BS: New or startling bugs in your area

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Janie
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 12:06 AM

What an apropro name!

thanks for the picks, Don, and thanks for identifying and for the bugguide link, Bee.


Speaking of startling, I was startled to see what I think are powder post beetle holes in the window sills of the house I just bought.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Bee
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 12:34 AM

Janie, that sounds kinda sucky.

The BD Moth has a nicer name, though - the family are called Wood Nymphs, and I think Donuel's is the Beautiful Wood Nymph.

I love Bug Guide. I found it took a while to learn how to use it efficiently, but now I can find critters pretty quickly. They also have an identification service - send a photo and particulars, and they will help you. But at this time of year they get 100 or more requests a day, and there's only a few people, who also have lives and day jobs, trying to answer, so it can take a while.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 09:10 AM

Bee, Thats exactly why I found it...ohh I better wipe that bird droppong off this prominent banana leaf ...oo oo the poop just moved !?

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Bee
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 09:31 AM

Haha, Donuel! It's a good disguise, isn't it? All kinds of creatures are lurking around us, doing their best to look like something else.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 01:25 PM

Apparently I scared the shit out of him...not poison.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: gnu
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 02:14 PM

I think I saw one of them there bugs I talked about in this thread. It was buzzin aroung the hanging pots and Mum and it was going in the garage and above the garge door. I could see two yellow "appendages" at the tail end. I figured it was making a nest in the garage.

It was making a nest. "Was" is the operative word. I was a sqaush player extrordinaire when I was a young man, and one of my old Dunlop racquets served me well. I followed said bug into the garage and closed the door. Waited until it went to the mandoor window and then approached it slowly. It came straight at me... stupid move.

BUT! even though I picked it up off the floor carefully and inspected it with a magnifying glass, I can't determine what it is because the arse end of it is not on the raquet or anywhere to be found. The crucial evidence was detroyed.

So, I am still wondering about these two stinger wasp type bugs???

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: open mike
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 04:03 PM

I belong to the Dung Beetle Clan, and we have the
Scarab as our totem animal. If it were not for
dung beetles, the planet would be covered in
dung 6 feet deep. so i have heard.

there are special beetles "employed" to turn
carcasses into skeletons for scientific study.
the smithsonian institution has a room for
these flesh-eating beetles. Dermestid
flesh-eating beetles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7EQW8NnKS8

also there are some bark beetles doing major damage in forests.

http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/fh/bark_beetle.html
http://eny3541.ifas.ufl.edu/pbb/PBB_ID.htm
http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/fh/bb_prevention.html

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 04:24 PM

We have the B-52 of the garden these days and my daughter and I were just out poking under the oregano and tomatoes and next to rocks and such to find their mounds. Cicada Killer Wasps. Big low hum as they hover looking for a likely spot of dirt to excavate as much as 12 inches deep before they haul back a cicada, stuff it down the hole, lay eggs, and bury the whole thing for next year. I'd guess we have almost a dozen of the mounds going out there right now. They don't seem to bother anything and they don't sting unless you work really hard to provoke them (and then it's just the females).

I stuck a photo of it on one of the Mudcat Gardeners pages. Join if you would like--it's a great place to save these kinds of photos all in one place.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: open mike
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 06:52 PM

here is the bark beetle i was trying to find a foto of.this pic was taken in my yard.
http://www.photoworks.com/members/open_mike

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Bee
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 07:16 PM

Gnu, is it possible you are seeing one of the several hundred species of Ichneumon Wasps? Some of them are huge, they usually have long skinny bodies and long legs, and in quite a few species the females have two very long thin ovipositors off their rear ends. They come in a variety of colours, yellow, black, orange, red, solid, striped, etc.

The poor things look really alien and scary, but in fact they are a beneficial insect that lays eggs in other insects' larva, sometimes drilling into treebark to get at larva underneath. They are utterly harmless to humans.

There are seven pages of pics here, and more if you delve deeper in the species-stack at the page top.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/4158/bgimage?from=0

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: gnu
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 07:29 PM

Oh my... 18k species?

And... sorry... I forgot to mention, four wings and mostly yellow legs.

As for beneficial or harmless, I would not kill anything that I wasn't going to eat or that wasn't making a nest in the garage and looked nasty.

Thanks for the link. I'll keep looking.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 07:32 PM

I have those giant black and yellow B-52s. They don't hurt anyone but sure can scare people. They hatch out of holes in the ground in the Spring. I've counted 1,000 holes. Later in the season they go looking for new holes to dig. I spray them with the hose to discourage them from digging new holes near the hot tub.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Bee
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 07:35 PM

Can you describe it more, Gnu? So far I've got yellow legs, wasp-like, two yellow appendages at the rear (those may be ovipositors - egg layers - or long hind legs). Is it long bodied and thin or fat and short? Is it all yellow or striped with black?

You said it was building a nest. Do you mean a paper nest like some wasps make, or a hole in earth or a wall?

I'm really curious now!

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: gnu
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 09:50 PM

I will take a pic of it and send it to you, if you trust me with your e-addy. It's mostly black-ish (I am partially colour bind), except for the yellow legs.

But, even a pic won't do much good. First, as I said, I do not have a whole specimen (I haven't reacted to a squash "moment" like that in twenty years... a rapid backhand that was absolutely reaction... no thought... just smacked it.) Secondly, my crappy digital HP doesn't even turn on most times without banging it against a hard surface a few times. So, you can imagine the quality of pics I can get from it.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: gnu
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 09:55 PM

I will TRY to take a pic of it. If it turns out, I will send it to another mudcatter I know who has a "pic site rigginfriggin"... maybe Bente or rags or whoever...

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jul 08 - 12:43 AM

gnu, you can email a photo like that to me also, if you want. I can Photoshop it to web size and put it up at the gardening group page or send it back to you to post elsewhere.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: gnu
Date: 06 Jul 08 - 06:29 AM

Thanks Bee and SRS. I try to get my camera to turn on sometime today.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jul 08 - 10:44 AM

1. Put in fresh batteries
. . .

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: GUEST,Ingrid Frances Stark
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 01:59 AM

I would be more than happy to supply bumblebees to anyone who is running low on them. I think I have at least one nest, maybe two of them in my garage. Fortunately, bumblebees are fairly non-aggressive, or the lawn would be gettin' real long, 'bout now....

Ingrid

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: GUEST,Ingrid Frances Stark
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 02:01 AM

Oh, those bumblebees are free to anyone who'll come catch them. I'll watch from the living room.

Ingrid

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 12:44 PM

No way I can get a decent pic of it.... thanks anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: GUEST,JAK
Date: 06 May 09 - 10:01 AM

The tar sands beetle is a Whitespotted Sawyer. They don't usually bite, but have been known to on occasion.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/7432

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Donuel
Date: 06 May 09 - 10:13 AM

I'm glad that this thread surfaced BECAUSE theoriginal bug I reported here is in fact the dreaded bug that can wipe out Florida's entire citrus crop.


15 miles from here a Walter Reed bio lab does experiments with mosquitos and West NIle virus among other things.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 May 09 - 01:01 PM

Did you hear the interview Terry Gross did on Monday (5-4-09) on Fresh Air? She interviewed Douglas Emlen about dung beetles. Fascinating!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 May 09 - 06:24 PM

..."BECAUSE theoriginal bug I reported here is in fact the dreaded bug that can wipe out Florida's entire citrus crop." Donuel

Donuel, what is the name/species of this bug?

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 May 09 - 06:32 PM

Donuel, are you speaking of the Asian citrus psyllid?

An Extraordinarily Destrluctive Critter

I don't see that its description matches any of the insects you listed.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: GUEST,donuel
Date: 06 May 09 - 07:16 PM

Ebbie, thats the bug. I still have 12 photos.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 May 09 - 11:48 PM

Which one? This one: "a 3/4 inch long flying neon electric metallic green bug"?

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: GUEST
Date: 07 May 09 - 03:24 AM

I have seen 1/2 inch long neon electric metallic green beetles here.
They are rose chafers and live in old fruit trees, therefore becoming rarer as people [legalised vandals!] grub up old trees.

Stag beetles are also quite common here (Surrey/Hampshire/Berkshire).

A more frequent problem these days (though perhaps not technically a 'bug') is the 'false widow spider', which is spreading with the popularity of wooden decking - apparently this one can bite and is poisonous, though not fatal ... so far. I realise that you folks in other parts of the world have much nastier spiders, but in southern England we are not used to such dangers.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 09:51 AM

This morning I found four grubs/larvae, greyish white and over an inch long (about 3 cms), lurking under a flower pot in some loose soil. Googling identified them as chafer grubs. It said they were pests because their burrowing would make my lawn feel spongey (I wish it did) and that birds would make the garden untidy looking for them to eat (they are welcome to). Do they do any other damage or shall I release them in my unspongey lawn?

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: maeve
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 10:06 AM

topsie- They also damage food crops and young trees. Were they in my yard they would become chicken treats. Good luck.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 10:18 AM

In that case I'll go find me some chickens. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Skivee
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 04:34 PM

Donuel
If you contact the University of Maryland Department of Entymology with your photos, they will be glad to tell you if you buggies are invasive or unusual species.
I've seen insect matching every one your descriptions for the decades that I've lived in MD. The only ones that are actually new to the area are the Asian Tiger mosquito and the emerald ash borer. The Tiger a mostly black body, but with white marking on it's legs. Unlike native mosquitos, the tiger feeds at any time of day or night.
The emerald ash borer is lomger than your 3/4 beetle. It can be found in log piles and fallen trees.
The scarabs are very common here in a wide variety. The most striking is the Fig-eater. It's pretty, metallic, and eats most fruit on the tree.
The 4 1/2 inch flying ghost was probably a dobson fly.
In other words. Don't Panic. You are not seeing a sign of the end days; just noticing nature that you have missed before.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: CarolC
Date: 02 Oct 09 - 12:56 AM

I have some that look like giant furry ants, about an inc and a half long, with black and red markings. I don't even know what genus or family they belong to in order to look them up. Anyone ever seen anything like this?

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: maeve
Date: 02 Oct 09 - 01:31 AM

Carol, I'm wondering whether your insects might be Dasymutilla occidentalis Velvet ants, which are not ants after all
If so, the females (no bump in the middle) are reputed to have a fierce sting.
Here are a couple of photos   Hope this is helpful.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: CarolC
Date: 02 Oct 09 - 03:16 AM

Yup. That's the one. I thought it might be a kind of wingless wasp. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Skivee
Date: 02 Oct 09 - 12:34 PM

Carol, I concur on the velvet ant thing. They are wingless wasps and have a hell of a stung. They are however quite pretty as insects go.

Subject: RE: BS: New or startling bugs in your area
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 03 Oct 09 - 10:35 AM

Around here this is the time of year when dozens of these things find their way indoors looking for a good place to hibernate.