Post your insects

[johnbharle]

This guy was going to town on my passion flowers today. He's way too big for a honeybee, and not a bumblebee. Nor is he a paper wasp. I'm thinking that he may be a moth (judging by antennae). But not sure. He does like nectar. Any ideas?

[Cantab]

This guy was going to town on my passion flowers today. He's way too big for a honeybee, and not a bumblebee. Nor is he a paper wasp. I'm thinking that he may be a moth (judging by antennae). But not sure. He does like nectar. Any ideas?

John, I've no idea what the insect is but it's a good photo. Maybe Geoff will identify it.

I saw a bee on my passion flower plant yesterday but didn't have the camera with me.

[Geoff F]

Can't see clearly but the antennae seem to be fairly short and 'elbowed' which would point to bee or wasp family. The spurs on the legs are another possible clue.

What do your hornets look like? Or some form of solitary wasp (Sphecidae family). Queen wasps can be a lot larger than workers but I'm not sure about it being one of the 'hive' type.

[jdathebowler]

It's a Bees Life

[johnbharle]

Can't see clearly but the antennae seem to be fairly short and 'elbowed' which would point to bee or wasp family. The spurs on the legs are another possible clue.

What do your hornets look like? Or some form of solitary wasp (Sphecidae family). Queen wasps can be a lot larger than workers but I'm not sure about it being one of the 'hive' type.

We don't have hornets that I know of. Nearest we have are ground nesting yellowjackets. They are small and MEAN. This isn't one of my usual wasps. It's larger and didn't seem to mind me getting close enough for a photo. There is such a thing as a Mexican Honey Wasp, but I'm a little too far north for them and this looks much larger than the ones I found pictures of. You know, I've never seen a queen bee, but then again, she would have come with a whole hive, so I guess this isn't a honeybee :-) Maybe someone will know sooner or later. If I see him/her again, I'll try and get a better pic.

[Geoff F]

Honey Bee queens only leave the hive to get mated. But bumblebee queens are frequently seen when searching for nest sites. The 'standard form' of wasp queens are often around; particularly during Spring.

I had thought about this being a species of sawfly; but it has the typical narrow waist of a bee/wasp.

[jprzybyla]

I spotted this creature on my last outing. It was hanging from a thread of silk and swaying in the gentle breeze. I do not have a clue at to it's identity.

[Geoff F]

Am I seeing 8 legs? That is to say, 4 on the same side.

If so, it must be some species of spider. But impossible to go any further from that angle.

[Brownbear]

Joe, that is a beautiful spider... I enjoy viewing all the fabulous insect photos on this thread.

[rtbaum]

I captured this shot of a caterpillar munching on milkweed, I know that it is not a monarch butterfly. Do any of the bug gurus have an ID for me?

[jprzybyla]

This is a follow up to the spider I posted a couple of days ago. Today the web was finished and it appeared to have caught a Katydid.

[VanessaS]

It's an orb weaving spider. Possibly Neoscona nautica. She is absolutely glorious.

I spotted this creature on my last outing. It was hanging from a thread of silk and swaying in the gentle breeze. I do not have a clue at to it's identity.

[Geoff F]

Earlier this year, I posted a shot of a Leptura beetle which was a new species to me. Today I have discovered a mating pair. And a close up will show that they really were 'caught in the act'.



Leptura auvulenta.

A little bit more focus depth would have helped but this shows the important bits. I was a bit restricted for camera angles. There are a few more shots to sort through but I don't think there will be anything better than this one.

Also today, a Tortoise Bug (Eurygaster testudinaria)



Another new species for me. Once again camera angles were limited. This is a merge of two shots with slightly different focus points.

Although not an insect, this animal was sitting on a sunny log watching me photograph the beetle.

[VanessaS]

I don't know if this still counts since this is an arachnid in captivity. This is my darling Evelyn who is a Grammastola rosea. Evelyn has been with me for over fifteen years and can live to be in her mid thirties. Unfortunately she was wild caught and I really have no idea how old she is.
She moulted a couple of days ago and I wanted to retrieve her exuvium before she shoved it in her water dish. She puts all her 'waste' in her water dish because it is their instinct that the water will wash it away from the burrow to prevent predators from finding her. I can't seem to convince her that her water dish doesn't work like that.

It occurred to me that I should share some photos of her.



A picture of her cute little bum sitting right on top of her carapace - preventing me from getting to it. Cheeky devil.



This is a shot of the dense hair that she has on the bottom of her little feet. She also has two small nails at the tip, which you don't see here because this is her shed skin, that help her to grip onto things.



Where her eyes used to be in her shed carapace.

[Cantab]

Vanessa, these are very interesting photos. Thanks for posting them. What size is Evelyn?

[VanessaS]

Vanessa, these are very interesting photos. Thanks for posting them. What size is Evelyn?

With all her little legs spread out - she is about the size of my hand. Not one of the bigger species of tarantula. I would say about five inches diagonally.

[Cantab]

With all her little legs spread out - she is about the size of my hand. Not one of the bigger species of tarantula. I would say about five inches diagonally.

Thanks for the info. She's a lot larger than I'd imagined.

[Franci]

It's summer!

[jdathebowler]

Could any of you confirm that this is a Worker Bee or a Drone.I am posting an image which still needs a bit of work but would like some advice please.What extra processing do I need to do?I have enlarged the wasp by cropping.I took the image with my Canon 600D set to closeup.I have just bought a set of Kenco extension tubes but need to get more experience in using them.Is the use of the tubes a better way to get an enlarged image of an insect? If I do use the tubes is it always best to use a tripod?

[Franci]

Hi John, really I have no experience with extension tubes, but of course any hardware yielding a close-up image is better than heavy cropping. If I understand well, the top image is a cropped version of the bottom one. I would try a more moderate crop of the wider image, possibly rectangular, trying to remove as much as possible of the reddish part on the right. Flowers give sense to the animal. To me, it also looks overexposed, so may be you can try and compensate / desaturate a bit. By the way, the animal it is a drone of some sort, the antennae are too small and the waist too large for a wasp.