Adorable

1. Charaxes jasius
2. Opsiphanes tamarindi

The second one is one of the Owl butterflies. I completely forgot that the Owl butterflies have caterpillars like the Charaxes sp.

I love them. I think they're adorable. They're one of my favorite caterpillars.

O. tamarindi is also mentioned in the book 100 Caterpillars.

Parasitic Yellowjackets?!

Just found out about these and I can't believe it either.

What Bugguide says on them shocked me:

A parasite of D. arenaria and D. norvegicoides and thus has no worker caste. The workers of the 2 host species rear the larvae of the parasite.

Sweet Merlin.....I want more details on this! I'll keep looking. In the mean time enjoy the rest of the info and TONS of pics.

CLICKY!

I'd like to see one in person someday....... The one in the photo is Dolichovespula adulterina

Camel Spider

The camel spider is the friendliest spider in the world. When kept as a pet they are known to respond when called by name, curl up for a nap on their owners pillow and can even make a mean cup for tea!

Right..... :P

BOTM Macleay's Swallowtail Graphium macleayanus

I think this is going on my favorites list. I love them!

Clicky for info!

Enjoy! I love them so much....♥

BOTM= Bug of the Month.

Short-lined Kite Swallowtail Protographium agesilaus

I was originally looking for info Protographium marchandi but I couldn't find anything other then what's in 100 Butterflies and Moths.

And I'll be damned if I go posting copyrighted material. I don't want to be sued. :P Another problem was finding images of P. marchandi. The only one that would come up is one that's been preserved/pinned down in some damn collection.

And those kinds of photos don't really do this gorgeous butterfly justice. In the book 100 butterflies and moths it's number 56.

So I'd suggest you buy it from B&N or Amazon. Sorry.

So I had to settle for one of the other Protographium species. Don't get me wrong they're all beautiful butterflies but there doesn't seem to be much info on these.....I'll keep looking.

This is the first of many Papilionid entries to come.

Books: 100 Butterflies and Moths

WTF?.....

God that's disgusting.

"First off this isn't your average spider.....it lives in Africa."

WTF? Has NG gone mad? LOTS of spiders live in Africa what's so special about that? Whoever wrote this must've been high.

Anyway enjoy......XD

Mystery Fly

I have no idea what species this is.....or even if it's classified or named. All I know is that it's adorable. I certainly hope that this is a known species and that it's just really hard to find anything...

I'll be asking around. If anyone knows anything please don't hesitate to tell me. :)

Azalea Lace Bug Stephanitis pyrioides

While these things are kinda pretty they're evil.

They will utterly destroy your precious gardens.......

Some substantial info.

While I think I've see Sycamore lace bugs before I don't remember these. If I ever have a garden I hope I never see these.....

And here I thought that lace bugs were "nice" if you get my drift.

Celyphidae Beetle Flies

Beetle flies......that's right you heard me Beetle Flies are the most bizarre flies I've laid my eyes on so far even more then the Stalked Eyed Flies ( Diopsidae ). Perhaps it might have to do with the fact that I knew about these already.

Anyway I looked these up and I'm glad to report that this time we have some info. Wikipedia provides once again.

Praise the Lord :P

Celyphidae or beetle flies, beetle-backed flies is a family of insects of the order Diptera. About 90 species are known from the Oriental and Afrotropic biogeographic regions.

Celyphidae are small to medium-sized and easily recognised. The scutellum is enlarged, forming a protective shell over the abdomen, giving them a beetlelike appearance. Also, like many beetles, Celyphidae are often shiny or metallic in color.

The wings, when at rest, are folded beneath the scutellar “shell”.The biology of the family is poorly known. Adults are found in along streams and rivers, and in wet grassy areas. Larvae are saprophagous.

So there you go. I'm glad that one of these insects that I got of the site ( It's in Chinese ) has some info linked to it.

Of course there will be more showing up. Stay tuned.

Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

First question you're probably going to ask is is that real? Well yes it is. It's real. That is the Heart bug Sastragala esakii (에사키뿔노린재 in Korean ).

I've tried looking for some info on them but there doesn't seem to be any. :( I'll keep looking and if I find any thing I'll edit this post or make a new one.

I hope that everyone has a good one!

Clever tactics: Bush Crickets - Battle of the Animal Sexes - BBC

This is both disgusting and fascinating.

And I thought we were sneaky when it came to sex. XD

Tree Nymph Idea malabarica

Strikingly beautiful as both larvae and adult. What I wouldn't give to have these in my house. Wikipedia has lots of info. I'm going to look into the genius more and see if they're are any other species worth looking into.

Of course if Idea malabarica isn't the only species in the genius. And I certainly hope not!

Given what Wikipedia says....I don't think so:

Their flight is slow, weak and fluttery. They glide a lot giving members of this genus the other name of Paperkite.

Often gliding above the tree canopy but every now and then moving lower down in forest openings. They are unpalatable like other members of the Danainae.

Reading stuff like this about them gliding....I wonder what it's like to be a butterfly?......Just for 10 minutes I'd like to know.

But I'd like to know within the safety of my own house cause I don't want to be eaten! LOL!

I wonder what the caterpillar of this one looks like? Did some research and found that one. Also apparently all Idea sp. are more or less similar.

Interesting.......I wonder if they're more then what's mentioned on Wikipedia? *Goes a researching*

Australian Painted Lady Vanessa kershawi

This is beautiful. Looks alot like Vanessa cardui but V. cardui doesn't have the blue eyespots on the hindwings.

I wonder what the caterpillars look like? I'll have to look into that. But this is what Wikipedia has to say:

Vanessa kershawi, commonly known as the Australian Painted Lady, is a butterfly that is mostly confined to Australia, although westerly winds have dispersed it to islands east of Australia, including New Zealand.

During spring adult butterflies migrate south in large numbers from northern states of Queensland and New South Wales. In 1889, this migration was so large that trains were unable to generate sufficient traction because of the large numbers of butterflies resting on the tracks.

A major food plant is Ammobium alatum.

The rest of the info can be found here. Funny how all Vanessa sp. used to be under the genius name Cynthia and how both of these names are names of people.

I wonder how that came about? That's something else to look into. But for later.

NZ Red Admiral Vanessa gonerilla

This is absolutely drop dead gorgeous. I was researching various Nymphalid butterflies and I decided to look into various Vanessa sp. Let me tell you I have no idea how that happened. It just did. So I came across several and this is one of them.

You'll be seeing more I promise you. As I mentioned before I had the pleasure of raising Vanessa cardui for many years. I hope to do it again this year.

Idk we'll see. For now some info from Wikipedia:

Red Admirals occur most frequently during summer and may live for several months, they overwinter as adults so can be seen on warm winters days.

They are long lived, surviving up to 6 months in the summer, and perhaps 9 months for those who over-winter.

The adults feed on nectar from various plant species (native and introduced) and occasionally on seepage of sap.

The fact that they can live longer then monarchs ( monarchs can live up to 8 months ) is shocking. The fact that I believed my butterfly documentary saying that longest lived butterfly is the monarch is shocking.

I believed it for years without doing proper research. Unless of course the narrator was talking about the longest lived American butterfly ( even though monarchs are international )?

I'm rambling here but.....do you see my point? Anyway some more info:

It is difficult to distinguish between Red Admiral and Yellow Admiral caterpillars. Caterpillars on the Tree Nettle (Ongaonga) (Urtica ferox) are more likely to be Red Admirals than Yellow Admirals.

Looking at the 4th and 6th body segments, the Yellow Admiral has a wider light colored area than the Red Admiral.

When compared side by side it may be noted that the pupae of the Red Admiral tends to be thinner and longer than that Yellow Admiral, but otherwise they are very difficult to tell apart.

Well that must be nice for the people who want to raise them and can't tell them apart. XD

The rest of the info can be found here. Enjoy

Yellow Admiral Vanessa itea

I found some rather substantial info on these:

Clicky!
Wikipedia

Oh and of course there's this. A bunch of different Vanessa sp. I love this genius of Nymphalid butterflies. And I am proud to say that I have raised Vanessa cardui from caterpillars.

I want to do it again. Hopefully this year I'll be able to along with Luna moths.

Cute!

I love these things.

Illeis koebelei

Yes my friends, what you're seeing is indeed a yellow ladybug. Would I lie to you? I didn't think so. So without further ado I bring what I could find on this adorable beetle.

If I find anymore I'll be sure to post it. :)

Seasonal use of powdery mildews by the mycophagous ladybird, Illeis koebelei, was observed in Setagaya. In the field, I. koebelei shows seasonal changes in host use and breeds regularly on Microsphaera pulchra var. pulchra that infests Benthamidia florida, Oidium sp., that infests Pyracantha coccinea in spring, Phyllactinia moricola that infests Morus australis, and Sphaerotheca cucurbitae that infests Trichosanthes kllirowii var. japonica in autumn.

On these fungus species under laboratory conditions, larval development of the ladybird was completed (within 20 days at 24°C) with a high survival rate. Thus, the seasonal occurrence of I. koebelei may be synchronized with the abundance of essential fungi.

This study showed that I. koebelei feeds on 11 species of powdery mildews, including Sphaerotheca, Podosphaera, Microsphaera, Phyllactinia and Oidium. However, no species of the Uncinula, Uncinuliella and Erysiphe genera were suitable food for the ladybird.

While I don't understand half of it ( probably because it was translated from Japanese, more on that later ) what I could get from it is that it's a fungus feeding ladybug.

And a cute on at that. Now I could be evil and invade their privacy by showing you a pic of them "getting it on" but I'll save that for later......>:)

The site that I got the above info is here. Click on it and you'll see why I said I think it was translated from Japanese.

I'm going to browse that site and see what else they have on ladybugs.

Happy Groundhog Day! ^.^

Adelgids

I'm still looking into these things as I've never heard of them but there's quite a bit on them:

Adelgidae
Gall Adelgids
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid ( Adelges tsugae )
Balsam Woolly Adelgid ( Adelges piceae )

I'm still trying to find a decent picture of a "typical Adelgid" if there's such a thing as the things are apparently so tiny you can hardly see them in a decent picture.

This is interesting indeed. Enjoy educating yourselves. XD