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The Official Bug Identification Thread Starring Arch, Bugboy, and Fiendishrabbit

davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty MeatshieldPanhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
edited August 2018 in Help / Advice Forum
Hey @Arch and/or @BugBoy , my daughter almost ran herself into this creature and I don’t know it’s name. It’s always easier to calm her scared reaction when I know as much about something as I can do call upon the PA hive mind for assistance.

YNpyUwO.jpg

And more pictures of both sides because it was on my sliding door! https://imgur.com/a/AHCxHLl

Thanks!

ceres on
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Posts

  • BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    It’s a leaf-footed Bug, maybe the Western Conifer Seed Bug in particular. They’re plant feeders, and they pretty frequently wander inside houses looking for warmth.

    They scared me when I was a kid too! Kind of weird looking, but they’re happy to just hang around and eat plants.

  • davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    It was still on the outside of my impenetrableholey screen door.

    Thanks for the info!

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    God BugBoy, do some actual work like the rest of us* so that I can practice IDing things!**

    *hahaha

    **stop stealing my thunder

  • BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    I can do IDs and dissect large quantities of insect genital capsules! I can do everything!

    (I’m pretty sure you’ve beaten me to the punch the last few times)

  • Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular
    Alright then, here's another round for @BugBoy and @Arch !

    These tiny little guys are all over the wood borders to the path in our front yard, and have recently been observed on our wooden front porch. I couldn't get a good photo with my phone as they're too tiny to focus on but the video turned out well.

    It looks like the biggest ones, which are probably no more than a millimeter, are white, but there are even tinier ones that are yellowish.

    We live in Oregon, near Portland. Preliminary searching tells me wood mites or springtails and insists they're harmless. That'd be fine, though there are zillions of them and so they kind of give me the jibblies. Just want to make sure it's not some kind of termite or other yard-and-home-destroying critter.

  • Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular
    Further investigation has led me to think it's ash whitefly, which apparently is only bad in that they're annoying in the way they swarm all over your stuff.

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    This sounds like a job for Encarsia inaron! Now you just need to find and import some.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    New bug flew up to me while I was working in the back yard. Sounded like a regular bumble bee so I wasn’t too concerned until my wife said it looked like a big wasp and then it landed on my arm. Yay. My wife was kind enough to swipe it off me in my paralyzed in fear state. Then she snapped some pics!
    cCHsv6F.jpg

    hkXqcld.jpg

    1py9wCp.jpg

    @Arch @BugBoy is this an Eastern-Eyed Click Beetle that our googling said is super common in our area but we’ve honestly never seen in our 70 combined years living here?

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    Okay alright fine I give we can make this the official bug identification thread

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    now everyone can see what the buzz is all about!

    eh!

    eh?!

  • So It GoesSo It Goes We keep moving...Registered User regular
    Ok what's this one!

  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    Structurally it looks a lot likea bush cricket nymph to me (with those long antennae and well-developed rear legs), but I've never seen a bush cricket with those kind of colours.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    ceres wrote: »
    Okay alright fine I give we can make this the official bug identification thread

    I see my petition for a forum name change to "Help: Arthropods!" did not garner enough support in the House of Mods.

    Curses.

    ArbitraryDescriptor on
  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    ceres wrote: »
    Okay alright fine I give we can make this the official bug identification thread

    I see my petition for a forum name change to "Help: Arthropods!" did not garner enough support in the House of Mods.

    Curses.

    I'm sure it is on the lips of anyone finding themselves walking through tall plant life with shorts on.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    ceres wrote: »
    Okay alright fine I give we can make this the official bug identification thread

    Seeing the thread title change was a small delight

    Much like insects!

  • E.CoyoteE.Coyote Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    Xaquin wrote: »
    now everyone can see what the buzz is all about!

    eh!

    eh?!

    Agreed, not having an official post was bugging me. ^.^

    E.Coyote on
  • So It GoesSo It Goes We keep moving...Registered User regular
    Structurally it looks a lot likea bush cricket nymph to me (with those long antennae and well-developed rear legs), but I've never seen a bush cricket with those kind of colours.

    It was really pretty! I thought it might be a mantis at first.

    I'm in the Pacific Northwest if that helps.

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    It's not a mantis- it's the nymph (baby) of some True bug (hemiptera). I can poke around and get a better id in a bit, but juveniles are pretty tough for me.

    EDIT it might be a juvenile cricket, I may have lied.

    Arch on
  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    It's not a mantis- it's the nymph (baby) of some True bug (hemiptera). I can poke around and get a better id in a bit, but juveniles are pretty tough for me.

    EDIT it might be a juvenile cricket, I may have lied.

    keep that up and you are gonna get bumped from the thread title

    camo_sig.png
  • So It GoesSo It Goes We keep moving...Registered User regular
    It does look crickety!

    If you click thru to Instagram that post has another couple angles

    Definitely a baby as it was v smol (that's a single hydrangea flower it's on)

  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    It IS a little bush cricket (or katydids as they're called in the US).
    Probably a Scudderia Furcata (or fork-tailed bush katydid).
    080707ny.jpg

    Fiendishrabbit on
    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • So It GoesSo It Goes We keep moving...Registered User regular
    Aw yeah katydids are weird and cool

  • RingoRingo He/Him a distinct lack of substanceRegistered User regular
    So It Goes wrote: »
    Aw yeah katydids are weird and cool

    Take one cricket, set all sliders to "long"

    Sterica wrote: »
    I know my last visit to my grandpa on his deathbed was to find out how the whole Nazi werewolf thing turned out.
    Edcrab's Exigency RPG
  • Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular
    So, what's a kind of ground-nesting bee or wasp or hornet that is not aggressive?

    We've got a dry, grassless dirt-patch in our yard that is riddled with very small holes, and these really little bee-looking insects go in-and-out and fly really rapidly around the ground there. If we run our sprinkler and their area gets wet they get really riled up.

    They've made me very nervous because they are similar to yellow jackets, but are clearly not. I've encountered and been stung by yellow jackets before and these guys are smaller and more frenzied in their movements. I've tried to get pictures but it's tough - I might have to catch one to do so. Their abdomens are striped, again like yellow jackets.

    They've got me all in a twist because my boys run and play all over the yard and I don't want them to be stung. On the other hand, if these things are aggressive at all it's some kind of miracle that no one has ever been stung despite repeatedly stomping directly over their nest-holes, which is what's causing me to think that these guys don't or can't sting.

    Again, I'm in Oregon, near Portland. Any ideas without photos?

  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
  • Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular
    edited June 2018

    Yeah, I found that page and kind of struck out. It's tough because the images don't give a very good idea of scale, and then the pages that are linked to really don't give a whole lot of information.

    Edit: Round two poking through those entries and I'm tending towards some kind of sweat bee. Still kind of surprised that no one has been stung yet with how often we've literally walked over their nests.

    Drake Chambers on
  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular

    Yeah, I found that page and kind of struck out. It's tough because the images don't give a very good idea of scale, and then the pages that are linked to really don't give a whole lot of information.

    Edit: Round two poking through those entries and I'm tending towards some kind of sweat bee. Still kind of surprised that no one has been stung yet with how often we've literally walked over their nests.

    Oh, I meant like, the stinger is narrow like this one, the head is more like that; to help the bug pros classify it.

    But if they're shiny green that's probably a solid clue.

    (Florida apparently has five kinds of sweat bee? Yeah that checks out.)

  • Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular

    Yeah, I found that page and kind of struck out. It's tough because the images don't give a very good idea of scale, and then the pages that are linked to really don't give a whole lot of information.

    Edit: Round two poking through those entries and I'm tending towards some kind of sweat bee. Still kind of surprised that no one has been stung yet with how often we've literally walked over their nests.

    Oh, I meant like, the stinger is narrow like this one, the head is more like that; to help the bug pros classify it.

    But if they're shiny green that's probably a solid clue.

    (Florida apparently has five kinds of sweat bee? Yeah that checks out.)

    It's the shiny green that's throwing me off - I haven't noticed that with my bugs, but they're very small and fast-moving so it's tough to tell.

  • BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    There are lots different kinds of ground nesting bees and wasps and I can’t say for sure without photos, but your description reminds me of the Sand Wasps, aka Bembicini. They nest like you’ve described, look a lot like yellowjackets, and are very fast flyers. They tend to be on the larger side, but there are some small ones too.

    At any rate, ground-nesting wasps can sting but like you’ve noticed, aren’t aggressive. I’d avoid going barefoot near their nests just in case someone steps on one by mistake, but other than that they shouldn’t be an issue.

  • bwaniebwanie Posting into the void Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    Yellowjackets aren't really aggressive its just they percieve themselves to be king of shit mountain and expect the world to comply.

    When we don't is when things get out of hand.

    bwanie on
    Yh6tI4T.jpg
  • Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular
    Here are a few not-great pictures. I especially like the third one because you can just see that the hole one guy is moving towards is already occupied, a little bee/wasp face peeking out.
    ufsigjehyc9s.jpg
    9wfgam47zbrr.jpg
    m7k4rrku20np.jpg

    As I knelt down and took these pictures, the activity level on the ground decreased significantly. It was just before dusk so I couldn't tell if everyone was just going into their holes for bedtime or if they were actually fleeing my presence. The other thing I noticed, which was fascinating and unsettling at the same time, was that when I got right down close to the ground I could hear buzzing from all around, presumably from the little guys vibrating in their holes.

    I'm becoming somewhat fond of them.

  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    Here are a few not-great pictures. I especially like the third one because you can just see that the hole one guy is moving towards is already occupied, a little bee/wasp face peeking out.
    ufsigjehyc9s.jpg
    9wfgam47zbrr.jpg
    m7k4rrku20np.jpg

    As I knelt down and took these pictures, the activity level on the ground decreased significantly. It was just before dusk so I couldn't tell if everyone was just going into their holes for bedtime or if they were actually fleeing my presence. The other thing I noticed, which was fascinating and unsettling at the same time, was that when I got right down close to the ground I could hear buzzing from all around, presumably from the little guys vibrating in their holes.

    I'm becoming somewhat fond of them.

    Are these 1-hole / wasp, as opposed to a communal hive?

  • Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular
    Here are a few not-great pictures. I especially like the third one because you can just see that the hole one guy is moving towards is already occupied, a little bee/wasp face peeking out.
    ufsigjehyc9s.jpg
    9wfgam47zbrr.jpg
    m7k4rrku20np.jpg

    As I knelt down and took these pictures, the activity level on the ground decreased significantly. It was just before dusk so I couldn't tell if everyone was just going into their holes for bedtime or if they were actually fleeing my presence. The other thing I noticed, which was fascinating and unsettling at the same time, was that when I got right down close to the ground I could hear buzzing from all around, presumably from the little guys vibrating in their holes.

    I'm becoming somewhat fond of them.

    Are these 1-hole / wasp, as opposed to a communal hive?
    I think so. Obviously I can't tell if it's all connected underground, but I get the impression that each wasp has its own hole, as from what I could see the holes are shallow enough that I could generally see if one was occupied or not.

  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    Oxybelus are "prong-backed flyhunters" in the square head (crabonidae) family of digger wasps (except its maybe not a proper family? Idk, it got weird up there)

    https://bugguide.net/node/view/191019/bgpage

    http://www.bwars.com/wasp/crabronidae/crabroninae/oxybelus-uniglumis

    Oxybelus uniglumis? (Or something pretty in the genetic vicinity thereof)

    - Four thin, broken white stripes on stinger. (Five in the pics I'm seeing from the side, but the fifth might not be visible from above)

    - Antennae that qualify as "cute"

    - Nest in individual holes in sand.

    Apparently many classification identifiers are in the wings, so try telling them that if could just fan them nicely and hold still for a second, then maybe you would quit bothering them.

    ArbitraryDescriptor on
  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    If they're anything like their paper wasp cousins, they can be tamed. They nest by heavily trafficed entryways, and I only had to break out the poison gas on two nests in several years because one decided to show off and stung me on the neck while carrying my infant child.

    Bad move, bug. (Or basically anything I'm legally allowed to kill)

    As far as stings/bites go, it was pretty unimpressive. Worse than a mosquito, not as bad as a horsefly or fire ant, and no real after effect.

  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    Oxybelus are "prong-backed flyhunters" in the square head (crabonidae) family of digger wasps (except its maybe not a proper family? Idk, it got weird up there)

    https://bugguide.net/node/view/191019/bgpage

    http://www.bwars.com/wasp/crabronidae/crabroninae/oxybelus-uniglumis

    Oxybelus uniglumis? (Or something pretty in the genetic vicinity thereof)

    - Four thin, broken white stripes on stinger. (Five in the pics I'm seeing from the side, but the fifth might not be visible from above)

    - Antennae that qualify as "cute"

    - Nest in individual holes in sand.

    Apparently many classification identifiers are in the wings, so try telling them that if could just fan them nicely and hold still for a second, then maybe you would quit bothering them.

    They don't really look the same to me, the stripes are pretty muted and they don't have the little curvy-forward antennae.

    They make me think of my leafcutter friends though. If I let them do what they're doing they don't bother me.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • bwaniebwanie Posting into the void Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    bwanie wrote: »
    Yellowjackets aren't really aggressive its just they percieve themselves to be king of shit mountain and expect the world to comply.

    When we don't is when things get out of hand.

    In fact they remind me of those middle management mafia bosses extorting the little guys.

    "You have-a plenty, i only need a little bit eh?

    Why you gotta make this into a problem, huh now i gotta sting you!

    You know i don't want to, but if thats how you want play this... "

    *stings you in the eyelid three times*

    bwanie on
    Yh6tI4T.jpg
  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    edited June 2018
    ceres wrote: »
    Oxybelus are "prong-backed flyhunters" in the square head (crabonidae) family of digger wasps (except its maybe not a proper family? Idk, it got weird up there)

    https://bugguide.net/node/view/191019/bgpage

    http://www.bwars.com/wasp/crabronidae/crabroninae/oxybelus-uniglumis

    Oxybelus uniglumis? (Or something pretty in the genetic vicinity thereof)

    - Four thin, broken white stripes on stinger. (Five in the pics I'm seeing from the side, but the fifth might not be visible from above)

    - Antennae that qualify as "cute"

    - Nest in individual holes in sand.

    Apparently many classification identifiers are in the wings, so try telling them that if could just fan them nicely and hold still for a second, then maybe you would quit bothering them.

    They don't really look the same to me, the stripes are pretty muted and they don't have the little curvy-forward antennae.

    They make me think of my leafcutter friends though. If I let them do what they're doing they don't bother me.

    On another look, the antennae might be too long to be those guys, and the stinger looks less pointed from top-down.

    It's hard to tell if they're fuzzy, or if that's a focus artifact, so I assumed "blurry, not fuzzy"

    There were some close matches on the fuzzier side, like these Mining bees:

    https://bugguide.net/node/view/866263
    https://bugguide.net/node/view/273789

    But they look too fluffy, so, ?

    If fuzzy can't be determined: Do they seem to be pollinators, or hate-fueled devourers of living flesh?

    (You could try digging up a hole to see if there's a bug carcass in it; but you may get a face full of formerly peace-loving bees if there's a colony down there)

    ArbitraryDescriptor on
  • BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    I agree, they look like some sort of bee

    Also, i feel compelled to say that ground-nesting wasps pollinate too, because the adults feed on nectar.

    Yes, sometimes also the blood of their prey, but mostly nectar. Such kind and sweet creatures.

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