Bye!

Just wanted to say my goodbyes! I'm leaving for camp tomorrow at 1:00pm. I'll be back in a month! So for now this is my last post and I can't wait to start posting about all the bugs I saw when I come home. In the mean time hang in there. You'll have something to look forward to reading when I get back.

And it's not all in 1 post either because the post will contain my diary entries from camp along with a list of all the bugs I saw and tons of photos of them including info once I found the name of some of them ( the ones I don't know what they are ). So you'll have something to look forward too. So good bye for now!

Love you! ♥♥♥♥

Brittanie

Bugs I Saw Today

These are all the bugs that I saw today when I went out:

4-5 butterflies
3-4 black bean aphids
1 fly
1 ant
1 green stink bug nymph

I got to bring the stink bug nymph home and I took some photos of it and then I let it go. Also this morning I found a mosquito in my room. I couldn't get to fast enough to get rid of it because she ( it was a female ) got away.

I had a nice day today. And Happy Birthday to my wonderful mommy! ♥

Elephant Mosquitoes, Crane Flies, & Look Alikes

BEWARE!.....OF SOME SHOCKING FACTS..........

Elephant Mosquito - Toxorhynchites rutilus

Size: Wingspan circa 12 mm, body length circa 7 mm. Pretty bug for a mosquito huh?

Identification: Very large for a mosquito ( Yes we already know that ). The body is covered with shiny metallic blue scales. The proboscis is prominent and it curves upwards.

Range: Southeastern United States.

Food: Adults feed on nectar?! They feed on nectar?! *laughs* Yes they feed on nectar. The females don't suck blood so they're harmless. So when you see one you don't have to be afraid....you can pick it up......it won't bite you because no other species of mosquito in the USA looks like the Elephant Mosquito in the picture above right?....

......WRONG! *Laughs evilly* There is another one and they're bad really! I'm not joking they're literally the spawn of the devil!.......

BEWARE!......OF THE SPAWN OF THE DEVIL..................

Warning: The following contains information about the spawn of the devil.
Read it at your own risk..... You have been officially warned by me......Do what you think is right before it's too late......>:)

The Mosquito From Hell: Psorophora ciliata

Size: The wingspan is variable. 6-6.5 mm

Identification: Adult: Very large mosquito ( duh! ).

Food: Adults: Males and females feed on nectar. Females are said to seek blood meals from large mammals. Females bloodfeed day and night and are able to bite through heavy clothing.....Eeek!

Just like the female horse and deer flies! Yikes! Told you!

Sources: Bugguide

And about the crane flies: They are your friends!

Crane Fly: Ctenophora apicata

Apparently there isn't alot of information on this crane fly on Bugguide. All it lists on it are the colors and the range. I'll keep looking for you so expect and update in this post if I find anything on them. Perhaps YouTube?

Oh and,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY! I ♥ U!

Wasp Mimicking Crane Flies?!

That's right you heard me "Wasp Mimicking Crane Flies". Just found out about them. So I decided to tell the whole world about them. Or at least what I know so far. If you don't know what crane flies are then try picture an over sized mosquito ( yeah yeah, I know "your worst nightmare" ). But just bare with me please. You got the pic in your mind? That's sort of what they look like. Only thing is that they're completely harmless.

The adults don't even eat at all during their short lives! Only thing is that when I told you about imagining an over sized mosquito I forgot to tell you one thing.....They exist!.... I know your worst nightmare is a reality. And yes they live in NA. If I go on you might want to track me down and kill me so I'll stop with the mosquitoes and continue with the harmless pretty crane flies k?

Alright so the ugly wasp thing in the pic above as you might call it is one of the wasp mimicking crane flies. Remember they're harmless they can't do nothing to you. All they do is fly around all day looking for mates to create the next generation of crane flies of their particular species.

How On Earth Do You Tell a ♀ from a ♂?

Same way you do with mosquitoes and most moths, you look at the antennae and if the antennae have "branches" on the sides that you can see very clearly then it's a male if not then it's a female. Not that you would stick around to find out anyway :P

Oh and the crane fly in the pic is a Ctenophora apicata. And it's harmless! And tomorrow I'll post some more stuff on these including a "sneak preview" of one of the "Elephant Mosquitoes" I mentioned earlier in the post. In the mean time, Night!

Hope I didn't give you nightmares......

Yellow Tail Moth - Euproctis similis

Yellow Tail Moth - Euproctis similis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-tail

Bugs I Saw Today

I went out today so I got to see some bugs:

1 lace wing larvae
1 fruit fly
1 small green stink bug nymph

Also I was in my room a few minutes ago and I believe I saw another small moth of some sort. YAY!

A Night Time Visitor

At around 3:00am-4:00am I saw this HUGE moth flying around in my room and it landed on me crawling around on my chest still flapping it wings so you could hardly see them. I think it was some type of Geometrid moth. But that doesn't tell me anything since they're so many species of Geometrids in America alone.

Really glad I saw it though. :)

Dogwood Spittlebug - Clastoptera proteus

Unfortunately I could find any info on it via bugguide. I'll try some place else and see if I get lucky. These are one of the prettiest spittle bugs I've seen ( not in person ). And they're cute too.

Alder Spittlebug - Clastoptera obtusa

Alder Spittle bug - Clastoptera obtusa

Size: 3-5 mm

Food: Alder and other deciduous trees.

And there doesn't seem to be too much on bugguide on this one either. However I did find a decent amount of information on spittle bugs in general. The site does list the genus Clastoptera. Although I haven't read through it yet so untill I do just check out the entire page.

It's a very interesting read. I can tell just by glancing at it. :)

Spittle Bug Info Tell me what you think of it!

Blue Pansy - Junonia orithya wallacei

Blue Pansy - Junonia orithya wallacei

Common Name: Blue Pansy

Wingspan: About 4-5cm.

Range: Sri Lanka and India to south China and Taiwan, through Sundaland and the Malay Archipelago to Australia.

Habitat: Overgrown and grassy patches.

Food Plant: Hygrophilia.

Source: Chin's Butterfly Gallery

Pics

Yellow brimstone butterflies. I love these!

Banded Swallowtail - Papilio demolion demolion

Banded Swallowtail- Papilio demolion demolion

I love this butterfly because I think it's so pretty. One thing that I think is really interesting about this butterfly is the fact that it lays it's eggs on top of one another. So it looks like a beaded string. Here's the link I got the photo from. It also contains photos of the eggs.

This is the only Papilionid butterfly that I know of that lays its eggs like that.

Here you go

Sumatran Sunbeam - Curetis saronis sumatrana

Sumatran Sunbeam - Curetis saronis sumatrana

Wingspan: About 3-3.75cm.

Range: Assam to Sundaland.

Habitat: Fringe of forests and mangrove swamps and river banks.

Food Plants: Millettia pinnata?

Other Remarks: This specimen is a male.

Source: Chin's Butterfly Gallery

Spiders On Drugs

This hilarious! XD

甲蟲特蒐系列報導the king of beetles

I know that this is in Chinese but it's interesting to see all the different species of Stag beetles. Some of them I've never even seen.

Wish it had English subtitles though. Any way enjoy what you can from it. And if you know Chinese you are so lucky. n_n

And if you can translate some of it for me that would be greatly appreciated.

Bug Weightlifting: Strongest living species

One of the most incredible things I've seen! I feel sorry for the Stag Beetles and the Betsy bugs!

YAY!

July is here and I'll be going to camp in 17 days! I'm so happy. As I said before I will get photos of all the bugs I see when I have my camera with me ( I'll make sure I'll have with me almost every where I go ). I also have some of my photos from last year that I want developed NOW! Any way just thought you should know.

In the mean time I'm working on the bug of the month. And it will be posted before I leave :P Any way hope you enjoy your evening. Peace out.