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

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    ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    This thread is fun. It makes me want to go pokemon-style hunting for photos of weird bugs nearby.

    So, two things-

    One, I've been lax on this thread, but @Fiendishrabbit has been doing good work, and deserves accolades.

    Two, if you do go out, Pokemon-style hunting, use the app iNaturalist! It uses AI and community sourced identification to help you figure out what that bug is!

    Simply take a picture of a bug you've found, and upload it to the app with location information, and it will start suggesting possible identifications!

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    VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    How does it feel to have your entire education supplanted by a single free app?

    Ok it does fish too I’m on board this is terrific

    VishNub on
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    FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    VishNub wrote: »
    How does it feel to have your entire education supplanted by a single free app?

    Ok it does fish too I’m on board this is terrific

    Eh. It's crowdsourced. Which means that it's only good as long as there are people with that education supplying it with information. Besides, only if you have the knowledge will you know if the app is providing you with false information.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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    VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    VishNub wrote: »
    How does it feel to have your entire education supplanted by a single free app?

    Ok it does fish too I’m on board this is terrific

    Eh. It's crowdsourced. Which means that it's only good as long as there are people with that education supplying it with information. Besides, only if you have the knowledge will you know if the app is providing you with false information.

    I’m mostly kidding. But it’s 4/4 on pics I checked, so... good starting point at least

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    BetsuniBetsuni UM-R60L Talisker IVRegistered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Arch wrote: »
    This thread is fun. It makes me want to go pokemon-style hunting for photos of weird bugs nearby.

    So, two things-

    One, I've been lax on this thread, but Fiendishrabbit has been doing good work, and deserves accolades.

    Two, if you do go out, Pokemon-style hunting, use the app iNaturalist! It uses AI and community sourced identification to help you figure out what that bug is!

    Simply take a picture of a bug you've found, and upload it to the app with location information, and it will start suggesting possible identifications!

    I have been lurking this thread and wanted to say thank you for this app. Will download it immediately.

    I have had some bugs I wanted to post pics of but just can't get a good photo yet. Not that this app will help, but installed it in case I need it and can't get to this forum thread.

    Edit: Also some of the bugs in this thread creep me out. Which prevents me from remembering why I came to the thread in the first place.

    Betsuni on
    oosik_betsuni.png
    Steam: betsuni7
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    FryFry Registered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    Two, if you do go out, Pokemon-style hunting, use the app iNaturalist! It uses AI and community sourced identification to help you figure out what that bug is!
    Every observation can contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed.

    On first read I thought that said "bloodthirsty science" which is probably a different app

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    ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    VishNub wrote: »
    How does it feel to have your entire education supplanted by a single free app?

    Ok it does fish too I’m on board this is terrific

    I'd feel worse if they didn't make their API scrapable, thus allowing for the download of tons of data on biodiversity that I can funnel into research projects later.....

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    ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    You can tell that it's not a Golden orb weaver due to the zig zag pattern in the web. They're very similar, but of the two only the writing spider makes that web pattern.

    You know how else you can tell it's just some cheap garden spider?

    Because while Golden [silk] orb weavers look similar, their webs are literally yellow, and they can actually vary the pigmentation to either tantalize prey or camoflage it from predators! It's pretty damned cool. They're also the oldest genus of spiders (>100 million years), and their webs can help repair nerve tissue.

    (Let's see you try that one, Charlotte.)

    In North America, they go by Nephila clavipse: the only latin bug name I know by heart, because they are my favorite non-jumping spider.

    Probably would be my favorite overall, were it possible for a jumping spider to completely obstruct a doorway.

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    bwaniebwanie Posting into the void Registered User regular
    There's several Argiope species that make golden webs as well.

    I've walked through Argiope Lobata webs and they are amazingly strong. You actually feel the tension on your leg before it snaps.

    Plus it's a very pretty golden color.

    Yh6tI4T.jpg
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    ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    bwanie wrote: »
    There's several Argiope species that make golden webs as well.

    I've walked through Argiope Lobata webs and they are amazingly strong. You actually feel the tension on your leg before it snaps.

    Plus it's a very pretty golden color.

    Huh, I hope whoever named them felt pretty silly when yellow-webbed agriopes were discovered.

    I find the best way to know for sure is to hang on to a web sample until I come across a pair of severed nerve fibers I can try to tie together.

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    38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    @Arch Thanks for sharing that app! I have been observing all sorts of plants and insects that I see frequently but aren't interesting enough to post here. Learning what they are is a lot of fun.

    38thDoE on steam
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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    I found a an interesting brown bug in my house. Hm. That's weird. It kinda acts like a cockroach. But it is small and brown. Nahhhh, couldn't be.

    Then I looked it up: it's a German cockroach. Now I'm finding the fuckers everywhere in my house.

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    E.CoyoteE.Coyote Registered User regular
    Call an exterminator, you really don't want to wait on dealing with them.

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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    yep, they're coming tomorrow morning.

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    E.Coyote wrote: »
    Call an exterminator, you really don't want to wait on dealing with them.

    You definitely don't want them to get dug in, but I will not cede the satisfaction of exerminating these little fuckers to a third party.

    They will live quite happily in recesses you wouldn't imagine. Like the hollow space inside the door of your dishwasher. Sneaking out to feed on nights when it is left open, and hermetically sealed away from any existential threats when it is closed.

    ArbitraryDescriptor on
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    H3KnucklesH3Knuckles But we decide which is right and which is an illusion.Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Speaking of small brown insects. I live in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the suburbs. Last night I found a medium-brown thing in my bathroom that looked like a cricket, as best I could tell. It disappeared in the time it took me to find my smartphone and get back to the room, so no picture.

    I'm not great at guessing sizes, but I'd say it's body was between 15-20 mm in length, it had very fine antenna that were at least as long as it's body that pointed forward and only gradually curved away from each other to either side. The reason I think it was some kind of cricket is because it had the characteristic long rearmost pair of legs with large powerful thighs. The rear legs extended well past the end of the abdomen, unlike most pictures I can find online, but I don't know if that's just because of the stance it was in, or if it wasn't full-grown, or what. It also seemed to have a lighter band along the edge of the wings (though in retrospect maybe that was just a lighter abdomen not fully covered by the wings).

    Are there any variety of cricket likely to be in my area that you wouldn't want loose in the house? Is there a chance it was something worse?

    H3Knuckles on
    If you're curious about my icon; it's an update of the early Lego Castle theme's "Black Falcons" faction.
    camo_sig2-400.png
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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    Camel cricket? They love dark places like homes and can grow rather large.

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    Could it be a camel cricket?

    38thDoE on steam
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    H3KnucklesH3Knuckles But we decide which is right and which is an illusion.Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Maybe? The one I saw didn't seem to have the mottled coloring the one in this picture has, but I didn't get a look at it that close. Also, it's body wasn't much longer than a US penny at most, but the proportions are right though.
    4cv181tbsf5p.jpg
    [pic not mine, just uploading a quick image search result for reference]

    Edit: I should also note, I only saw it from a top-down view, so I can't say for sure whether it had the hunched back of a camel cricket. It didn't appear to, but as in the photo I found and posted, some seem fairly subtle.

    H3Knuckles on
    If you're curious about my icon; it's an update of the early Lego Castle theme's "Black Falcons" faction.
    camo_sig2-400.png
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    FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    There are a hundred different species of camel crickets, varying in size from 10-13mm to up to 40mm..with a ton of different patterns. Everything from desert camo to dark brown to coal black.

    What they have in common though are that they're voracious (eating everything that's organic, including wood, fabrics, houseplants and each other). Considering that you haven't heard any chirping it's most likely not another type of cricket, so call an exterminator.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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    H3KnucklesH3Knuckles But we decide which is right and which is an illusion.Registered User regular
    There are a hundred different species of camel crickets, varying in size from 10-13mm to up to 40mm..with a ton of different patterns. Everything from desert camo to dark brown to coal black.

    What they have in common though are that they're voracious (eating everything that's organic, including wood, fabrics, houseplants and each other). Considering that you haven't heard any chirping it's most likely not another type of cricket, so call an exterminator.

    Well, shit. Thanks for the heads up.

    If you're curious about my icon; it's an update of the early Lego Castle theme's "Black Falcons" faction.
    camo_sig2-400.png
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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    Good news! I misidentified the roaches, they're actually wood roaches which are quite common in New England forests and quite harmless. I guess they look like German roaches, but the key difference is that they're not afraid of light and prefer to live outdoors.

    So from now on, I'll just give them a ride back outside when I find one.

    (Of course, I still need the exterminator's help with my Carpenter Ant problem. >_<)

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    H3Knuckles wrote: »
    There are a hundred different species of camel crickets, varying in size from 10-13mm to up to 40mm..with a ton of different patterns. Everything from desert camo to dark brown to coal black.

    What they have in common though are that they're voracious (eating everything that's organic, including wood, fabrics, houseplants and each other). Considering that you haven't heard any chirping it's most likely not another type of cricket, so call an exterminator.

    Well, shit. Thanks for the heads up.

    Mind you, they prefer to eat plants and fungus. But if they get hungry they might take excursions out of your basement (or some other cold and damp place) to eat on furniture and houseplants.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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    davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    Did my wife find a cockroach at work this morning?

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    VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    Yep

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    mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    Think I saw a bald face hornet in my backyard this morning. Was a solo fella who was mostly black with basically one of those white skull masks on

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    ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    mts wrote: »
    Think I saw a bald face hornet in my backyard this morning. Was a solo fella who was mostly black with basically one of those white skull masks on

    Truly, the most metal of hornets.

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    JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    edited August 2018
    mts wrote: »
    Think I saw a bald face hornet in my backyard this morning. Was a solo fella who was mostly black with basically one of those white skull masks on

    No, the one with the skull face is an Atlas. The Hornet is one of those little pod-shaped ones with no arms.

    Jedoc on
    GDdCWMm.jpg
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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    Well, the exterminator's baits are clearly working though it's creepy to see carpenter ants scrabbling all around like they're having a hallucinogenic fit.

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    RaziyaRaziya An Scrub VermontRegistered User regular
    czqf6jvvepgo.jpg

    I'm sorry I'm a noob to posting here. Hope I got the picture right.

    One of the cats is having a diarrhea explosion in the basement so I was down here cleaning up so much poop when I found this bug insideb one of the piles of poop. I don't *think* it came from the cat because it looks more like a caterpillar to me but I still have never seen it before. I'm in VT if that helps.

    156594_03fef74545a6b3c8.png
    Current obsession: Overwatch Battle.net: Raziya#1552
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    E.CoyoteE.Coyote Registered User regular
    Maggot pupa? Not sure on scale.

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    ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    She said it was maybe an inch long, a bit big for maggot pupa I think?

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
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    RaziyaRaziya An Scrub VermontRegistered User regular
    It was moving and it has little feet under it. Didn't look like a pupa. It is about an inch long.

    156594_03fef74545a6b3c8.png
    Current obsession: Overwatch Battle.net: Raziya#1552
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    FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    I'm fairly sure that's a distinct head, something which Maggot pupa don't have.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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    FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    I mean, it could be a black soldier fly pupa (because they like poop, they're the right colour and have the right bristles), but it looks too long, narrow and I could swear that that thing at the bottom is a chitinous head.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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    RaziyaRaziya An Scrub VermontRegistered User regular
    I mean, it could be a black soldier fly pupa (because they like poop, they're the right colour and have the right bristles), but it looks too long, narrow and I could swear that that thing at the bottom is a chitinous head.

    I have BSFL for my bearded dragon. I've never seen one pupate, but my larvae are so tiny, at least twice as small as this. Would it help to get a better picture? I kept it.

    156594_03fef74545a6b3c8.png
    Current obsession: Overwatch Battle.net: Raziya#1552
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    FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    Raziya wrote: »
    I mean, it could be a black soldier fly pupa (because they like poop, they're the right colour and have the right bristles), but it looks too long, narrow and I could swear that that thing at the bottom is a chitinous head.

    I have BSFL for my bearded dragon. I've never seen one pupate, but my larvae are so tiny, at least twice as small as this. Would it help to get a better picture? I kept it.

    Hmm. A closer image on the legs and head would be nice.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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    RaziyaRaziya An Scrub VermontRegistered User regular
    hpuud7y19c4c.jpg8t6geousjsc2.jpg

    I took a picture of its bottom, and another of the top.

    156594_03fef74545a6b3c8.png
    Current obsession: Overwatch Battle.net: Raziya#1552
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    FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    Those are some amazing colourshifts.
    But that's definitely some sort of caterpillar, because if those aren't 3 pairs of true legs and 4 pairs of prolegs then I'm a bearded bot fly.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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    Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular
    I'm sure it's just because of the size and clarity of the photos but I have to say that thing is a hideous nightmarish monster.

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