Discussion Topic |
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 21, 2012 - 01:20pm PT
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So I see we have the "Birds" thread. I figured It would be cool to have an "Insects" thread. Not sure if one has been started, but if so I can delete this one. Spiders and other Arachnids are welcome as well.
Feel free to post all insect/arachnid related stories, pictures, jokes, etc.. here.
I'll start off with a pic of the resident grasshopper(katydid) in my yard.
Edit: So I'm a space cadet. Just noticed I spelled "insects" wrong on the title for this thread (dohhh!!). Looks like it will have to stay that way unless I re-start the thread. Carry on.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 01:23pm PT
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I thought maybe "insetcs" was a new climbering gizmo. ;-)
Here's lookin' at you, kid!
Sorry about the 'noise' but I had to shoot at high ISO.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Aug 21, 2012 - 01:45pm PT
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No pictures, but a question:
For the last few days, we've been visited by crickets. There seem to always be a couple of them hanging from the ceiling somewhere in the house.
And the question? Well, we live in Seattle, and I've never seen a cricket in my life -- most of which was spent in Canada, but the last ten years in Seattle. So why the crickets all of a sudden? It's been unusually warm and dry for the last ten days or so, but then, most years have a week or so of unusually warm weather. Why didn't I see a cricket before?
Not that I'm complaining. They're cute little guys -- beautiful green color -- and they don't do anything except sit upside down on the ceiling until they die, and then I find them on the floor.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 01:48pm PT
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Crickets are a fact of life here in SoCal. In 20 years in Seattle I don't
recall a one either, just herds of wolf spiders marauding around the house
at night. Maybe you need more wolf spiders? I've never seen a cricket
on the ceiling here. Maybe yours have migrated in from Hanford?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:03pm PT
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I've a problem too. I have this nice happy family ensconced under my eaves.
Unfortuneately it is near the front door through which walks the World's
Greatest Bug-Hater who is demanding a pre-emptive strike. Despite my pleas
that my warrior days are behind me and that I'm all about getting along I
fear that I am going to have to compromise my values. What should I do?
Why can't we all just get along?
signed,
Going Buggy in SoCal
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:06pm PT
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Funny, I've noticed a marked decline in crickets here in NH since I was a kid. I've been wondering about that.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:09pm PT
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Reilly,
Wait until nighttime, when the entire swarm is sleeping. Then soak it with the spray bug killer of your choice.
( be ready to run like hell. sometimes newer, environmentally friendly bug killer takes a while to work )
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:22pm PT
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Last time I was up at Tahquitz I noticed something I haven't seen before on the south side descent.
What looked like a dead leaf on one of the scrub oaks flew off. A moth or butterfly that is perfectly camouflaged as a dried up scrub oak leaf. Small brown wings and a dark green body.
So perfectly camouflaged in fact that in over 40 years of stomping around in So Cal chaparral, I've never noticed one before. Once I saw the first one I saw several so they aren't that scarce.
Not an oak moth, already looked that up.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 21, 2012 - 02:22pm PT
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I try to get along with them too Reilly, but if they get to close to my domain I have to do as Chaz recommended.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:27pm PT
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Ron: Re your mention
ever wander through a migration of Morman crickets? AAAAAARRGHGHGHG!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:47pm PT
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The F-35 of the bug world:
Tarantula Hawk wasp-you don't wanna get stung by one of these although as
opposed to the tarantulas they prey upon it will only feel like you've been paralyzed.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:50pm PT
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Had this guy take up residence on my shirt. He had some hops too.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 21, 2012 - 02:52pm PT
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I was just gonna post something about those Tarantual/Hawks. Got em flying all over the east county right now.
On that note. Here is a pic of a supposed Cuban Tarantula Hawk. SOB is huge.
I think a bullet in the arm from .38 special would probably feel better than a sting from this thing.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:00pm PT
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Tobacco Worms
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TFPU
Sport climber
Idaho
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:14pm PT
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Insects are cool animals.
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Capt.
climber
some eastside hovel
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:14pm PT
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Interesting this is coming up right now.I know,not an insect but I am currently in a battle with a black widow(as we speak).I'm in the process of pulling all reading material away from the wall where I've seen it the last two nights.I've owned this house for fourteen years and only ever seen one indoors.I watched it go back outside.Problem solved.These things are quik.It's in a spot that can only be reached via skinny vacuum attachment so I can't just smash it.Every time I simply turned on the hoover it takes off into the books and mags.Their are plenty outside and that's fine,but this one has provided uneasy sleep the last couple nights.Any thoughts,experiences,or suggestions.I hate these things and apparently the venom attacks your liver.My liver has been attacked enough ;)).
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TFPU
Sport climber
Idaho
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:17pm PT
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Capt: whenever i have problems i turn to cocaine
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Capt.
climber
some eastside hovel
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:20pm PT
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Thinkin' 'bout attacking my liver some more right now.Vodka for the battle!
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:36pm PT
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Black widows are an occupational hazard for anyone working on plumbing,electrical and AC.
I knew one AC mechanic that instead of using the bug spray and wasting time waiting for them to die, along with the uncertainty that you got 'em would use a can of contact adhesive and just glue them in place.
I've run across these little alpine bugs about everywhere in CA. Sometimes so thick they stain your hands and gear. They are supposed to be predatory, but what do they eat?
These photos from Tahquitz.
For scale
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 21, 2012 - 03:41pm PT
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You can spray black widows with paint and they just keep walking.
Kind of cool to see a "florescent pink" widow. These are things I did in my youth of course.
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:46pm PT
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Capt.
climber
some eastside hovel
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:51pm PT
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Good widow stories guys.After I get this one I'm goin' to the shed with contact cement,spray paint,hairspray and vodka. ;)))
Edit:The image of a glued down,pink,flaming widow just cracked me up and made me feel better.LOL
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Capt.
climber
some eastside hovel
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:56pm PT
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^^^ F#*k that!!!
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this just in
climber
north fork
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Aug 21, 2012 - 03:57pm PT
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Ron we don't need to see youR ballsack, that's gross:-)
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 21, 2012 - 04:05pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 04:09pm PT
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Jim, The Irish don't do tennis- that wankers' game for English toffs.
But I think a hurling stick will do nicely, thank you.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
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Aug 21, 2012 - 04:56pm PT
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Hey, Cap. I'd leave yer Widow be, myself. Web Spiders, like Black Widows, tend to stay put. As a plus, they kill dangerous wanderers, like Hoboes & recluses. Watch for egg sac construction, steal & destroy & you're golden.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 21, 2012 - 05:03pm PT
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Ok, so I'm a space cadet. Just noticed I spelled "insects" wrong on the title for this thread. Does anyone know if you can edit the title of the thread once it's been posted?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 05:08pm PT
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Dirt Claud,
Yer gonna
live in infamy! Woo-Hoo!
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 21, 2012 - 05:10pm PT
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Good one Reilly.
Went to public schooling Cosmic, that might explain it, :-)
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MH2
climber
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Aug 21, 2012 - 11:52pm PT
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MH2
climber
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Aug 22, 2012 - 10:44am PT
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Aug 22, 2012 - 10:54am PT
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As someone that was bitten by a Black Widow as a small kid...
KILL THEM ALL!
There are plenty of other spiders that will take their place and function.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Aug 23, 2012 - 12:54am PT
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Cool idea! I am both intrigued and grossed out by insects. Something about an exoskeleton creeps me out!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 23, 2012 - 01:41am PT
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Aug 23, 2012 - 02:09am PT
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MH2
climber
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Aug 23, 2012 - 10:07am PT
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Aug 23, 2012 - 10:47am PT
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WTF is that grey colored thing that killed the bumble-bee?? That looks awesome.
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matty
Trad climber
under the sea
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Aug 23, 2012 - 10:52am PT
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MH2
climber
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Aug 23, 2012 - 10:37pm PT
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that grey colored thing that killed the bumble-bee
is an assassin bug, I think
It has other common names.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 26, 2012 - 07:13pm PT
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This guy about gave the wife a heart attack in the backyard. I had to intervene on his behalf...
He was a good three inches.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Aug 26, 2012 - 07:22pm PT
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Aug 26, 2012 - 07:28pm PT
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Insects need love too
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Rock!...oopsie.
Trad climber
the pitch above you
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Aug 26, 2012 - 09:40pm PT
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Shot this action in Costa Rica last year. Tarantula Hawk dragging home dinner for the family.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 27, 2012 - 12:37pm PT
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Check out the Venezuela Poodle Moth!
Contrary to internet experts' opinion it is real.
Venezuela Poodle Moth
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MH2
climber
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Aug 27, 2012 - 03:39pm PT
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That moth looks kitted for polar regions, not Venezuela. The others on the link look Mardi Gras.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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Aug 27, 2012 - 04:27pm PT
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I distinctly recall Maggie identifying Jiggs as an insect. She then tried to do him in by throwing the nearest object at him. Bringing Up Father. By McManus?
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Tim Camuti
Trad climber
CA
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Aug 27, 2012 - 07:08pm PT
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One of the largest insects in the world. Allowed through customs when I came back to the USA, but the border control officer wasn't supposed to let it through. Yeah for good graces!
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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Aug 27, 2012 - 07:34pm PT
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Just stumbled onto the thread - awesome shots, all.
Ron mentioned stumpfu*kers a while ago upthread. God how I hated those damned things. No bite mark, but when they bit you it would feel like an electric shock going through you. We had one fire north of Reno where the ground was literally moving with a carpet of them.
I have been trying to find a picture but haven't had any luck, so a description will have to do...
We were cold trailing a fire near Pahrump on July 4th..02? I think. Anyways, I put my hand down to check the root clump of a Joshua tree and got hit by about 40 of the bastards on my arm ( I had the sleeves rolled up as it was about 110 at the time.)
I started doing the "Stumpfu*ker Dance" which consists of banging on the affected body part, along with yelling "ARRRRGH STUMPFU*KERS GET OFFA MEEE" and my partner is dancing around me trying to get his camera out to take a picture of the swarm all over my arm instead of helping get them off...thanks Billy....
Anyways it was a great shot of me looking like the world had ended and my pulaski flying off while I'm trying to kill the damned things...sorry to have lost it, was a classic shot of the joys of firefighting.
Keep up the awesome shots of the creepy crawlies!
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Double D
climber
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Aug 27, 2012 - 08:53pm PT
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It's the season of love in Zion...
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MH2
climber
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Aug 27, 2012 - 10:27pm PT
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Aug 29, 2012 - 02:20am PT
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One big and scarey Mo-Fo.
xxxxx
xxxxx
ha ha! that's the top of a dead bush!
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2012 - 01:03pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 23, 2012 - 01:25pm PT
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Entomophobia.
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shakin' man
Trad climber
california
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Sep 23, 2012 - 05:49pm PT
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knudeNoggin
climber
Falls Church, VA
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Sep 24, 2012 - 12:06am PT
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Late to this party, I know; but a few points:
1) That "fast" black widow doesn't sound like a BW to me :
BWs, like house spiders, reside in webs, and are pretty SLOW, overall.
If you really have that, you should be able to bait its web,
draw her out to the *volunteer* bait, and capture her easily.
(Then, she'd make a striking pet.)
2) On those paper (polistes) wasps nesting in the inconvenient eave
by a door --and annoying at least one (other) family member --:
you could make a vision shield for the nest out of a plastic milk
carton (e.g.), to keep them from being alarmed by people passage.
You could also (bonus points) move the nest, but I imagine this is
just good for a laugh. (I once salvaged an attacked? bald-faced
honets nest at a young stage (7-9 wasps?), and with the hornets
in a jar, I reconstructed the nest in a cut-in-half milk carton which
I ducTaped to a porch window, trying to realize a dream from youth
in which some Think-&-Do book showed a (lucky) person with a
big nest up on house glass --what an observatory!
(Sadly, the nest remained small --didn't add even a 2nd comb. boo)
*kN*
photo : polistes wasps with two in the horizontal center chewing
up a caterpillar ball one of them had just brought to the nest,
then to feed grubs. delicious!
Robber fly with lunch fly, on MY lunch!
(LX3, so the lens was close to the subjects)
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Sparky
Trad climber
vagabond movin on
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Sep 24, 2012 - 01:28am PT
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Camel Spiders
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Nov 23, 2012 - 09:11pm PT
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We have a passion fruit vine that has taken over a fence so we always have a few of these around, but nothing like this year.
Agraulis vanillae
What's with that letter A?
This one even has squadron markings on the wing.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Apr 17, 2013 - 10:46am PT
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I'm so mundane and oh so plain.
How'd you find ME?
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 18, 2013 - 02:05pm PT
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That was a killer comic book cover Mouse.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Apr 18, 2013 - 03:39pm PT
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Reilly that poodle moth may have been from Venezuela, but now I think it lives north of 125th street, drives a Cadillac, and runs a "stable".
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2013 - 12:24pm PT
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Mohamed Babu from India, captured these amazing pictures last year after his wife noticed that ants turned white when they drank milk.
He dissolved sugar in food colouring solutions of red, green, blue and yellow and then placed them in his garden to attract ants. Some of them even moved between the different solutions, resulting in psychedelic colour combinations.
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/08/translucent-ants-photographed-eating-colored-liquids/
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 24, 2013 - 12:43pm PT
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Claude, that's amazing!
I caught these shameless Berkeleyites doing it in plain view at the UC Arboretum!
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2013 - 12:51pm PT
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The nerve of those two, no respect these days I tell ya.
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weezy
climber
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Apr 24, 2013 - 01:35pm PT
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i love insetcs!
live mantis
dead mantis
butterfly and his proboscis
macro lenses are fun as hell. i advise all photographers to add one to their quiver.
the above photos are from a sigma 105mm (about 135mm on my digital non-full frame camera)
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2013 - 03:16pm PT
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Good stuff Weezy. I don't have a good camera but enjoy getting real close looks at insects with my spotting scope. I can see very good detail with it, discovered it once while following a bird around and than saw a butterfly that came into view. Was surprised how well it worked for checking out insects.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Apr 24, 2013 - 09:02pm PT
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Apr 24, 2013 - 10:11pm PT
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Guido and buddy Sharkie love roaches........
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Bowser
Social climber
Durango CO
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Apr 24, 2013 - 11:05pm PT
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weezy
climber
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Apr 25, 2013 - 01:58am PT
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that's a really nice photo of the orb spider, bowser. the dark background really highlights the spider and the web.
dirt claud, the spotting scope seems like a great way to view them. it's tricky with a macro lens since you have to get so close to them.
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shady
Trad climber
hasbeen
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Apr 25, 2013 - 12:16pm PT
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 29, 2013 - 05:55pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 29, 2013 - 06:13pm PT
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Some beetle in Anza Borrego...
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10b4me
Ice climber
Soon 2B Arizona
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Cool photos y'all!
Reilly, I've got a pic of those red beetles copulating somewhere. Yes, it IS true!
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MH2
climber
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I saw this last week.
I remembered seeing one during a summer we lived in a botanical garden near St. Louis when I would have been 7 or 8 years old. I remembered the name Velvet Ant and the caution my Dad advised. This one wouldn't sit still for my camera.
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kennyt
climber
Woodfords,California
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^^ fur ants bite hard^^
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
the crowd MUST BE MOCKED...Mocked I tell you.
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I've heard tell that Lady Bugs bite when they swarm.
Seen some big batches of them Yosemite. wild!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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The 'Velvet Ant' is actually a wasp whose sting has been characterized often as 'excruciating'.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Ant lions' condominium packages in Yosemite start at $300 a night.
The once and future meal.
He was under a rock. I replaced it for him.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2013 - 12:46pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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No, but I was sitting on a rock at about 13K above base camp in Bogustan
when a hummingbird suddenly appeared and hovered right at my boot, drawn
by my flashy red laces, I guessed. I was mesmerized for seconds until I realized,
"THERE AREN'T ANY HUMMINGBIRDS ON THIS CONTINENT!"
Holy crap! It was huge and it had fallen in love with my foot! <cue little girl screams>
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2013 - 01:22pm PT
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Dragonflies are way cool, too bad they are hard to look at in detail usually, since they are often flying around, like butterflies.
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gimmeslack
Trad climber
VA
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Tho' they are more of a superorganism than an 'insect', here's one of my queens. Any other beeks out there?
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2013 - 03:11pm PT
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Beeks, I take is slang for beekeepers?
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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Ron, I posted up a stumpfu*ker story earlier in this thread. Hate em.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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beekeepers?
"Apes," if you please.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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"Take me to yer leader!"
Dood was hanging out in a potted plant by the front door. I think he had
the wrong address cause when I told the wife some dood wanted her it wasn't
a gud scene. I thought I was gonna have to call PETA or something.
Some people are born poseurs, n'est ce pas?
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shady
Trad climber
hasbeen
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May 12, 2013 - 11:59pm PT
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Salmon fly (aka Willow-fly aka giant stonefly aka...?)
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - May 14, 2013 - 11:30am PT
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Phyllodes Imperialis
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Bowser
Social climber
Durango CO
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May 14, 2013 - 02:41pm PT
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My wife found this monster of a fly catcher while cleaning my parents garden in Oklahoma.
This one was found while skavaging for brass in northern NM.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 16, 2013 - 12:46pm PT
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Ron, it's only a cricket, give him a break. He's only trying to scare up some you-know-what.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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May 16, 2013 - 08:59pm PT
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MH2, this one was at Devil's Punchbowl (looking a little "furantic"):
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MH2
climber
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May 16, 2013 - 09:10pm PT
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Looks like it might get angry, too! Good you stayed out of its way.
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Bowser
Social climber
Durango CO
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May 16, 2013 - 10:27pm PT
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Those furry ants sting harder than anything I have ever been stung by ever!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 16, 2013 - 10:29pm PT
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They're knott ants, you blighters, they're wasps!
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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May 21, 2013 - 02:50pm PT
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In my yard yesterday:
Hey Ron, I don't know why you'd want to smack a Stump-F*#ker with a shovel. All they want is to visit flowers and find a piece of timber to punch their eggs into. I have a lot of experience with Megarhyssa nortoni from working in the Angora burn. They're harmless, and fairly tame early in the morning
That ovipositor IS scary though:
The males actually go after the females before they even emerge as adults. They have to back their abdomens down the holes to try to reach them. They jam them way down in there; it's pretty crazy to watch.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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May 21, 2013 - 09:33pm PT
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it was BUGMAGEDDON!
That's hilarious. I guess one man's heaven truly is another man's hell.
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MisterE
Social climber
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May 21, 2013 - 09:42pm PT
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They're knott ants, you blighters, they're wasps!
I ain't buying what you're selling - that thing was wingless and grounded.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 21, 2013 - 09:44pm PT
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E, they're like termites - they lose their wings when they hit the deck
and go commando. Ain't that right, Willoughby?
The Mutillidae are a family of more than 3,000 species of wasps (despite the names) whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants. Their common name velvet ant refers to their dense pile of hair which most often is bright scarlet or orange, but may also be black, white, silver, or gold. Their bright colours serve as aposematic signals. They are known for their extremely painful stings, hence the common name cow killer or cow ant. Unlike a real ant, they do not have drones, workers, and queens. However, velvet ants do exhibit haplodiploid sex determination similar to other members of Vespoidea.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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May 21, 2013 - 11:35pm PT
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Yup, that's a mutillid WASP, aka "cow killer." They kick like a mule, or so I'm told.
One of my favorite wasp mimics, a clearwing poplar borer. It's a moth, if you can believe it. I found this one on a lawn in Sierraville.
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MisterE
Social climber
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May 21, 2013 - 11:59pm PT
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I am "insetc" unaware - had no idea stingy flying things lose their wings and still pack the punch.
Where's that "things people say to climbers" video?
I need a "Huh!" right now...
;)
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shady
Trad climber
hasbeen
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Something about them ashes they like.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Jun 14, 2013 - 04:51pm PT
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 17, 2013 - 05:56pm PT
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Some pics from a recent California road trip.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Jun 24, 2013 - 07:08pm PT
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We got smoked out of climbing last Monday, and ended up chasing butterflies along Lee Vining Cr., just downstream from the Hall Nat. Area. Lots of great bugs, but the best find was a group of Dispirited Tiger Beetles, including tons of active larval burrows. This was a good find because A), they're not known to be gregarious, and B) their larval ecology is completely undescribed. I'm going to have to go back and collect some data on this population.
I also found a spearhead that day:
This Saturday I led a hike up above High Camp at Squaw, and the Cow Path Tiger Beetles were going crazy - lots of sex!
Tiger beetles are the coolest!
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shady
Trad climber
hasbeen
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Jun 24, 2013 - 10:05pm PT
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Nice shoot'n Willoughby!
When I see a tiger beetle, I'll know to show it great respect.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 26, 2013 - 04:37pm PT
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Cool shots of them beetles.
Found this one on the web, pretty cool close up.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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willow Bee, tremendous display. Kudos and good hunting!
Purple Bee, that pair was for you and Camila.
Here's one for T Hocking. A dragonfly; I sure like that song!
And the good old water striders.
A vice-regal display or is it?
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Exoskeleton of an Evaporator Bug. Merced South Fork.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Here are a few from this weekend's NABA butterfly count at Yuba Pass.
Dotted Blue on naked buckwheat:
Synanthedon polygoni, a wasp mimic, and one of the coolest little moths around:
Here's an American Emerald, posing while chowing down on a deer fly:
And lastly, an Acmon Blue nectaring on Mondardella odoratissima:
South Lake Tahoe's NABA butterfly count is this Sunday. Shoot me a PM if you're interested!
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MH2
climber
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They may be little but they make our world much bigger.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 10, 2013 - 12:44am PT
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The first and the last look the same to me, how are they different?
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Jul 10, 2013 - 12:47am PT
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Those Synanthedon Polygoni were all over the Dinky Creek, Shaver Lake and Courtright res last week.
Wow, they are moths.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Jul 10, 2013 - 02:35am PT
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Reilly, the blues are tough, tough, tough!! Note the checked fringes on the Dotted Blue, lacking on the Acmon. Note the iridescent blue lunules (just outside of the orange triangles) on the Acmon, lacking on the Dotted. There are other subtle differences, but those two should be quite apparent once you're looking for them. From a quick glance, these look identical, but they're not even in the same genus.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 10, 2013 - 02:11pm PT
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OK, now that you point out the 'obvious' differences, well, duh! :-)
But you really went too far by half with the "not even in the same genus" comment!
Those guys be insectivorous Empids IMHO!
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Jul 11, 2013 - 07:25pm PT
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Sorry Reilly, I really didn't mean it to come off that way. There's nothing so obvious to me about what puts them in different genera, but it's true, different genera. A couple of the blues are damn near identical, and your best bet is to see which species of buckwheat they're laying their eggs on, or whether they're on buckwheat versus lupine (or just look at their genitals through a dissecting scope or grind them up for DNA or ...). But the blues are a piece o' cake compared to large Speyeria fritillaries, and a bunch of the skippers are a bastard to tell apart as well. At least for me. Erynnis persius versus pacuvius? Forget it.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 17, 2013 - 11:22am PT
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And you thought birders were, uh, a little 'different'?
LA Times:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _
South Africa butterfly hunters: A rare breed
The leader of the net-toting group is Mark Williams, who has traveled widely, fending off baboons and dodging hippos and snakes, in search of his obsession.
By Robyn Dixon
Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa
July 17, 2013
Mark Williams was out with his butterfly net in his favorite South African mountain range when a flutter of gray-blue wings sailed by. They were almost as small and nondescript as the other gray-blue butterflies drifting past.
Almost.
Heart pounding and net flailing, he dashed after the bobbing sliver of color, hope fluttering like a wind-blown flag. He hooked in the tiny creature, its wingspan just over 11/2 inches. It was a Lotana blue, believed to be extinct. Nobody had seen one alive in decades.
"I ran it down and caught it with a huge … swipe, because they can move," Williams said of that moment five years ago. "I knew straight away I'd rediscovered the Lotana blue."
His search for the Lotana blue had taken eight years. Yet a lepidopterist's life — the childhood bedroom stuffed with bird's nests, pebbles and butterflies, the years of research, the wild goose chases — can be distilled into such wild, joyful moments.
Dashing through the scrub, net aloft, is a passion that has not changed much over the decades — except that like certain butterfly species, the South African lepidopterist population has dwindled to a few dozen fiercely competitive fanatics, most of them middle-aged men.
And the 63-year-old Williams, a man who has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles with his trusty net, confronting angry baboons, dodging bull hippos and narrowly avoiding snake bites, is one of their gods.
"I'm being called the Butterfly Whisperer," Williams said with a smile, carefully moving the remains of rare and common species from one pinboard to another. "I'd love to go out with that title. Mark Williams, the Butterfly Whisperer," he said, rolling the words as if savoring wine.
When Williams first announced his 2009 find, fellow collectors found it hard to believe until he published photographs online. Since then, Williams, who earns a living as a veterinary pathologist, has netted two other species not seen in decades: the Juanita's hairtail last year, and the Waterberg copper in March.
The Waterberg copper was so intensely sought that the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa distributed "wanted" posters with pictures of the insect, and offered a reward of about $1,000.
Searching for the copper, Williams used Google Earth to pinpoint an isolated plateau in South Africa's Limpopo province at the same elevation as the butterfly's former habitat, but 25 miles east. He took a weekend off and forged along a bush track, trailed by his wife.
As soon as he saw the orange flutter of wings, he laughed, not so much at the joy of finding it, but at the irony that he, as the founder of the society, would be collecting the reward. He plans to invest it in future butterfly searches.
Although Williams is gregarious and talkative, he's happy staring at Google Earth on a computer screen, shifting locations, sifting for possible sites. He will spend hours looking up rainfall data for various locations (to help him get the timing of his expeditions right) and analyzing vegetation cover (to find the plants the caterpillars eat).
Mostly, though, he has an edge because of the knowledge gained in more than half a century of tracking the insects in this land rich with butterfly species — about 650 of them.
Since Williams founded the Lepidopterists' Society in 1983, the hunt for endangered species has grown more urgent, with habitat loss and climate change threatening some species, particularly those that have retreated to the tops of mountains, looking for cooler air, and may soon run out of altitude if the highest peaks become too warm for them.
At the end of this year, Williams will launch a quest to rediscover the Bashee River buff — the holy grail for South African butterfly experts. If the buttery-winged creature still exists, it's most likely to be found on the densely forested banks of the Mbashe River, in the wilds of Eastern Cape province.
Williams likes to put himself in the shoes of collectors such as James Henry Bowker, a British colonel who in the 1860s was the first and last person to see the Bashee River buff, capturing three females, which he promptly pinned to a board and sent on to Cape Town.
Williams gets a faraway look in his eye at the thought of becoming the second person ever to lay eyes on the Bashee River buff, and perhaps the first to capture a male.
One of Bowker's specimens remains mounted in the South African Museum in Cape Town, the other two in British museums.
"It's 1 1/2 centuries it's been missing," Williams said. "We don't even know what the male looks like."
One problem with Williams' mission is that the buff might really be extinct.
"The cost of the trip is around 20,000 rand [$2,000] to go and look for a butterfly that I might not even find," he said.
Williams has read Bowker's letters about the buff, which is said to flutter around the tops of trees. He has gone back to Google Earth for any clues on habitat.
But when asked for details, Williams clams up. If he ever finds the creature, he says, then he will share such information. South African lepidopterists might be a tiny community, but competition can be cutthroat.
Williams stopped collecting most butterflies some years ago and instead began collecting eggs to hatch caterpillars. But when he finds a particularly rare one, he does capture and "set" it — a euphemism for pinning it to a board — to verify its identity.
The act of killing a near-extinct species may surprise outsiders, but lepidopterists insist that taking a few specimens of rare species is essential, because mere sightings are not accepted as scientific evidence, given the complications of identifying the insects accurately.
"No knowledgeable lepidopterist would find it ironic. In fact, they would mostly likely be flabbergasted if voucher specimens were not collected," Williams said. "Five pairs of rhinoceroses, breeding remorselessly, would not reach a total population of a hundred in 10 years. Five pairs of African monarchs would reach about 36 million in six months. Laypersons don't understand this, unfortunately."
A friend and fellow member of the lepidopterists' society, Jeremy Dobson, said the scientific value of identifying and keeping track of rare and endangered butterflies outweighs the damage of capturing and setting small numbers of them.
Dobson, a soft-spoken, gentlemanly Englishman, is awed by Williams and other South African lepidopterists, and seems ready to pinch himself at the honor of being a member of such a society.
There are gentlemen's rules about sharing information in butterfly science, broken by one South African collector who, Williams said, was so possessive about lepidopterology that he regarded the insects almost as his own property.
Williams said he shunned the community, they shunned him, and "he died a lonely man."
At some point in his childhood, Williams' bedroom metamorphosed from a clutter of messy kid's curios into the beginnings of a serious butterfly collection. He started collecting at 5 and says he was an avid lepidopterist by 7.
He doesn't really know why he was attracted by butterflies.
"I'm a very curious guy," is all he will say.
As a schoolboy in the mid-1960s, Williams, accompanied by two friends, stumbled into a bush camp to find an old Chevy beside a tent and the well-known South African lepidopterist David Swanepoel, who had gorgeous azure butterflies pinned on a board.
Williams managed to annoy the old man, who had been collecting since the early 1900s, and who offered to show the boys where to find the creature. Though tantalized, Williams said he'd find it himself and watched in disgust as his two camping companions trotted after Swanepoel, "like obedient puppies."
"He called me a hard head and a little bliksem — a little rascal, or literally a lightning strike — and said I'd never find them. It took me three days. I worked my butt off.
"And I came back and held it up and I said, 'I found it.' He leaned over conspiratorially. He said: 'Those other two will give up butterflies. But you will do this for the rest of your life.'"
In years of bushwhacking, he's grown used to sprinting across rocky ledges, looking both down (to avoid a broken ankle) and up (to avoid losing a butterfly). He's had a couple of close encounters with leopards ("You just run at them with a butterfly net") and deadly black mambas ("You just back off. You're in his territory").
Once, he scrambled up a tree in his red underpants when two bull hippos starting fighting just outside his tent. But his scariest moment came one morning at dawn when, as a long-haired young man in his 20s, he disturbed a baboon colony and was charged by four huge males.
"I stuck my net up over my head and stood on tiptoes. I bared my teeth. I gave a thunderous, inhuman screech which stopped them all in their tracks 15 meters away."
Then there was the angry farmer armed with a shotgun, who grabbed him for trespassing and took him to the police (but later gave him coffee and cookies in his kitchen as Williams showed him his specimens).
Williams conceded that the Bashee River buff search could prove fruitless. But if he finds it?
Well, that would leave him with one last great quest, for a species seen and collected just twice in the 1870s. The wily old butterfly hunter David Swanepoel went looking for it. But even he couldn't find the Morant's blue.
South African Butterfly Whisperer
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MH2
climber
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Jul 17, 2013 - 11:11pm PT
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Thank you, Reilly.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 18, 2013 - 05:16pm PT
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"Alas, poor Yorick, attracted by new paint fumes he alit and was overcome."
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 18, 2013 - 05:22pm PT
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That sounds like a caption you would read on a Gary Larson Far Side cartoon Reilly, LOL.
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labrat
Trad climber
Auburn, CA
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Jul 18, 2013 - 05:30pm PT
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Evaporator Bug?
Is that another name for a stone fly that has crawled out of the water, split open, and then flew around to mate?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Just back from the Great Midwest Cicada Explosion.
I grew up there and never remembered so many. At times they were deafening!
I took a video but I haven't a clue how to upload it.
But here's a head shot. It was raining so he/she/it was a little misty-eyed.
Yeah, they're almost this big! At least my wife feels so.
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MH2
climber
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^^^
I think that is the Tibicen yearly variety of cicada. Here is a Magicicada 17-year cicada. I had to look it up.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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The "88" butterfly from Argentina/Brasil...
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Not an insect, but there was enough talk about spiders upthread to justify posting this beautiful one from Equatorial Guinea. It was HUGE for an orb-weaver, a good 4-5" or so, foot to foot. Web was just about face level. That little red blip on the back of it is a male hoping for good times before he's eaten. Some of the dudes who didn't get lucky can be seen elsewhere in the web, awaiting their innards being liquified and sucked out. Oh boy!
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Aug 13, 2013 - 11:03pm PT
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Dirt, that thing is AWESOME. Never seen 'em; never been in their nape of the woods, neck of the nape, never been to Asia.
Reilly, those 88s occur far closer than South America, and they even stray to Texas now and again.
I've been rearing some Dispirited Tiger Beetle larva at home, feeding them earwigs mostly. Kinda fun, though not for the earwigs! Nobody knows a thing about the larval ecology of this species.
I even managed to find a pupa when I was collecting specimens. It's been rad seeing this thing slowly morph from a case of goo into an adult.
Notice how the mandibles are now fully formed and sclerotized within the larger fold they started in. I don't care if you're talking about butterflies, wasps, or lowly houseflies, complete metamorphosis is completely amazing.
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MH2
climber
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Aug 13, 2013 - 11:17pm PT
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Yes. It is astounding how that blob of goo sorts itself out into a working insect.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 15, 2013 - 10:52am PT
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http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_babies_can_a_cockroach_have
None if you step on the bastard bitches.
If you hate Raid (and the smell of it drives me nutso as much as the hordes of roaches in the summertime, especially) then I recommend a good fly swatter/roach reacher to get the ones on the walls and ceilings (amazing climbing talent is useless then).
Be sure to keep a pair of flip-flops handy for dealing with the ones on the floor.
But the big thing is to keep food in containers, regular cleaning of counter tops and range to keep grease spots (prime roach fodder) to a minimum, taking the garbage out daily, and just being quicker and never hesitating when striking out at the suckers.
Don't be squeamish. It's all in a day's work here in Middle Earth and the rest of the Tioga's apartments.
If you don't have them, I pray you never do.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 15, 2013 - 12:43pm PT
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
who gave up and just goes sailing now!
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Aug 15, 2013 - 02:54pm PT
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No, Mouse's picture is of a discarded casing from a Stonefly. They turn into these.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Aug 15, 2013 - 07:37pm PT
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It's eclosion day (days?) for my tiger beetle pupa. Maybe I'll try to take some photos. Not too pretty though - kind of mostly-still-in-the-old-skin mess at the moment. But it's got the legs moving, which is pretty cool to see, and the back is split at the head, and the top of the noggin' is free and clear. It just blows my feeble little mind how they rearrange almost all of their cells from larva to adult.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 15, 2013 - 08:51pm PT
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The helgrammite, you say!
Grampa Ed called 'em evaporator or evaporated bugs. What's his game? He was a edumacated man and a whiz with the rod.
You think it's hereditary, mis-nomering critters?
I figgered it for a stone McFlyy, having a future, but doomed to endless sequels.
And then a trout ate me.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 19, 2013 - 05:58pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 19, 2013 - 06:06pm PT
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Claud, HaHaHaHa! So it was a dark and stormy night. OK, it was only dark.
We were walking down a dirt road near Vancouver. I can't tell you where or
I'd have to come after you. Jeff, a hard man, had to take a pee. I don't
to this day know why he had to step off a dirt road in the dark to take a
pee. All of a sudden he comes running back screaming like a 13 year old girl.
"Geez, man, what happened?"
"Uh, I walked into a spider web. I went to wipe it off of my face and there
was a spider almost the size of my hand sitting on my face."
"Uh, OK, that's worth screaming about."
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 22, 2013 - 08:47pm PT
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Hey, Ron, a new bug was discovered for you to lie awake at night thinking about!
Maybe you could get some to help you glue stuff together. ;-)
New Glue-Spitting Velvet Worm Found in Vietnam
By Douglas Main, Staff Writer EnvironmentNatureLiveScience
Small bugs of the rain forest have many things to worry about, assuming they are capable of anxiety. But surely some of their more feared predators are velvet worms, a group of ancient animals that spit an immobilizing, gluelike material onto prey before injecting them with saliva and chomping down.
It turns out the velvet worm family is more diverse than thought: A new species has been found in the jungles of Vietnam. Unlike related velvet worms, this species has uniquely shaped hairs covering its body. It reaches a length of 2.5 inches (6 centimeters), said Ivo de Sena Oliveira, a researcher at the University of Leipzig, Germany, who along with colleagues describes the species in Zoologischer Anzeiger (A Journal of Comparative Zoology).
The paper and related work by Oliveira suggest thousands of unknown species of these creatures are waiting to be found throughout the world's tropical rain forests, he said. Research by Oliveira in the Amazon rain forest alone suggests there may be one new species of velvet worm about every 15 miles (25 kilometers), he told LiveScience. [See Amazing Images of Creepy Acorn Worms]
Little-known glue-spitter
The animals are extremely difficult to find and little known, because they spend most of life hidden in moist areas in the soil, in rotting logs or under rocks, due in part to the fact that their permeable skin allows them to quickly dry out, Oliveira said. In some areas, "if you're not there at the right moment of the year, during the rainy season, you won't find them," he added. The rainy season is the one time of year this Vietnamese species exits the soil, he said.
Unlike arthropods (a huge group of animals that includes ants and spiders), velvet worms lack hard exoskeletons. Instead their bodies are fluid-filled, covered in a thin skin and kept rigid by pressurized liquid. This hydrostatic pressure allows them to walk, albeit very slowly, on fluid-filled, stubby legs that lack joints.
Slimed
Their slowness works to their advantage. To hunt, they sneak up on other insects or invertebrates. And that's when the sliming begins — velvet worms like the newfound species hunt by spraying a "net of glue" onto their prey from two appendages on their backs, Oliveira said. This nasty material consists of a mix of proteins that impedes movement. "The more the prey moves, the more it gets entangled," he said.
Oftentimes the velvet worms will eat any excess "glue," which is energetically costly to make. Although the animals have been shown to take down prey larger then themselves, they often choose smaller creatures, likely to ensure they don't waste their precious bodily fluids, Oliveira said.
Fossils show that velvet worms haven't changed much since they diverged from their relatives (such as the ancestors of arthropods and waterbears) about 540 million years ago, Oliveira said. Studies of velvet worms could help shed light on the evolution of arthropods, he added.
There are two families of velvet worm, one spread around the tropics, and another found in Australia and New Zealand. Members of the former group generally tend to be loners. But the other family may be more social. One 2006 study found that members of the species Euperipatoides rowelli can hunt in groups of up to 15, and that the dominant female eats first.
While it's not a surprise to find a new species of velvet worm, this is "great work by [these researchers] to actually characterize and name a new species from this region," said Nick Jeffery, a doctoral student at the University of Guelph who wasn't involved in the study.
The new species, Eoperipatus totoros, is the first velvet worm to be described from Vietnam, said Georg Mayer, a co-author and researcher at the University of Leipzig.
This species was first discovered and listed in a brief 2010 report by Vietnamese researcher Thai Dran Bai, but the present study is the first to describe the Vietnamese animal in detail, Oliveira said.
Email Douglas Main or follow him on Twitter or Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook or Google+. Article originally on LiveScience
Image Gallery: The Leggiest Millipede
New Species Gallery: Expedition into Suriname's Jungles
Images: One-of-a-Kind Places on Earth
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Glue Spitting Bug
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cowpoke
climber
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Aug 29, 2013 - 07:11pm PT
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 13, 2013 - 01:51pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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This guy guards our front door.
You don't want him to say
"Thou shall not pass."
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Pepe Le Poseur
Social climber
Parts North
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Reilly and Dirt - Can relate to the spider stuff. Once, going up this gorgeous little mountain creek in Borneo, I came across this volleyball net of a web stretched across the creek. This thing looked like it was designed to catch birds, not bugs.
Saw the critter responsible, and was looking at it in awe (nearly size of my hand) when, like a genius, I decided to "f*ck" with it. I tapped the web to see what it would do....what it did was immediately drop from the web into the current and get washed up on my leg.
Talk about screaming and dancing like a girl. Always f#ck with large spiders from UPSTREAM.
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perswig
climber
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Oct 17, 2013 - 08:08am PT
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Dale
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Oct 17, 2013 - 09:49am PT
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Not sure if anyone linked the story about the bizarre Ball's Pyramid insect they found they thought went extinct 80 years ago. I love this bug's story: (Edit- apologies if this has already been posted.. the stupid 4-letter word-rule here made it impossible to search)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years
(Edited version):
On Lord Howe, there used to be an insect, famous for being big. It's a stick insect, a critter that masquerades as a piece of wood, and the Lord Howe Island version was so large — as big as a human hand — that the Europeans labeled it a "tree lobster" because of its size and hard, lobsterlike exoskeleton. It was 12 centimeters long and the heaviest flightless stick insect in the world. Local fishermen used to put them on fishing hooks and use them as bait.
Then one day in 1918, a supply ship, the S.S. Makambo from Britain, ran aground at Lord Howe Island and had to be evacuated. ...It took nine days to repair the Makambo, and during that time, some black rats managed to get from the ship to the island, where they instantly discovered a delicious new rat food: giant stick insects. Two years later, the rats were everywhere and the tree lobsters were gone.
Totally gone. After 1920, there wasn't a single sighting. By 1960, the Lord Howe stick insect, Dryococelus australis, was presumed extinct.
There was a rumor, though....in 1960 climbers reported seeing corpses [on nearby island, Ball's Pyramid]...
...The only thing to do was to go back... Nick Carlile and a local ranger, Dean Hiscox, agreed to make the climb. And with flashlights, they scaled the wall till they reached the plant, and there, spread out on the bushy surface, were two enormous, shiny, black-looking bodies. And below those two, slithering into the muck, were more, and more ... 24 in all. All gathered near ONE plant.
...The Lord Howe Island stick insect, Dryococelus australis, once believed to be extinct, was found living under a small shrub high up Ball's Pyramid in 2001...
They were Dryococelus australis. A search the next morning, and two years later, concluded these are the only ones on Ball's Pyramid, the last ones. They live there, and, as best we know, nowhere else.
How they got there is a mystery. Maybe they hitchhiked on birds, or traveled with fishermen, and how they survived for so long on just a single patch of plants, nobody knows either. The important thing, the scientists thought, was to get a few of these insects protected and into a breeding program.
That wasn't so easy. The Australian government didn't know if the animals on Ball's Pyramid could or should be moved. There were meetings, studies, two years passed, and finally officials agreed to allow four animals to be retrieved. Just four.
When the team went back to collect them, it turned out there had been a rock slide on the mountain, and at first they feared that the whole population had been wiped out. But when they got back up to the site, on Valentine's Day 2003, the animals were still there, sitting on and around their bush.
The plan was to take one pair and give it a man who was very familiar with mainland walking stick insects, a private breeder living in Sydney. He got his pair, but within two weeks, they died.
Adam And Eve And Patrick
That left the other two. They were named "Adam" and "Eve," taken to the Melbourne Zoo and placed with Patrick Honan, of the zoo's invertebrate conservation breeding group. At first, everything went well. Eve began laying little pea-shaped eggs, exactly as hoped. But then she got sick. According to biologist Jane Goodall, :
"Eve became very, very sick. Patrick ... worked every night for a month desperately trying to cure her. ... Eventually, based on gut instinct, Patrick concocted a mixture that included calcium and nectar and fed it to his patient, drop by drop, as she lay curled up in his hand."
Her recovery was almost instant. Patrick , "She went from being on her back curled up in my hand, almost as good as dead, to being up and walking around within a couple of hours."
Eve's eggs were harvested, incubated (though it turns out only the first 30 were fertile) and became the foundation of the zoo's new population of walking sticks.
Original ST climbing thread about climbing on the island...worth a read as well:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1031298/Balls-Pyramid
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 17, 2013 - 02:21pm PT
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Great post Justthemaid, those things are crazy. That was a good story Pepe, LOL
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 1, 2013 - 05:45pm PT
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 12, 2013 - 11:43am PT
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Survival, the Hopper Whisperer! Very nice!
I doubt Mighty Hiker checks this, or any, thread any more but this one's for you, Mighty!
From the Life Is Strange Dept; waiting for the termite man I saw this
little guy/gal on my front window...
And just how does one palm vertical glass?
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 26, 2013 - 05:14pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 26, 2013 - 07:20pm PT
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Claud, that prolly happened in Aussieland where anything that bites you will
prolly kill you. A buddy of mine was visiting friends there and woke up in
his guest bedroom watching this spider spin this cool web in the corner near
his bed. He goes out for breakfast and starts telling them about it and
they all immediately ask,
"Is the web funnel shaped?"
A big stampede for the RAID ensued.
Found this little cutie while working on my deck.
He's all of an inch long but he was most uncooperative - all he wanted
to do was haul balls for some place dark.
This Tarantula Hawk Wasp was good sized, 1-1/4" body?
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 26, 2013 - 08:38pm PT
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Nov 26, 2013 - 08:50pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 27, 2013 - 12:35pm PT
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"You don't have to be big to be successful."
Collective wisdom of Pratt, Chouinard, and Harding on Watsonkins and El Cap, for sure.
Grade VII, let's go to the coffee shop.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 27, 2013 - 03:26pm PT
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That's crazy, some real sci-fi stuff there.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Hoh, man! "Daddy, be careful."
She should have said, "We're gonna need a bigger bucket, daddy."
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Rudder
Trad climber
Costa Mesa, CA
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Don't know anything about insects, but this boy was hard at work in the yard of a house I'm working on. That's a Bee he's wrapping up, so you can get a sense of his size, he's a beefy fellow.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2014 - 03:49pm PT
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I've seen those guys around here too. Never have found out what kind they are.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 10, 2014 - 05:49pm PT
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You mean "insetcs."The entree.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 17, 2014 - 12:59pm PT
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Think you had a rough day?
The weird thing is that after patiently posing for a dozen pics I was
thinking about putting him out of his misery. No sooner than the thoughts
coalesced he emphatically took off!
ps
Rudder's spider looks a Garden Spider but that's not definitive.
Black Widow egg sac...
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 6, 2014 - 11:41am PT
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Rudder et al, those are cat-face spiders. Either Araneus gemma or gemmoides. Fun to have around in the garden for sure.
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Keith Leaman
Trad climber
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As part of my BA in art, I specialized in science illustration. Here are a few of many insect paintings I did in partial fulfillment of the degree. They are small- 3"-4" gouache (opaque watercolor) on paper, made with the aid of a camera lucida Some of my illustrations appeared in Scientific American and other journals many years ago.
While doing grad studies in Anthropology in Nayarit, I was hiking in the jungle with a local and saw a caterpillar similar to this one. My guide, Jose Angel, shouted out- "Don't touch it!!" It turns out some of these things can kill a person, just by touching the hairs.
Some selected from the www~
"Froggy went a courtin' and he did ride um hm,
Sword and pistol by his side um hm."
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 6, 2014 - 02:56pm PT
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Great illustrations Keith, cool pics too, thanks for posting. I've heard about them caterpillars.
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Plan B
Ice climber
Agua Dulce,CA
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Mar 31, 2014 - 11:12pm PT
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Some pics from the South Coast Botanic garden last Sat at the Birdapalooza (see Birds thread)
sorry about the quality...those guys don't sit still too much :)
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MH2
climber
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Mar 31, 2014 - 11:22pm PT
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Nice ones. Like the red cactus flower and the bee with red pollen boots.
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Keith, those are absolutely superb, in the best traditional of biological illustration going back to Hofmeister and those folks, combining artistic beauty with scientific accuracy. Thanks.
Since we've seen plenty of spiders on this insects thread, it seems fair to post up something of even more ancient ancestry, a Scolopendra centipede. This one's only about 5-6 inches long, from the hills in Santa Barbara Co., but there are footlong ones (which I've encountered) in the tropics. All of them, including our local ones, have an extremely vicious bite, I believe known to have been fatal to children. So, presumably even worse than a velvet ant (yes, I know, a wasp, but that's the name), which is probably the worst insect sting available for sampling in the western U.S.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Beautiful paintings, Keith!
BTW, that "mantis" head is a damselfy. Gobs of dewey damsel images on the interwebs. A popular subject, I guess.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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May 16, 2014 - 04:54pm PT
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Cow Path Tiger Beetles have been active in my neighborhood for a few weeks. Bummed the lighting was so harsh; this thing was fresh and had ridiculous green, bronze, and purple hues that didn't really show in the photos:
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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May 23, 2014 - 09:21am PT
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Yummy, yummy, yummy,
I got ants in my tummy.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 23, 2014 - 10:53am PT
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Keith, more, please! Those are art. It is too bad you weren't on HMS Beagle.
Mouse, be carefull what you wish for!
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Plan B
Ice climber
Agua Dulce,CA
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May 23, 2014 - 04:21pm PT
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol
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May 23, 2014 - 04:35pm PT
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Paracotalpa leonine somewhere in the middle of Nevada
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go-B
climber
Cling to what is good!
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May 23, 2014 - 04:47pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Great shot, Jerry!
"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite
jest, of most excellent fancy."
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Robo Bug came my backyard today! I got him to land on my hand so he could
show me his latest trophy... It's a jungle out there!
[
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Ladybug #3 is in the clover, upper-middle left, partly-hidden, for those with poor vision.
This thread is getting to be very educational and humorous, gents. Good job!
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 1, 2014 - 10:16am PT
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ok, would hate to have this mofo in my sleeping bag!!
[Click to View YouTube Video]
PlanB, did those ST birders know you were sneaking away and taking pictures of insects instead of birds at Birdapalooza? These ST birders can be pretty hard core ;) The bee with boots is cool.
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Plan B
Ice climber
Agua Dulce,CA
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Thanks Dirt,
Sometimes birds and bugs go together. Here's a Junco with a mouthful for the chicks.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jul 21, 2014 - 11:03am PT
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It took a lot, but I got this guy to where he'll sit still with the bug on top of his beak. (That was the hard part.)
Then I give the command, "Flippit" and he tosses it in the air and catches it in his beak and then eats it.
Max the Mound House parrot can barely talk!
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MH2
climber
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Aug 12, 2014 - 06:20pm PT
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I passed the 3 ladybug test even without the clue but must answer undecided on the fly.
Could be a jungle, Reilly, or could be a fly with a flair for presentation. Great pic.
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The Call Of K2 Lou
Mountain climber
North Shore, BC
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Aug 12, 2014 - 06:47pm PT
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I passed the 3 ladybug test even without the clue but must answer undecided on the fly.
Middle of the stump, just right of the ladybug? (S#!t, time to get outside.)
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Plan B
Ice climber
SoCal
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Aug 13, 2014 - 07:59am PT
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Flame Skimmer Dragonfly...looks happy :)
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 8, 2014 - 12:02pm PT
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Oct 16, 2014 - 09:09pm PT
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Beautiful, John. I think that's a White-lined Bird Grasshopper, Schistocerca albolineata.
Pretty sure WTF's is the closely related Green Bird Grasshopper, Schistocerca shoshone.
Locations would help, but the taxonomy on these is a bit of a mess anyway.
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john hansen
climber
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Oct 16, 2014 - 09:27pm PT
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Madera Canyon SE AZ.
He rode on the hood for a quarter mile to the next stop,
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Oct 16, 2014 - 10:33pm PT
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I understandstand bugs have their place in nature and the food chain, but I f*#king do NOT like them, especially ticks and spiders. Creep me out.
My f*#king garage is crawling with black widows. It is a perfect nest for them though, almost always closed and cluttered with stuff.
Every time I grab something from there I have to shake it out, sometimes getting a small male, but usually a huge female with the obvious red hourglass on her underside.
I kill them onsight, but tend to spare other outdoor spiders. Except Recluses.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Oct 20, 2014 - 09:15am PT
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What's this? Found on the west shore of Tahoe.
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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Oct 20, 2014 - 09:47am PT
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That looks like a pine sawyer beetle
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 20, 2014 - 02:51pm PT
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Holy crap!!! check out the size of this spider eating a lizard!!!
If you hate spiders and want to sleep tonight I suggest not viewing this. :)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6d7_1413832559
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Oct 20, 2014 - 05:26pm PT
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How about some insect poetry?
(Okay, it's doggerel.)
The Blackfly
(Simulium horribilis)
I look upon these tiny gnats with absolute revulsion,
Their vicious bite is not a sting, it’s more like an avulsion.
It’s also lubricated with saliva that’s so venomous
I fear its consequences more than root canals or enemas.
It leaves you with a week of welts and bleeding scabs and itches.
I’d love to spray some genocide on all those sonsavitches!
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MH2
climber
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Oct 31, 2014 - 10:36am PT
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Yes, but the blackfly stream-dwelling larvae are averse to pollution, so having blackflies around is a sign of a healthy ecosystem. And why I am in favor of pollution.
Here is a beetle I have often seen before out in the woods. I just found out that it is not a vegetarian.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Oct 31, 2014 - 12:00pm PT
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Brandon, Tvash is right, Pine Sawyer, aka Trichocnemis (Ergates) spiculatus.
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Plan B
Ice climber
SoCal
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Oct 31, 2014 - 12:35pm PT
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The bitter end, after a long hard fought battle for this Monarch.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 17, 2015 - 08:02pm PT
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 17, 2015 - 08:11pm PT
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 27, 2015 - 09:13am PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 27, 2015 - 09:17am PT
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Hahahaha! For some reason wasps persist in nesting under the eaves near our
front door. The wife just hands me the Raid. You can't negotiate with
those phukkers.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Virtually most instecks have mad climbing skills, I realize.
But this one has flying skills, too.
Gently bump him off the glass and he drops,
but then catches himself in mid-air and wings right back to the pane.
He's looking good and stylish in the long corner here.
Did he say mouse sperm?
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Mar 14, 2015 - 07:54pm PT
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Okay supertopians, help me out. Every summer our house is invaded by a family of really cute green insects. They seem friendly and harmless, and spend most of their time hanging upside down on the ceiling. They're a very bright green, and about 2 cm (3/4 inch) long
Anybody know what this is?
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Mar 28, 2015 - 05:55pm PT
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That wasp thing is pretty funny LOL^^^
We have a new pet. A huge carbid? beetle that lives on our back porch. He's kinda aggro and comes after you any time you set foot out the back door.
We named him "Jeff" (short for Jeffrey Bugstine)
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Mar 28, 2015 - 09:39pm PT
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hey there, say, justthemaid...
fun share, thanks for sharing you 'pet' bug, :)
makes the back yard, more 'home like' ... :)
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Apr 19, 2015 - 09:14pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 20, 2015 - 02:21pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Oct 18, 2015 - 10:23am PT
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Bad Fiducci
climber
Wilson, WY
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Oct 18, 2015 - 03:40pm PT
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Sure, not an insect, but as it crawls over your face while you're sleeping, will it matter?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 18, 2015 - 03:49pm PT
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but as it crawls over your face while you're sleeping, will it matter?
Depends if you've already had smallpox.
thebravecowboy is now thebravehorseflywhisperer!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 16, 2015 - 07:25am PT
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Nov 16, 2015 - 08:20am PT
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Reilly you know how shot the dipteran-meat market is these days. Mostly just do it for the aesthetique, nowwadamean?
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Nov 16, 2015 - 08:36am PT
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Found this guy on a bathroom wall in Columbia (the town, not the country) last month:
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Museum - most definitely not a Western Tailed Blue. It's tougher to know for sure from only the upperwing (better details to be seen on the other side), but to me this looks good for Greenish Blue (Plebejus saepiolus)
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the museum
Trad climber
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Thanks Willoughby!
the museum
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 22, 2015 - 08:14am PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 22, 2015 - 08:35am PT
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Nice, Claud!
Randisi, I had one of those guys land on me at about 14,000' in the Pamirs. It was HUGE!
I didn't know whether he would suck my blood or mate with me!
Sphinx moth caterpillar? (3")
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 22, 2015 - 09:11am PT
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That's awesome, it looks like a hummingbird.
Go that on of the net Reilly, thought it was pretty funny.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Feb 18, 2016 - 02:02am PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Feb 18, 2016 - 03:05am PT
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The Colorbee (Apis tintus Whimsey)
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d-know
Trad climber
electric lady land
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Feb 18, 2016 - 11:00am PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Mar 12, 2016 - 03:55pm PT
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Found this guy on my porch light.
Not too yummy looking.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Mar 30, 2016 - 06:02pm PT
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So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Apr 14, 2016 - 08:08pm PT
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Tiny bug under a banana leaf.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Apr 29, 2016 - 11:24pm PT
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Ants.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Wasp face. Here's lookin' at ya.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Oops - I forgot to include the appropriate verse. Herewith:
The Yellowjacket
(Vespula invadus)
The wasp is quite ubiquitous –
His sting is most iniquitous.
He stores his tanks of venom
Just abaft his duodenum.
Injects it with a spiculum
Behind his diverticulum.
For hot dogs he’s a greedy beast,
He really digs your outdoor feast.
He’ll occupy your picnic basket –
Permission? He just doesn’t ask it.
To him your sovereignty is naught,
He moves right in without a thought.
His air offensive is so strong
You can’t defend against him long.
How learned the wasp this strategy?
It’s recently come clear to me.
To ants and bees he owes no thanks –
Methinks he learned it from the Yanks.
WM
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Black bug and aphids.
Possibly Canadian aphids. :0)
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - May 9, 2016 - 08:37am PT
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Jaja, great poem there Fossil.
They are back for sure.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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May 28, 2016 - 12:58pm PT
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WASPS. What are they good for? Nice shot, there, Wayne.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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May 28, 2016 - 01:12pm PT
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bro, do you even entomology?
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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May 28, 2016 - 04:51pm PT
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Mouse - not my photo. Dick Fast, retired doc, built his own rig to stack micro photos for great depth of field.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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If I never entomologize
It should come as no surprise
But by looking in that wasp's two eyes,
That one's a Vespula invadus, guys
And for my lack I can't apologize.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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It seems to be a bumper crop this spring of Mutillids, aka, Velvet 'Ants', aka, Cow Killers.
Maybe I'll take my macro lens out today and find one.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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He's not gonna beat the record that way. His life's too short as it 'tis.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jun 12, 2016 - 08:05pm PT
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Mariposa Lil viciously attacked by giant swallowtail.
Video at 5:11.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jun 15, 2016 - 08:53pm PT
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"Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?"
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Another amazing shot from Dick Fast. Insect was trapped in a bit of tree fluff. Critter was only about 3mm long.
Any entomologists out there? Maybe a Hemipteran? Maybe Miridae?
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Aphid. You can see the cornicles.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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i overheard yucca valley has an epidemic of mosquitos right now. which is queer to say the least! and we know of atleast 5 yucca'ownian's visting florida right now too.
BAN zika in yucca!
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Thanks, Willoughby - you're probably right, although I don't really see the cornicles.
I've been trying to work with a 1954 edition of Borror and Delong. Guess I'd better get a more recent book
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Here's how I'm seeing it. I initially was looking on my phone, and I think my mind filled in the blanks, but I still think this is valid. The right one is clearly visible, and the left is obscured behind its left hind femur.
I'm currently at war with these suckers over claim to my pepper plants.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Hello.
We are insetcs. We are not aliens come to ensalve you.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Cool shot, MH!
I found a really cool spider way up on the Matterhorn. It was freezing but he didn't
seem to mind.
I gotta try and transfer the pics to my phone.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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I found a really cool spider way up on the Matterhorn.
Excellent teaser.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Yes, and was it an alpine white spider? (I don't know the scientific name.)
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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You'll have to wait on the Matterhorn spider but here's Mouse's White Spider.
It's in pretty good knick for August.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 10, 2016 - 07:18pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 12, 2016 - 02:26pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 22, 2016 - 07:32pm PT
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Here's my Matterhorn spider. His body was about 12-14mm and his leg span was
like 100! Temp was about 5C, not counting a wicked wind chill. Dude was
impressive!
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Aug 22, 2016 - 08:37pm PT
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Looks like opiliones.
edit: also looks like one of operators of the the H. G. Wells War of the Worlds mechanos.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 24, 2016 - 06:09pm PT
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Insects are cool animals.
But we're talking about Insetcs.
"You on da wrong thread, dude," said the spider to da fly.
Larva of the Gulf Fritillary. (Agraulis vanillae)
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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Aug 24, 2016 - 06:24pm PT
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Capt.
climber
some eastside hovel
Aug 21, 2012 - 03:14pm PT
Interesting this is coming up right now.I know,not an insect but I am currently in a battle with a black widow(as we speak).I'm in the process of pulling all reading material away from the wall where I've seen it the last two nights.I've owned this house for fourteen years and only ever seen one indoors.I watched it go back outside.Problem solved.These things are quik.It's in a spot that can only be reached via skinny vacuum attachment so I can't just smash it.Every time I simply turned on the hoover it takes off into the books and mags.Their are plenty outside and that's fine,but this one has provided uneasy sleep the last couple nights.Any thoughts,experiences,or suggestions.I hate these things and apparently the venom attacks your liver.My liver has been attacked enough ;)).
Yer...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 31, 2016 - 11:42am PT
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Saw the biggest Tarantula Hawk wasp evah the other day. Dude almost flew into my chest!
Only missed me by a foot! Pretty sure she woulda knocked me down! I thought it was a
hummingbird at first - a good 3"! Almost flew into the wifey, too. That woulda caused major
mayhem - luckily she didn't see it. The Red Velvet 'ants' are about done but I saw one Monday.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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a City of Rocks resident
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Oct 31, 2016 - 04:30pm PT
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House fly.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Oct 31, 2016 - 05:47pm PT
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super cool
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 19, 2016 - 05:36pm PT
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Eat your heart out, Ondra.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 20, 2016 - 02:17pm PT
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Another bug dude with a climbing jones, but not real flashy.
He liked the jugs on this river rock.
He dug the heck out of this ridge traverse on south county sandstone.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aphids on pyracantha bush.
Edit: Mea culpa, the aphid is not an insect. But it's an insetc, all the same, smarty pants.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Mouse - I'd guess (not having him in hand) that your climbing bug is a spined soldier bug, genus Podisus. They're predacious on the larvae of Lepidopterans - like moths, butterflies etc.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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On closer look, more likely it's a brown marmorated stink bug, Genus Euschistus. Hard to see whether the "shoulders' are sharply spiny or slightly rounded, which makes an ID difference. The antennae are right for Euschistus too.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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An arthropod but not an insect
Another, which I have seen and photographed but did not know by name until know
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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a veritable Abrams tank:
Jerusalem crickets are a group of large, flightless insects of the genus Stenopelmatus. They are native to the western United States and parts of Mexico. Its large head has inspired both Native American and Spanish names.
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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and a closer view
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Cheers, Fossil Climber!
Cheers, Fritz!
Note: Carl has since passed away. Jerry's now in jail. Liz just finished off her fourth husband.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Unknown Arizonian insetcs.
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clifff
Mountain climber
golden, rollin hills of California
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The first one looks like a big wasp on the flower of Apache Plume.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 15, 2017 - 01:07pm PT
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 15, 2017 - 01:17pm PT
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Mouse, I think you took a picture of this. We have a many here in San Diego.
Good thing they aren't as aggressive as regular wasps, we would be in real trouble.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula_hawk
Hmm, now that I look at more pics online it may not be the one I thought. Perhaps some wasp experts can chime in.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Sep 15, 2017 - 01:44pm PT
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Oct 21, 2017 - 01:18pm PT
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this guy was one of a bunch of independent operators that fly around
dangling long legs and come to visit but lose interest right away, thankfully.
they seemed to be keying in on any dark fissures and would crash bang into
the general area always sticking the landing but taking a hell of a beating.
my subject had plans to depart the pocket, but at the sight of paparazzi
he aborted and returned to the hanger, positioned himself in the dark with
a view of me leering, so just waited me out ... a act of charming discretion
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 21, 2017 - 05:36pm PT
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Please pardon my ignorance. This was a damsel fly I believe but as far as
the grasshopper was concerned it was a Grim Reaper. This was in the mountains
just north of John Day, OR during the eclipse.
I'm quite sure this is a white butterfly. :-/
edit:
My bug man just emailed me regarding the Grim Reaper:
It is known as the robber fly, aka assassin fly, aka Asilidae. They capture
their prey mid-flight, and inject a cocktail of paralyzing venom and
digestive enzymes, sucking the liquid nutrients out with their long
proboscis. They are important predators of pests such as grasshoppers, with
most species existing in Florida.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Oct 21, 2017 - 07:42pm PT
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it's a bugand a hole
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Oct 24, 2017 - 10:21am PT
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peggy coleman created this image and submitted it for the azhwys photo issue contest. shoulda won
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 24, 2017 - 10:43am PT
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^^^ Outstanding! How’d she get them to pose so well?
I thought all the good poseurs were here?
Go to LA Times, or Da Web, and look for the Nikon Small World (or whatevah it’s called) Awards. Some crazy stuuff there. In fact, some dude shot the eye of a robber fly, which I was happy to shoot the whole bug above. :-/
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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A few thousand Monarchs at the Pismo Beach sanctuary on a cloudy day....
At the last count some weeks ago there were 14,000 here.
15 years ago there were 250,000!!!!!! ☹️
Plant milkweed, people!
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
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Dead but not forgotten.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
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Apr 18, 2018 - 05:30pm PT
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What's brown and sticky?
A stick bug!
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clifff
Mountain climber
golden, rollin hills of California
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Jun 16, 2018 - 01:11pm PT
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Drain Fly
A harmless little fly often seen on the wall near sinks and other drains in the house. In nature it lives on the muck on the edge of a pond. But the muck in the drain trap serves just as well.
edit: The flower in Mouse's post is Sierra Lessingia, of the Sunflower family.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Jun 18, 2018 - 12:16pm PT
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Mouse, that is not a meat bee, that is a hover fly. Harmless and useful pollinators.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
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Jun 19, 2018 - 04:07pm PT
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In-sex!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 31, 2018 - 09:28am PT
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Aug 31, 2018 - 10:05am PT
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My daughter Megan is going to school to be an entomologist. She takes the most amazing pictures of insects and spiders!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 31, 2018 - 10:08am PT
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Great shots, Roughster! I have a good friend who did his PhD at Caltech on the optical nerve system of jumping spiders! Then he went into building electrical car control systems (he also has an EE).
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Aug 31, 2018 - 11:38am PT
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On a hot & smoky day, about a week back Heidi & I met some neighbors for afternoon cocktails at our spring creek wading hole.
After a short time, I noticed this beautiful blue 6" dragonfly resting near our fence.
A minute or so later, I saw the dragonfly shaking violently out of the corner of my eye. I walked over closer, since I'd never witnessed a dragonfly seizure before. A hidden 4" long green Praying Mantis had grabbed the dragonfly by a wing.
I took the situation in & decided to intervene, even though we cherish both predators. I gently flapped the Praying Mantis, he released, & the dragonfly left.
Cocktail hour continued.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 13, 2018 - 12:49pm PT
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Cockroach hour is over for good.Cheers, Fritz & Heidi!
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clifff
Mountain climber
golden, rollin hills of California
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Sep 19, 2018 - 11:59am PT
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Everywhere, invertebrates are threatened by climate change, competition from invasive species and habitat loss. Insect abundance seems to be declining precipitously, even in places where their habitats have not suffered notable new losses. A troubling new report from Germany has shown a 75% plunge in insect populations since 1989, suggesting that they may be even more imperilled than any previous studies suggested.
Various kinds of anecdotal evidence appear to support these observations. The environmental journalist Michael McCarthy has noted the seeming disappearance of the windscreen phenomenon. Once, he writes, “any long automobile journey,” especially one undertaken in summer, “would result in a car windscreen that was insect-spattered”. In recent years this phenomenon seems to have vanished.
A different dimension of loss’: inside the great insect die-off
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/14/a-different-dimension-of-loss-great-insect-die-off-sixth-extinction
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A giant crawling brain: the jaw-dropping world of termites
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/18/a-giant-crawling-brain-the-jaw-dropping-world-of-termites
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Xerces Society - saving insects:
https://xerces.org/
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 19, 2018 - 12:09pm PT
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Those termites are a major protein source for Africans.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 19, 2018 - 04:30pm PT
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I would say that I haven't noticed an insect die off in my neck of the woods and I do pay attention to those sorts of things. In fact I continue to see more butterflies every year, largely I suspect due to fewer people using insecticides in their yards.
And if you drive from LA to Mammoth Lakes I guarantee you will have to clean your windshield when you get there.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 19, 2018 - 05:21pm PT
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There was an article in LA Times 18 Sept about Blister beetles, the new scourge of bees.
Hollywood couldn’t come close to thinking up a horror show like these evil little monsters.
If the bees go we go.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 20, 2018 - 02:16pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 20, 2018 - 11:42pm PT
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These guys are under my eave about 7’ from the front door. La Femme wants me to off them but I’ve refused. They’ve shown no aggressiveness. A nest inside a pottery sun face directly over door did produce one that landed on my head but no sting. For some reason they have disappeared! I can’t figure why unless they were further along in the nest cycle.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 21, 2018 - 07:19am PT
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Love that shot, Reilly! And the thought. Well and bravely done, lad!
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 21, 2018 - 09:49am PT
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I had a nest like that in one of the bushes in my front yard. I left it alone but then one day I was trimming the bush and forgot about the nest. They hit my about 12 times in 1 second. That hurt! I left them alone after that. Eventually the nest was abandoned. I think they quit a nest after it gets to a certain size.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 21, 2018 - 11:43am PT
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Whoa, G Gnome! That would probably put me in the ER. 😬
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Spider bites Australia man on penis again
BBC 28 Sept 2018
A 21-year-old Australian tradesman has been bitten by a venomous spider on the penis for a second time.
The man was using a portable toilet on a Sydney building site on Tuesday, when he suffered a repeat of the incident five months ago.
Jordan, who preferred not to reveal his surname, said he was bitten on "pretty much the same spot" by the spider.
"I'm the most unlucky guy in the country at the moment," he told the BBC.
"I was sitting on the toilet doing my business and just felt the sting that I felt the first time.
"I was like 'I can't believe it's happened again.' I looked down and I've seen a few little legs come from around the rim."
He said that being bitten the first time had made him wary of using portable toilets.
"After the first time it happened I didn't really want to use one again," he said.
"Toilets got cleaned that day and I thought it was my opportunity to go use one. Had a look under both seats and then I sat down did my business. Next thing you know, I'm bent over in pain."
'I'll be holding on'
The tradesman said he was not sure what type of spider bit him this time.
One of his colleagues took him from the worksite in north-west Sydney to Blacktown Hospital - although many of his workmates were quick to see the lighter side of the situation.
"They got worried the first time," he said.
"This time they were making jokes before I was getting in the car."
The hospital declined to discuss the matter, citing patient privacy.
Jordan was released from hospital and said he expected to return to work soon but was unlikely to be using the on-site toilet.
"I think I'll be holding on for dear life to be honest," he said.
The redback spider, closely related to the black widow spider, is distinguished by a long red stripe on its abdomen.
Its bite causes severe pain, sweating and nausea.
Although there are recorded cases of deaths from redback bites, none have occurred since the development of antivenom in 1956.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Thank you for that one, Reilly. Jayzus!
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Reilly, it was actually stupider than that. I got hit by one and didn't realize what it was. I went back in and that is when the mass assault happened. I immedietely went and took a couple benedryl. Half were on my forehead and the other half on the soft part of my upper arm that was exposed holding the branches up. Bee stings are worse and yellow jacket stings even worse. Of course nothing compares to black fly bites!
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Rcklzrd
Trad climber
Prescott, AZ
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Some kind of dragonfly (?) flying over my head while kayaking.
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clifff
Mountain climber
golden, rollin hills of California
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Oct 16, 2018 - 02:49pm PT
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TBC - Thanks for the excellent link. Here's a quote:
‘Hyperalarming’ study shows massive insect loss - Huge numbers of bugs have been lost in a pristine national forest in Puerto Rico, the study found, and the forest’s insect-eating animals have gone missing, too.
In 2014, an international team of biologists estimated that, in the past 35 years, the abundance of invertebrates such as beetles and bees had decreased by 45 percent. In places where long-term insect data are available, mainly in Europe, insect numbers are plummeting. A study last year showed a 76 percent decrease in flying insects in the past few decades in German nature preserves.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/science/2018/10/15/hyperalarming-study-shows-massive-insect-loss/
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clifff
Mountain climber
golden, rollin hills of California
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Oct 27, 2018 - 12:56pm PT
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Ecological Armageddon! Insects Vanish All over the World
[Click to View YouTube Video]
excellent video + lots of links
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 13, 2018 - 01:21pm PT
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So my porch pirates are in the home stretch of their fecundity.
Went out there about 1000. It was still quite cool up under the eaves and,
as the saying goes, not a creature was stirring. I set up my stepladder
and got within a foot and a half and it only took a few seconds to get
them stirring. Fired off a half dozen and considered myself lucky! 🤡
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Nov 28, 2018 - 07:26am PT
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Yeah well the ticks are taking over here...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 13, 2018 - 12:10pm PT
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My wasps have flown the coop, so to speak.
They come back during the day for whatever reason.
I think they're thankful I protected them.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Mar 15, 2019 - 09:05pm PT
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Apr 10, 2019 - 12:18am PT
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hey there say, thebravecowboy...
sad, but, serious share, ...
:(
*right now, i am watching this show about
sea life, in the red sea, as compared
to the gulf...
and, just got done seeing a show about the nile...
all these 'miracles' of life...
and, so many NEED these insects, too,
as well as our plants and dirt...
:(
*though, i do not us poisons, here, i still have to
get rid of the wasps, :O
so far, i keep trying to use eucalyptus...
so far, thank god, it is a 'deter' ... :O
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capseeboy
Social climber
portland, oregon
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Apr 10, 2019 - 08:14am PT
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Last summer was the worst for aggressive bald face hornets in Columbia river gorge. No where to run, no where to hide. Made outdoor lingering a big drag. Hmm maybe set out some bait to draw them off from me this summer.
Anyone have experience with the electronic deterrents?
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Apr 10, 2019 - 08:24am PT
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