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Valencia posted:This terrible-quality crop is from earlier today. I don't have a macro lens and both my 50mm and 28-70 have a bitch of a time focusing on smaller things. The color pattern on this spider was really interesting, though- the legs are greenish fading to black, and the stripe on the abdomen is bright orange, like hunting cap orange. Doesn't show very well in this at all, though. That is probably an Orchard Spider Leucauge venusta. I like the little smileyface pattern on their butt.
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| # ¿ Mar 24, 2012 06:17 |
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| # ¿ May 24, 2013 14:58 |
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Critter Quest Big Game Hunter Edition: So, it is early spring in a lot of the US, the leaves haven't quite come in yet, which means it is a good time to find giant silkworm cocoons. This is a Polyphemus cocoon:  polyphemus-cocoon by RReiheld, on Flickr They are egg-shaped, the silk is white. They often feed on oak leaves, which often don't drop in the winter. So you can look at oak trees and if you see what looks to be 2-3 leaves glued together, there is every chance that there is a cocoon in there. Here is the pupa that lives inside the cocoon:  polyphemus-pupa by RReiheld, on Flickr They've got about a quarter inch of breathing room, so with a steady hand, you can open up their cocoon and see who lives inside. You can see his antennas, wings, and legs curled up there. I'm pretty sure from the size of the antenna-prints that this is a male. This is what he will look like in a month or two:  polyphemushand by RReiheld, on Flickr In the northern states polyphemus have one brood per year. The adults hatch out in the spring, mate, lay eggs. The caterpillars eat like it is their job for 6 weeks, spin their cocoons, then chill out over the winter till next spring. Further south there are two, or even three generations of moth per year. This is a Prometheus cocoon. They are much smaller, and often very easy to find, since they stay attached to the tree over the winter.  prometheus-cocoon by RReiheld, on Flickr Unfortnately, since they are easy to find, predators and parasites will often find them first. So when you find a cocoon it might have had the innerds sucked out...or worse. Here is an adult male promethus:  prometheus2 by RReiheld, on Flickr One of the interesting things about prometheus is that they have a ton of sexual dimorphism. The males and females look nothing alike. Here is a female:  72Promethea0963 by RReiheld, on Flickr But when I said big game, I ment way big. This is a Cecropia cocoon. It is the largest silkworm native to North America.  cecropia-cocoon by RReiheld, on Flickr Cecropia like to feed on Willow, mulberry, sweetgum, or sometimes maple. Here is an adult cecropia:  cecropiaface by RReiheld, on Flickr A few fun giant silkworm facts: The adults don't eat. They don't have mouths. They live on stored up fat from caterpillarhood and only live a week or two as adults to mate and lay eggs. Silkworms find eachother to mate by pheromones, and they are some of the best scent-trackers in the animal kingdom. A male polyphemus can detect and fly to a female some 30 miles away. That is one molecule per cubic meter. While none of these species are endangered, and indeed, some years Polyphemus are numerous enough to be a minor pest on fruit trees, they are all much rarer than they should be, as they are heavily predated by wasps imported to control tobacco horn worms. With any luck I'll get fertilized eggs from all three of these species and will be able to post an enstar-by-enstar guide to what the caterpillars look like from egg till they spin their cocoons around midsummer. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Mar 26, 2012 around 21:24 |
| # ¿ Mar 26, 2012 21:19 |
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Was out with the lads catching baby turtles again. Red ear sliders this time. babymapturtle3 by RReiheld, on Flickr  babymapturtle by RReiheld, on Flickr
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| # ¿ Mar 28, 2012 21:48 |
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nildrohain454 posted:So, I found this little dude crawling across the sidewalk tonight, anybody have a guess as to what he is/is going to turn into? Edit: Forgot to add that I'm still in the eastern peninsula of WV, if anyone's wondering. That is probably a Cutworm of some sort or another. They are interesting because they live out the winter as caterpillars and don't pupate until late spring. You can tell because he is big caterpillar sized before the leaves are even out. Some species become Underwing moths, which are also interesting, because they have dull brown top wings, and brightly colored red or yellow hind wings that they will flash at predators. Lot of others become the slightly larger than average brown spatter on your windshield moths. Some species are regarded as crop pests, and a good cutworm plague will wreck your early plantings. They aren't especially picky about what they eat. I expect if he was out and about he was looking for somewhere shady and dark to pupate. Throw him in a mason jar with some yard-salad and a couple inches of dirt in the bottom and see what happens. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Mar 29, 2012 around 02:03 |
| # ¿ Mar 29, 2012 01:41 |
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Biggest Disaster posted:I'm not sure; that might just be the way the light was hitting it. I found him one day hanging out underneath the overhang of my parents' gazebo (the picture is upside-down). That is an Oakworm caterpillar. There was an adult earlier in the thread, they grow up to be medium-sized mahogany/red/yellow triangular moths.
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| # ¿ Apr 1, 2012 21:34 |
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nonconsensualninja posted:Speaking of BEEEEEEEEEEES! Pretty sure a beekeeper pays you, or at least does it gratis.
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| # ¿ Apr 3, 2012 00:29 |
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Erethizon_dorsatum posted:
A lot of turtle tracking programs will notch the shells like that. such and such a plate notched means X location, or Y year or whatever. That looks like a tag rather than an accident.
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| # ¿ Apr 9, 2012 05:56 |
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Mak0rz posted:Question for axolotl farmer: Do caterpillars have functional compound eyes, or are the globes on their head just placeholders for the adult eyes? I never really thought about this before, but the bright-green face on this caterpillar has no pseudopupil... Pretty sure they don't. Just the little ocelli (simple eyes) clustered around the jaw. Think the part that looks like eyes is just armor/anchor for chewing muscle. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ce_close_up.jpg Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 15, 2012 around 00:57 |
| # ¿ Apr 15, 2012 00:14 |
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InEscape posted:What would I need to do to not kill a bunch of animals? Is it a totally inadvisable idea? In my tadpole-catchin' days, I had pretty good luck with keeping them in a rusty coffee can. I expect a 10 gallon tank half-full of rainwater with a substrate of last years leaves and dirt and a double-handfull of pond scum would be pretty much ideal. Probably don't want to use tap water, because of the chlorine and salts they put in it.
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| # ¿ Apr 16, 2012 03:06 |
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solaranus posted:Genetic engineering, we do the same with crops, why not do the same with insects? E.G. Select for a breed that out competes invasive species, or ones that possibly sequester carbon if given a specific food source. Wrong thread, and yes, this happens. Lots, and has since the beginning of human history. Read some Guns, Germs and Steel. Human insulin comes from GMO bacteria. Also, Africanized "killer" bees. African bees produce more honey than the more docile european honeybee. Figured "hey, lets hybridize these mean productive bees with these mild less productive bees, get more productive mild bees!" Doesn't always work out as well as you might hope, and controllability in animal GMOs is a bigger issue than ones that have roots, or live in petri-dishes.
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| # ¿ Apr 16, 2012 20:53 |
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OneTwentySix posted:
That looks like a Tulip Tree Silkworm, the T-shaped eyespots and the little circles pattern on the hindwing trailing is pretty distinctive. Thought it might be a female Promethea, but upon further examination, that is a male. Male Promethea are black, whereas the females look very much like a tulip tree silkworm. Apparently Tulip Tree silkworms and Promethea can hybridize as well. If you can get them to hold still, Polyphemus have fairly large circular clear-bits in the center of their eyespots, but if they are flying around, they all look mostly big and brown and mothy. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 17, 2012 around 04:41 |
| # ¿ Apr 17, 2012 04:25 |
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T1g4h posted:
That right there is a Fiery Searcher. One of the Calosoma Caterpillar Hunter ground beetles. Per the name, they are tremendously aggressive and active hunters both as larvae and adults. Even though they are ground beetles, they are not shy about climbing trees to eat caterpillars. They are beautiful, but release a fairly foul odor if you mess with them. They are also interesting because they live for like 3 years as adults, which is fairly unusual in a beetle. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 17, 2012 around 07:20 |
| # ¿ Apr 17, 2012 07:10 |
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Female Promethea moth. Sorry about the less-than-sharpess on this one, but it shows the interesting range of colors. femalepromethea1 by RReiheld, on Flickr Queen's hypothesis confirmed, fat bottom girls do make the rockin' world go round.  prometheafemale2 by RReiheld, on Flickr
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2012 21:23 |
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Mak0rz posted:Are you sure that's female? Pretty sure. Males are black, and way antenna-ier. Here is a male Time will tell, promethea usually scent during the day and attract mates in the late afternoon rather than overnight, so she may have a date lined up in the next day or two. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 19, 2012 around 22:02 |
| # ¿ Apr 19, 2012 21:54 |
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tariq aziz posted:This guy(?) was stuck between our front screen door and glass door last weekend. My wife found it in the morning and asked me to get it out and here's two photos just before it took off. It left a large smear of bright yellow scales on the screen but didnt appear to be too denuded by the experience. Whereabouts are you? How big was it? That looks to be a male, on account of bushy antennas, but I don't know the species. Doesn't look like anything I know in North America. If you are in Australia, it might be a light male Syntherata. Maybe a leone or janette. Apparently they have a wide range of color morphs. Not finding a common name for them. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 20, 2012 around 00:20 |
| # ¿ Apr 20, 2012 00:08 |
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MinionOfCthulhu posted:I hate to bring a dead insect into this, but can anyone id this for me? It's huge, the biggest moth I've seen. Shame about the whole...being dead thing though. I'd love to see something like this or a polyphemus or luna moth in the flesh (so to speak). I live in Florida. That may be the aptly named Giant Sphinx. Cocytius antaeus. Hard to tell with the wear and tear, but that is a really big for a sphinx or hawk moth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocytius_antaeus If so that is some rotten luck, they are quite rare in the US. They have crazylong proboscises and feed at and pollenate rare orchids. Pardon the tiny image, it was the most illustrative on the first page of GIS. 
Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 20, 2012 around 23:11 |
| # ¿ Apr 20, 2012 23:00 |
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Another day, another moth. This is a male Cecropia. Cecropia are the largest moth native to North America, but this one is kind of a runt.  cecropia2012 by RReiheld, on Flickr Here he is in comparison with the female Promethea from the other day:  cecropia-and-promethea by RReiheld, on Flickr
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2012 18:42 |
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Two more: mothface by RReiheld, on Flickr I learned something new today. Promethea are polyandrous. When her current boyfriend detaches, she may scent again for a different date. Their close cousins the Tulip Tree Moth do not do that. So, I guess what I'm saying is, she's crafty.  prometheussex by RReiheld, on Flickr
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2012 00:40 |
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Buggiezor posted:
Most of the big ones range the US and Canada East of the Rockies. NC is pretty good mothy territory. Might be warm enough in the lowlands to have two flights per year for some species. I see a half a dozen a year in the wild, but I'm kinda looking for them. Somebody in an older thread worked a warehouse night-shift and saw something huge and interesting around the lights every few days in the summer. The adults will come to lights, but there are a lot of lights, and a limited number of moths. One light in the middle of a dark area surrounded by deciduous forest would be a much better bet than a suburban streetlamp. Sometimes you can find the caterpillars by seeing a large bare patch in a tree you know they will eat, then looking at the ground under it for fras (poops), but their camouflage is way better than you'd expect it to be and often I've found chewed leaves and fras, and absolutely known that there was a breakfast sausage sized caterpillar within 5 feet of me, and been unable to find it. I have my best luck finding them as cocoons, and most years I'll find four or five just walking in the woods fall and early spring. Some cocoons will hang in the trees after the leaves have fallen, and if you spot them before the birds and squirrels and parasitic wasps do, you can take them home and keep them in a shoebox in your garage till spring. There are also a few places that breed and sell livestock for fairly reasonable, like 5$ a cocoon. Here is a list of moths in NC http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/...s_type=1&tid=63 should have pictures and a little bio, but is slow as christmas for me right now. [edit] Captain Invictus: I've not been there, but I've got some bidness in Boston this summer so I may make a day trip of it. The butterfly house associated with the Missouri Botanical Garden is quite solid (and free with membership to the gardens), and I saw some stuff I hadn't seen elsewhere at the Seattle Science Center as well. Nice to see places diversify from the morpho/owl/tropical swallowtail set to grow some silkworms and birdwings and other things you don't see as often. Not that I'm ever going to be too jaded for a swarm of morphos. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 25, 2012 around 02:08 |
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2012 01:42 |
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Knormal posted:Top one definitely looks to be a click beetle, also your ladybugs seem to be malfunctioning. They are called Twice Stabbed ladybugs. And yeah, at least one of them is not being very ladylike.
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2012 05:49 |
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WHEEZY KISS A DUDE posted:I found this Chrysalis/Pupa thingy when I was out walking around with my daughter earlier today: It is a bagworm. They are kinda trippy because the caterpillars spin the bag around them and stick a bunch of stuff to it, and then crawl around with it on them like a hermit crab or something as they grow up with just their heads and true legs sticking out. There are a couple hundred different species but they mostly look like fat bee-moth-ugly things as adults. At least in some species the female is flightless, and potentially parthenogenic. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 30, 2012 around 02:54 |
| # ¿ Apr 30, 2012 02:49 |
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Last cecropia hatched yesterday. Had 4 cocoons, got 3 males and one crop of tachnid flies. So, last couple cecropia pictures  cecropia3 by RReiheld, on Flickr  cecropia2 by RReiheld, on Flickr  cecropiaagain by RReiheld, on Flickr I need to get an off-camera flash or at least do something silly with a pringles can and some paper towels. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 30, 2012 around 23:28 |
| # ¿ Apr 30, 2012 23:20 |
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VendaGoat posted:
8 year old Nikon D70, 25 year old 60mm f/2.8, on camera flash on my back porch. Was just moaning about the lack of a decent off-camera flash and diffusion. The bugs are just really big, contrasty, and colorful, and don't move around too much. Though the old 60mm macro is a really nice lens. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 1, 2012 around 00:27 |
| # ¿ May 1, 2012 00:21 |
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Not Your Senorita posted:
Black Swallowtail caterpillar. They are bird-poop mimics for the first couple instars, then they lose their bumps, and turn green with black and white and yellow stripes. They have an organ behind their head called an osmeterium that extends into two squishy red horns when you bother them, and they release a somewhat unpleasant herbal odor. They show up on parsley, dill, anise, carrot, and queen anne's lace. In fact, it is a strange pot of dill that doesn't have a black swallowtail on it over the course of a summer. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 3, 2012 around 04:22 |
| # ¿ May 3, 2012 04:20 |
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DicktheCat posted:Haha, I thought the brown things were mealworms... Are they related in any way? A lot of beetle larva look a lot alike. Meal worms turn into darkling beetles, wire worms turn into click beetles, and so on. Sometimes you can guess from size, but I expect a lot of positive ID's require a microscope and a dichotomous key to say for sure. Meal worms are usually pretty round, and wireworms are usually kinda flat-oval though, I think. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 3, 2012 around 05:10 |
| # ¿ May 3, 2012 05:07 |
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Chamca posted:Just popped out on to the patio for a smoke, and found these guys. Looks like Harnessed Moth. Almost certainly a tiger moth of some sort or another. Woolybears are are also tiger moths. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 3, 2012 around 06:14 |
| # ¿ May 3, 2012 06:11 |
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Promethea caterpillars first instar. They are social feeders for the first couple instars, then go off and find their own leaves for the larger later stages. prometheacaterpillars by RReiheld, on Flickr Unfortunately they are also wanderers. I started out with about 100 eggs, and I've got about 50 caterpillars left because most of them went walkabout and didn't get back to a leaf before they dried out or starved.
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| # ¿ May 6, 2012 16:38 |
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tariq aziz posted:Caterpillar on an Ipomoea vine That is a weird one. If I had to guess, I'd say try poking around the Prominant Moth family. Notodontidae. They often have the weird butt shape like that. But most guides only have the final instar for ID, and that one looks like he's got some growing to do.
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| # ¿ May 7, 2012 15:43 |
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Was out biking today in southern illinois and saw the most lizard I've ever seen around here. 10" of Broad-headed Skink. broadheadedskink by RReiheld, on Flickr Pardon the cellphone picture.
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| # ¿ May 8, 2012 22:43 |
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These guys are a lot smaller than the ones I'm used to. 2ndinstar by RReiheld, on Flickr Promethea caterpillar just starting on his second instar.
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| # ¿ May 10, 2012 18:19 |
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CreamCheese posted:Found this hell spawn in my earthbox planter. Anyone know what it is? I feel like burning the entire box, i picked like 30 of them out. Beetle grub of some sort or another. Probably a scarab. Looks a too big to be a japanese beetle, and most of the really big beetles like hercules and stag beetles like rotting wood not loose soil. It might be a june bug with another year of grubbing left to go, or something else along those lines. Maybe a rose chafer, or something in the chafer end of things. If you have a magnifier and an interest, this might help tell you exactly what. http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/atru/research/grubs.pdf Things that are coming out this year should have pupated already...I think. So those are probably next years grubs. Bumble flower grubs look to be big enough, and like 'highly organic' soils like compost piles. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 11, 2012 around 00:38 |
| # ¿ May 11, 2012 00:32 |
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Not Your Senorita posted:
Pretty sure that is 4th instar. He'll be packing on the pounds now and will shed his skin one more time before he pupates (probably). The head-capsule is the only part that isn't stretchy, so they go from being big-headed and small bodied to huge-bodied with proportionally wee little heads, then they shed again and the new head capsule is twice as big as the old one. Will probably be a bit over 3" long and chubby when he pupates. They also usually eat their old skin, so all you will find of the shedding is the old head armor.
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| # ¿ May 11, 2012 20:52 |
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Andrias Scheuchzeri posted:I was out lamenting over my ruined milkweed (kindly neighbor made the very generous gesture of mowing my lawn...and took down the milkweed stand I was encouraging) and saw these two beetles. They were having an intimate beetle moment that I totally ruined to take pics. Handsome creatures--the green iridescence was great. Those look to be Swamp Milkweed Beetles. Their larvae are not lawn grubs, they are orange free-crawling leaf-feeders.
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| # ¿ May 11, 2012 21:24 |
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For some reason, I had never twigged to the "Monarch Mimicry Complex" But there are a bunch of things that all go orange-and-black to indicate they eat milkweed, taste terrible and give no fucks. Monarchs most famously, with the not-quite-tagalong Viceroy (doesn't eat milkweed, still not good to eat), a couple different Milkweed Bugs, the a few Milkweed Beetles, and and internet says an assassin bug as well. How did I not notice that? Well, I noticed there are a lot of them, and I noticed that they were orange and black, but I didn't ever smack myself in the forehead and say "look at all these different orange and black things that all eat milkweed" edit. WOAH. Milkweed tussock moth caterpillar as well. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 11, 2012 around 22:20 |
| # ¿ May 11, 2012 22:05 |
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Dalax posted:
Pretty sure the weird fly thing is a Brown Lacewing, which narrows it down less than you'd think. There are a lot of lacewings what be brown. The big red fella is probably a woodlouse hunter. They have big stabby fangs for punching through well armored pillbugs. Long bug thing is shaped like a rove beetle, probably a nymph, so he'll get way longer and way thingier before he is done. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 12, 2012 around 15:22 |
| # ¿ May 12, 2012 15:15 |
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Not Your Senorita posted:Cool! Do you know how long it'll take for him to pupate? I'm going to Japan for a week and am leaving on the 26th so I'm hoping that I don't miss seeing it (or miss seeing him as a butterfly). It takes around 4 weeks to go from egg to pupa, give or take a week depending on conditions. That one probably has about 2 weeks of caterpillaring left to go, and hopefully will pupate before you leave. This early in the season it is almost certainly going to hatch out as an adult yet this summer and the pupa from those eggs will overwinter and emerge as adults in the spring (unless you are far enough south that they just go year round). How long it takes to emerge from a pupa is also dependent on conditions and can be anything from a couple weeks to 18 months, and some from the same crop of caterpillars under the same conditions can decide to go long even when their siblings don't. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 12, 2012 around 17:32 |
| # ¿ May 12, 2012 17:24 |
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mick ohio posted:These are from last summer, but they're just making their way onto my computer now. Please identify what you can-- North Carolina, for reference. Can't say for sure from that image, but if he is more spikey than furry, that might be a Rose slug caterpillar. They are mildly venomous. The next caterpillar is a tussock moth caterpillar of some sort. Maybe a banded tussock moth. The long-antenna beetle is a longhorn beetle of some sort, but no way to guess without a top-down picture. The fuzzy fuzzy moth might be a Puss Moth, which is also somewhat interesting, since their fuzzy fuzzy caterpillars are also unpleasantly stingy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalopyge_opercularis
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| # ¿ May 15, 2012 01:30 |
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A mixed batch of Promethea caterpillars. Second and third instar. mixedpromethea by RReiheld, on Flickr Eight Spotted Forester day-flying moth, has another 4 spots on his hind-wings  eightspottedforester by RReiheld, on Flickr
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| # ¿ May 15, 2012 17:12 |
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Four bugs, one leaf. fourbugsoneleaf by RReiheld, on Flickr This is 3 instars of promethea caterpillar on the same leaf, plus a bonus aphid. I'm not sure if the guys who are still dawdling along in first instar are sickly, or if this is a survival strategy.
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| # ¿ May 16, 2012 21:56 |
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| # ¿ May 24, 2013 14:58 |
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Garter snake on bromeliad. This was inside the climate-dome at the botanical gardens, but since he wasn't an exhibit, I think it counts. gartersnake-on-bromeliad by RReiheld, on Flickr Oh yes, and it looks like one of my promethea caterpillars skipped an instar. This looks like 5th instar, but should be 4th. Might have wee little midget-moths.  skippedinstar by RReiheld, on Flickr Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at May 20, 2012 around 23:01 |
| # ¿ May 20, 2012 22:10 |
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