Name That Bug? [Solved]

PolloDiablo

Ok, this feels stupid but I don't know what kind of bug this is. I've seen a couple inside, and I'm hoping it's not something that'll cause problems. So I chased one down and caught it in a bottle of water I was drinking, hoping to identify it. But other sites seem to expect me to know more than I do. I took pictures, but it's got six legs, looks to have two sets of wings. It's small, only like an inch long. It doesn't seem to be able to fly too well, but it moves pretty fast on foot. It can stand on the water in the bottle, but I don't know if that's tough for bugs or not. Can anyone tell me what this one is?

edit: I should add that I'm just north of Baltimore, Maryland, in the USA. It's the start of summer here.

NightDragon

You should try these guys:

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/

My mother and I have searched that site, and once or twice emailed them with a picture, and it's been great for identifying bugs (for those curious about such things) :P. I'm almost positive you could find an answer there.


[edit] also, be warned - some of the bugs on that site are absolutely horrifying.

Bendery It Like Beckham

looks almost like a Jerusalem cricket

PolloDiablo

NightDragon wrote: »

You should try these guys:

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/

My mother and I have searched that site, and once or twice emailed them with a picture, and it's been great for identifying bugs (for those curious about such things) :P. I'm almost positive you could find an answer there.


[edit] also, be warned - some of the bugs on that site are absolutely horrifying.

holy jesus buttfuck christ

I had never seen a brown recluse bite before, what the fuck.

Besides that, I'll check there too.

As for the cricket, that's what it looks kind of like to me too, but the wings and head don't quite fit.

bowen

It's a soldier beetle. An oddity to the beetle world, really.

I think that particular one is the margined soldier beetle.

NightDragon

Yep, Bowen's got it. "Margined Leatherwing Beetle"

From a quick Google search, it seems that they're harmless. They eat nectar/pollen, and other bugs.

bowen

Yup, most beetles have the plate like feature on the top part of their thorax, and an ~11-part segmented antennae.

PolloDiablo

Awesome, thanks. I'm impressed by your ability, I had never seen one of these before. I released it outside, but there's an apocolyptic thunderstorm at the moment, so maybe it hates me for it.

I also feel the need to point out that in a google search for "Margined Leatherwing Beetle wikipedia" the only wiki pages to show up are for Batman. This is truly an enlightened age.

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud

Sure it isn't a box elder beetle?


one on left

PolloDiablo

No, the wings are diffferent, and it's not as rounded in the middle. I'm pretty confident now it's a margined leatherwing beetle, or something visually indistinguishable from one.

bowen

http://bugguide.net/

I used that, because it's much easier to look through possible bugs, if you know what type of bug it is. Since I knew it was a beetle it was really easy to find it.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/63294

This is yours. They're very similar to lightning bugs, too, which are also part of the beetle family (the other reason I was able to locate them quickly).