae, but after a brief moment, we revised our opinion in alignment with your speculation. We agree that this interesting specimen resembles the Ghost Moths or Swift Moths in the family Hepialidae, but like you, we have not been able to find any matching images on Csiro which includes this wonderful Hepialidae slide show. We could not find a match on the Moths of Australia Hepialidae page either. We then researched our original impression, but there are no matching images on the Moths of Australia Sphingidae page either.
Wood Moth
The large body of this specimen inclines us to believe it is a female full of eggs. When Daniel was researching his book, The Curious World of Bugs, a Ghost Moth from Australia was discovered to hold the record for the most eggs laid by an insect that was not social since Ants, Bees and Termites can lay millions of eggs over the course of the queen’s life. Here is that bit of information courtesy of the Book of Insect Records published online by the University of Florida: “An Australian ghost moth, Trictena atripalpis (see Moths of Australia), is the insect with the highest recorded fecundity among nonsocial species. One female was reported to lay 29,100 eggs, and when dissected, 15,000 fully developed eggs were found in the ovaries.“ We remain puzzled by this identification and we hope a reader will come to our assistance.
Wood Moth Moth
Update with Identification
We just received three comments from a reader who supplied this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/psykepinky/3347804907/ of a Wood Moth that looks identical to this amazing creature. When we finish preparing Beoff Bourgenon (or however you spell Beef Burgandy in French), we will update this posting better.
Moth
Location: Captain’s Mountain via Millmerran, Queensland, Australia
January 22, 2011 6:51 pm
We found this dead moth outside our house recently. We have never seen a moth with transparent wings. What is it? Is it usually found in our area? What does its caterpillar look like?
Signature: Mackenzie Family
Bee Hawkmoth
Dear Mackenzie Family,
You found a Bee Hawkmoth, Cephonodes kingii, a diurnal species that may be mistaken for a bee or hummingbird as it visits flowers to feed on nectar. The Brisbane Insect website has nice images of living specimens.
THANK YOU so much for getting back to us so quickly. We are guessing that the moth may have ended up on this side of the Great Dividing Range because of the cyclonic winds that have been blowing off storms towards Brisbane this month. We are about 250 km from Brisbane at the far edge of the Darling Downs. We seem to have more species of bugs this summer than ever before but there don’t seem to be any more of these bee hawk moths around.
We really appreciate you replying to us.
From Beverley Mackenzie
Hi Beverley,
Insects posted to the Brisbane Insect website often have a far greater range extending to other parts of Australia as well the islands of the South Pacific and occasionally even Asia. According to Oz Insects, Queensland is part of the range of the Bee Hawkmoth, though winds do buffet insects about and weather patterns might be responsible for range expansions.
Spider and Young
Location: Perth, Western Australia
January 22, 2011 5:09 am
Hi,
I found this spider and her young in a messy web in the branches of a small gum tree in my garden. I am curious to know what type they are. Photo taken 20/01/11.
Many thanks
Signature: Tanya Bennett
Cobweb Spider
Hi Tanya,
We really love your photograph, which we believe shows a Cobweb Spider or Comb Footed Spider in the family Theridiidae with her brood. The family includes the notoriously venomous Red Back Spider in Australia and Black Widow in North America, but most of the members in the family are quite benign. It appears that the Spiderlings in your photo are taking advantage of feeding off of a Fly that has become ensnared in their mother’s web. We were unable to conclusively match your Spider to any of the Comb Footed Spiders on the Brisbane Spider website.
Hi Daniel,
Many thanks for your quick response, very interesting to find out what the spider is, she is still in her curled up leaf with her babies today.
Kind regards
Tanya
1
The Grasshopper and the spider
Location: Healesville, Victoria Australia
January 21, 2011 3:55 pm
I had this cute little drama played out the other day and thought you might like to see. I tiny spider annoying a big grasshopper, I dont know what kind. Several times it swiped the spider off and each time the spider crawled back up by its web. Eventually the grasshopper lowered it down and they went their separate ways.
Signature: Linda in Healesville Australia
Unknown Grasshopper interacts with Spiderling
Hi Linda,
Your photo is quite amusing, however, we are having a difficult time trying to identify this somewhat distinctive Grasshopper. We cannot find a match on the Brisbane Insect website nor on the LifeUnseen website. The spider, which we believe may be a newly hatched spiderling, is well beyond our ability to identify, however, we do have a theory to explain the activity you witnessed. Newly hatched spiderlings often disperse by ballooning on the wind. They will climb to a high point and release a strand of silk that catches the wind and then carries the spiderling to a distant location, hopefully one that will result in a rich food supply. This will ensure that the young spiderling will not have to compete with siblings to survive. We believe the spiderling in your photo has mistaken the Grasshopper’s antenna for a twig and that is the highest elevation point it is able to reach at the moment the photo was taken. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to assist in the Grasshopper identification.
Unknown Grasshopper with Spiderling Hitchhiker
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