From the monthly archives: "October 2011"

Buckmoth Caterpillars

On · Category: Silkworms · 2 Comments

What are these!?
Location: Branson, MO
October 24, 2011 2:09 am
Hey, was on a hike with the fam in Branson, MO and I found these caterpillar worm looking things all over this leaf. Here’s a couple photos for ya. Hopefully you can identify them for me.
Signature: Carson

Buckmoth Caterpillars

Hi Carson,
These sure look to us like Buckmoth Caterpillars, possibly Hemileuca maia based on this BugGuidephoto.  Your email did not indicate if this is a recent sighting.  We suspect it was earlier in the season.  Please clarify.  Was the tree an oak?  

Buckmoth Caterpillars

 

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Probably NOT Caddisfly Pupae, we NOW suspect

On · Category: Caddisflies Tagged With: , · Add Comment

Is this a bagworm?
Location: Fish Hoek, Cape peninsular
October 24, 2011 4:15 am
I found this group under a rock each measures about 8 mm long.
I am in Fish Hoek, Cape peninsular area.
(In Zimbabwe we used to get big bagworms that made their sleeping bags out of thorns etc)
Signature: Brian

Possibly Caddisfly Pupae

Hi Brian,
We don’t know what this is, but we don’t believe they are Bagworms.  Our best guess is perhaps the Pupae of Caddisflies or Caseworms.  The larvae are aquatic and build “homes of sticks, shells or grains of sand.  Each species has a very distinctive case.  Caddisflies also spin silk.  Was this rock overhang near a stream?  If not, then we are most probably wrong.  We hope one of our readers can provide some information.  The North Carolina State University Entomology website has a nice page on Caddisflies.

Hi
Interesting – thanks for the comments!
There is no steam nearby – in fact I on a very rocky and rather dry area of sandstone hill/mountain about 2.5 km from the ocean. (Fynbos)
The drawings on the www.cals.ncsu.edu   website are similar – but I think I will have to ask the local university Zoology Dept
Thanks
Brian

Then Caddisflies must be wrong.  This needs more thought.

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Lady Beetle Larva and Pupae from Australia

On · Category: Lady Bug Tagged With: · Add Comment

Can you ID these bugs?
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
October 24, 2011 9:25 pm
Hi We have just found this bugs, mainly the orange, ladybird looking ones on my mother’s stone fruit trees. They seem to be have suckers inbedded in the bark and the tree seems to be really struggling. She is in Adelaide, South Australia, it is currently Spring.
Thanks so much.
Alison.
Signature: No preference

Lady Beetle Pupae

Hi Alison,
You have sent us photos of the pupae and a larva of some Lady Beetle.  We presume they are the same species.  They appear to be Common Spotted Ladybirds, Harmonia conformis, based on photos posted to the Brisbane Insect website.

Lady Beetle Larva

 

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Ruby Spotted Swallowtail

On · Category: swallowtails · Add Comment

Butterfly
October 24, 2011
I think it’s Ruby-Spotted Swallowtail, the same that bugguide describes as “Rare in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Has strayed as far north as Kansas.” The location is Pirituba, São Paulo, Brazil.
Cesar Crash

Ruby Spotted Swallowtail

Hi Cesar,
The range of the Ruby Spotted Swallowtail, Papilio anchisiades, is “From south Texas south to Argentina”  according to the Butterflies and Moths of North America website, and Brazil is certainly in that range.  According to Butterfly Corner, it is also called the Red Spotted Swallowtail. 

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Ten Lined June Beetles: Unseasonal Appearance!!!

On · Category: Scarab Beetles Tagged With: · Add Comment

A dozen ten lined June bugs in my basement (so far) in October!!
Location: South Eastern Idaho
October 24, 2011 9:03 pm
We recently purchased a 100+ year old home. The home had been vacant since the spring. When we installed a new furnace and brought the home up to temperature last week 10/15/11 I noted a few days later several large bugs lying around in the basement. All were dead or nearly dead when found. I looked around and noted that in the area of the basement where the concrete floor doesn’t cover that there are some bore holes, about the size of an adult’s finger into the clay floor in this area. I was surprised to find them all dead and even more surprised once I found a picture on your website that let me guess what kind of bug it is.
Am I seeing an infestation? Are they waking and dying because we warmed up the home and they think it is spring? Will I have this happen over and over or are these beetles going to exhaust thier numbers after this false spring?
Signature: Rick

Ten Lined June Beetle

Hi Rick,
Since the larvae and pupae of the Ten Lined June Beetle live underground for several years, and since the ground temperature is a significant factor in the emergence of insects that live underground, it is likely that heating the basement triggered an early emergence for the brood of Ten Lined June Beetles you found in October.  We suspect that the clay floor might have provided a suitable location for a female to have laid eggs since the grubs feed on the roots of trees and shrubs.  We strongly doubt that the eggs were laid outside and the grubs tunneled to your basement.  We think it is more logical that at some point a female was trapped in the house and laid eggs on the floor.  We doubt that this pattern will repeat in future years, though it is entirely possible there is an isolated population of Ten Lined June Beetles that have been cyclically reproducing in the home if the required roots are near the surface of the clay floor.

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Mournful Sphinx

On · Category: Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths · 2 Comments

Moth in the Everglades
Location: Everglades, Florida
October 24, 2011 9:09 pm
Hello, I took this photo while on a slog through the Everglades (mid-October). Could you help me identify it?
Signature: Jim Poyser

Mournful Sphinx

Hi Jim,
Your somber moth, Enyo lugubris, goes by the common name the Mournful Sphinx.  The Sphingidae of the Americas website is always a great place to identify Sphinx Moths from the family Sphingidae.  The species is found in the southernmost portions of North America as well as the tropics of Central and South America.  According to BugGuide, it is found in  “Forests, edges, presumably.”

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