|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-12-2015, 07:05 PM
|
| |
Very cool. They can get up to the size of a mouse!
I used to do entomological research in New Zealand, including some island sanctuaries, and would sometimes see these impressive beasts.
Thanks for sharing.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-01-2015, 03:31 PM
|
| |
My favourite stage of their development. Nicely captured.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-23-2015, 04:14 PM
|
| |
This is a common dragonfly, but still impresses.
 Four-spotted skimmer by Mark St. John, on Flickr
---------- Post added 05-23-15 at 07:34 PM ----------
These longhorns look like ichneumonid wasps to me. Interesting how their elytra are so reduced as to barely be useful in protecting the hind wings.
 Male Callimoxys sanguinicollis by Mark St. John, on Flickr
---------- Post added 05-23-15 at 07:37 PM ----------
Blistering sex. There is a corner of my backyard where blister beetles show up each year to do what comes naturally ;).
 Blistering sex by Mark St. John, on Flickr
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-22-2015, 08:33 PM
|
| |
You're correct, looks like a planthopper nymph.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-21-2015, 08:07 AM
|
| |
Qualitative characters are difficult that way, so subjective to interpretation. I had a better look at your photo and compared it more images. Those eyes are on a slight prominence (but that is a terrible character, so I can see why it confused you). It's the spitting image of a cellar spider, in my opinion!
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-21-2015, 01:25 AM
|
| |
Some of the LJOW make pathetic looking structures. But it could also be a cellar spider given where you are finding them.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-20-2015, 06:59 PM
|
| |
A long-jawed orb weaver, perhaps.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-11-2015, 05:51 PM
|
| |
What a cutie!
Good plan. Feeding them clipped leaves works well, you should have no problems. I look forward to your updates. :)
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-09-2015, 04:07 PM
|
| |
You're a pro, then! That's great. It'll be fun to watch it grow. Hopefully you'll be able to find the chrysalis when it decides to pupate. They tend to wander off the milkweed and onto branches and such at that time.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-08-2015, 04:18 PM
|
| |
Have you ever raised one to a butterfly? Very easy, fascinating and fun.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-28-2015, 08:40 AM
|
| |
Those are scale insects (Coccidae) and likely in the genus Unaspis. They are a common pest. You should be able to find plenty of information on how to deal with them with a quick search. Good luck!
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-24-2015, 06:36 AM
|
| |
Nice find! That's a scorpionfly (Mecoptera), so named because the males of certain species have naughty bits that resemble a scorpion's stinger. They are harmless.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-19-2015, 09:55 AM
|
| |
Wasps aren't my thing, but it is definitely a Vespula sp. (wasp, not hornet), which one I'm not sure. It is likely resting in that spot and if you look closely you can see it is 'biting' the concrete which is how they hold on.
---------- Post added 04-19-15 at 12:58 PM ----------
Thanks mtux! These things (mites) are definitely my thing, and they are really neat little beasts.
Your fly shots are beautiful. Love the colours and detail. I like the composition on #2.
The flies are "flesh flies" (Sarcophagidae), BTW.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-17-2015, 06:42 AM
|
| |
I've been jealous of you all with your bug pics as spring has been very late to show up in Ottawa, Canada. But it is here now, and the critters are starting to pop up.
A stink bug:
 Stinky by msinjin, on Flickr
A velvet mite:
 Fluffy by msinjin, on Flickr
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-15-2015, 07:18 PM
|
| |
It is a a snout beetle (weevil, Curculionidae) but with over 40 000 described species worldwide I'm not going to hazard a guess beyond that! The weevils are one of the most species rich families of animals. Most are some form of herbivore and there are some that are huge economic pests.
---------- Post added 04-15-15 at 10:20 PM ----------
You've got a weevil as well!
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-15-2015, 01:05 PM
|
| |
I agree with Paleo Pete, that last one is a ladybug larva. The first one looks like a ladybug larva entering the pupal stage, with the larval skin being shed off its hind end.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-29-2015, 05:44 PM
|
| |
Nice capture. It is a Katydid nymph.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-06-2014, 07:32 PM
|
| |
Nice shots. They look like leaf-footed bugs (Coreidae).
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
07-13-2014, 10:34 AM
|
| |
Those are most likely nymphal leaf-footed bugs (Coreidae). They do look a lot like assassin bugs (as severalsnakes pointed out) but key things to note in exception of this are:
1. the expanded hind legs (that you can just make out on some of them), and
2. that there are so many of them together on a plant. Leaf-footed bugs are herbivorous and so we would expect this kind of behaviour from them. On the other hand, assassin bugs are predators and do not tend to congregate.
In any case, they are very cute!
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-24-2014, 06:25 AM
|
| |
I found this sawfly larva curled up in the same spot for a couple of days, thought it looked pretty cute. It was a voracious leaf muncher at night, much less shy.
 Sleeping with one eye open by msinjin, on Flickr
---------- Post added 06-24-14 at 09:30 AM ----------
That looks like an aptly-named garden flea hopper (Halticus bractatus) of the "plant bugs" family (Miridae). Plant bugs are your typical pierce-n-suck plant feeders.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-09-2014, 06:38 PM
|
| |
This snout beetle seems blissfully unaware that his efforts are in vain--as an assassin bug drains the life out of his mate. Or maybe he's into that sort of thing.
 Don't just lie there like a corpse! by msinjin, on Flickr
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-05-2014, 09:33 AM
|
| |
I love your lighting, hangman43. It has a nice quality to it. Hard to describe, perhaps subtle or delicate. Very well diffused, anyway.
---------- Post added 06-05-14 at 11:36 AM ----------
It sure stands out as a charismatic member of its order. Well captured! Thanks for posting, I may have to go looking for some as well.
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-04-2014, 06:57 PM
|
| |
A bunch of these near relatives of the famous "spanish fly" were making woopie in a shrub in my yard today. They are blister beetles, and as their name implies you don't want to touch them. They exude a defensive chemical from their joints that can irritate skin.
 Blister beetle by msinjin, on Flickr
|
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
05-31-2014, 06:26 PM
|
| |
Thanks! It's the caterpillar of a Viceroy or closely related butterfly. Several of these species mimic the look of droppings to keep from being eaten. If you click on the photo I have more there with bigger images (it looks pretty cool when blown up!)
---------- Post added 05-31-14 at 08:28 PM ----------
We call them June bugs or June beetles. They are a subfamily of scarabs and their immatures (grubs) are what chew up a lot of lawns.
|
