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

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Posts

  • RaziyaRaziya An Scrub VermontRegistered 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.

    Thank you :) I thought it was a caterpillar but just the place I saw it got me concerned. I appreciate your help!

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    Current obsession: Overwatch Battle.net: Raziya#1552
  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    Anyway. Most likely a moth or butterfly caterpillar based on the head structure and the presence and number of prolegs (4 prolegs is almost exclusive to butterflies/moths). I can't tell you which species it is though.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    More specifically, it looks like some kind of caterpillar tried to become a pupae, and failed. You can tell because the exoskeleton has started to tan and darken (although that also happens after death), but more importantly all of the segments have retracted and also ballooned out. The head capsule is retracted into the body, and the prolegs are also retracted. The final set of legs is most telling in this diagnoses.

    This happens sometimes either through disease, endocrine disruption, or just because.

    Anyway, probably not related to cat poop.

  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    Could this one be the same species (I don't know which species that one is either, but it popped up while I was searching)?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnKzfvtCo10
    If it was in the process of pupating it would explain why the bands have darkened.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • WiseManTobesWiseManTobes 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.

    Also kind of just looks like a poop

    Steam! Battlenet:Wisemantobes#1508
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Saw a new friend climbing up my front door. Apologies for shoddy camera work, maybe don't watch if you get motion sick from shaky camera :/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgsrcHGZ37E

    Not used to big antennae(?) like that on a caterpillar.

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    Good news! Malcom Fitzcarraldo has emerged from the chrysalis and is on his way to Mexico!

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  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    Saw a new friend climbing up my front door. Apologies for shoddy camera work, maybe don't watch if you get motion sick from shaky camera :/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgsrcHGZ37E

    Not used to big antennae(?) like that on a caterpillar.

    Anisota peigleri, yellowstriped oakworm, I think. The horns and stripes are a good giveaway. It's found all the way from Virginia/Kentucky and down to Florida. One of the common late season caterpillars it will later become a lovely moth that looks kinda lika a fuzzy brown autumn leaf.

    The orangestriped oakworm is very similar (but with slightly more orange bands). The adult moth is more red-orange, and has a range that is similar to Peigleri, but stretches all the way to canada.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • NorgothNorgoth cardiffRegistered User regular
    Can we do arachnids in here?

    Anyone know what this kind of spider is? It’s that largest spider by far I’ve seen in the UK.

  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Norgoth wrote: »
    Can we do arachnids in here?

    Anyone know what this kind of spider is? It’s that largest spider by far I’ve seen in the UK.

    Giant House spider. A very common UK spider and one of the biggest on the british islands. The zig-zaggy pattern on the abdomen, club-like pedipalps and the relatively long legs are a dead givaway.

    Fiendishrabbit on
    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Norgoth wrote: »
    Can we do arachnids in here?

    Anyone know what this kind of spider is? It’s that largest spider by far I’ve seen in the UK.

    Pretty sure we do all kinds of creepy crawly here, regardless of how many legs they got.

    From the hair on the legs and stripes on the back, I'm thinking some kind of wolf spider, but with over 2000 species that doesn't narrow it down much.
    And coming from a non professional creepy crawlogist there's a better than even chance that I'm wrong.

  • m!ttensm!ttens he/himRegistered User regular
    This is kind of a different request: do any of you bug folk have any textbooks or websites with good anatomical line drawings of insects, particularly bees? I'm looking to make a relief print art project for my nursery and need a good reference point to start from.

  • SeñorAmorSeñorAmor !!! Registered User regular
    9uggkts6gjlw.jpg

    What exactly are these bugs? They look like fruit flies, but they seem to only be interested in the bread on my counter (in a sealed bag; ignoring any other food that may be out, including fruit) and also seem to congregate in my bathrooms.

    They've been persistent in my new house for about a month now. I've cleaned the shit out of my counters and cupboards and they just don't go away. They're about the size of half a grain of rice and typically reddish in color (the white bugs are red, just illuminated by lights in my bathroom where I took the picture).

    Thanks in advance.

  • SeñorAmorSeñorAmor !!! Registered User regular
    This should really be in the official bug identification thread (which at this very moment is right at the first page of threads), but it looks like some kind of fermentation fly (that it likes your bathroom also points to this). Not all fruit fly relatives are that attracted to fruit.

    My suggestion if you want to get rid of it. Clean your drains, and use the strong stuff. You need something which murderizes organic material. Most likely you have some sort of fermenting fungus in your drains that it (and its larvae) absolutely loves.

    What would you suggest?

  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    SeñorAmor wrote: »
    This should really be in the official bug identification thread (which at this very moment is right at the first page of threads), but it looks like some kind of fermentation fly (that it likes your bathroom also points to this). Not all fruit fly relatives are that attracted to fruit.

    My suggestion if you want to get rid of it. Clean your drains, and use the strong stuff. You need something which murderizes organic material. Most likely you have some sort of fermenting fungus in your drains that it (and its larvae) absolutely loves.

    What would you suggest?

    As I suggested in the other thread. I think these are fruit fly relatives and the best way to get rid of them is to:

    a. Clean your drains. Start by a few litres of hot water, then physicly clean any part of the drain you can get access to. Then add some kind of drain cleaner that will eat organic matter. Most are probably enzyme based these days. Repeat this every few days for two weeks. This ensures that you'll get any flies regardless of their life cycle.
    b. To get rid of adult flies. A small glass of vinegar, mix in honey and a few drops of dishwashing liquid, mix it around and leave it on a counter (the soap will ensure that they'll drown). That will reduce the adult fly population and you should see dozens of flies in the glass the next morning. If the vinegar/honey mix doesn't attract them, then my theory is wrong.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • KoregKoreg Registered User regular
    To get rid of those flies, I'd also recommend beer in a shallow bowl.

    The little flies love beer.

    If, if Reagan played disco He'd shoot it to shit You can't disco in Jackboots
  • 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
    edited September 2018
    Manischewitz plus a couple drops of diluted dish sop always worked great for me. You only need enough to wreck the surface tension in whatever dish you're using, in my experience the more there is in there the less likely they are to want to get close enough to it to land.

    We once had some and I couldn't find the source of the problem till we had a small cloud of them in the kitchen. It turned out it was a banana we'd somehow lost track of, and now bananas are banned from the apartment because of how many wine-and-dead-fly-filled bowls I had to dump for the next week and a half.

    Oh yeah, replace the dish about once a day and keep doing it till you don't get any more. I spent much of my molecular bio undergrad in a fruit fly lab. I also learned that if you put some in the freezer for about two minutes they'll go to sleep long enough for you to identify what you have and separate out what you want for breeding. Then they slowly wake up and start flying around in the new container.

    ceres on
    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Any idea what might be hatching from this demon shell? Seems very dry and empty, have not opened yet. It was stuck to my wooden fence. About 1.75" x 0.75" x 0.75"

    In the suburbs of Chicago.

    ugeg6fbcok2i.jpg
    a6sjvkif185c.jpg

    MichaelLC on
  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Oh, weird. On my phone it looks like the only things likely to emerge from that are roots or a stem.

    So, some kind of spun cocoon/sac, 2" long ? I want to guess some kind of moth, but it seems really big.

    Was it attached as though by the current resident (dangling, single attachment point), or secured in place as though by a third party (plastered/webbed)?

    ArbitraryDescriptor on
  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Yeah there's a lot of grass stuck to it, but it's definitely fauna of some sort.

    Yes, about 2" long, completely attached to the fence from the 'clean' white edge that shown in the second photo. Left a residue on the fence so really stuck on there.

    I've seen a few different kinds of butterflies around, smaller moths, a bunch of decent size spiders - for the Midwest - and some beetles. Also have a pretty healthy population of cicadas.

    MichaelLC on
  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    I think it's a Polyphemous moth that failed to hatch. It's the right size, shape, colour and range for a Polyphemous moth, but they have usually hatched by now.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Hmm, looks pretty good. Who's a big fella? Are you? Yes you are!
    9diwrkeho9wx.jpg

    Thanks!

    MichaelLC on
  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    I think it's a Polyphemous moth that failed to hatch. It's the right size, shape, colour and range for a Polyphemous moth, but they have usually hatched by now.

    Apparently it would feel like there's a marble in it, if all were well.

    https://www.whatsthatbug.com/2016/09/05/cocoon-luna-moth-polyphemus-moth/

  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    I have no bug info to add, but I wanted to say that this thread is one of my favorite things on the internet. It's always interesting and usually funny. Thanks to everyone for making my mornings better.

    http://www.fingmonkey.com/
    Comics, Games, Booze
  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    I've read up on the Polyphemus moth...and it's a winter cocoon. While many moths/butterflies survive winter as eggs, the Polyphemus goes into diapause (sort of similar to hibernation) in the pupae stage. Apparently summer cocoons tend to be wrapped in leaves.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • SeñorAmorSeñorAmor !!! Registered User regular
    b. To get rid of adult flies. A small glass of vinegar, mix in honey and a few drops of dishwashing liquid, mix it around and leave it on a counter (the soap will ensure that they'll drown). That will reduce the adult fly population and you should see dozens of flies in the glass the next morning. If the vinegar/honey mix doesn't attract them, then my theory is wrong.

    Ok, so I did this twice yesterday -- once with a deep bowl and once with a shallow bowl. Both times the bugs almost immediately swarmed to the bowl and walked around the rim but didn't actually go in the liquid. There must have been a dozen bugs in the area and walking around the rim but none in the bowl. When I woke up this morning, there were still bugs everywhere around the bowl and only 3 inside.

    Did I do something wrong perhaps?

  • 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
    Use a sweet red wine. It's the best way. Just put it out in a dish with a drop or two of dilute dish soap, just enough enough that if you look at an angle you can watch it spread across the surface and meet the sides.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • SeñorAmorSeñorAmor !!! Registered User regular
    How deep should the bowl be (and how much liquid should I put in)? Do I fill the thing up? I switched between a deep and a shallow bowl yesterday after I saw the bugs mocking me by sitting on the rim and not actually going into the bowl. I put more liquid into the shallow bowl but it didn't seem to have much effect.

  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    I've either done the flipped soda bottle where you cut a plastic bottle in half then flip it over so the funnel is pointing in, or just wrapped some plastic wrap over a cup and poked holes in it.

    Need to force them into the trap.

  • FiendishrabbitFiendishrabbit Registered User regular
    Not really. Forcing things into a trap is stuff you need to do with more intelligent insects. Flies are just stupid as hell and almost entirely controlled by scent.

    I've never tried with a bowl. I've always used a drinking with about a half a cup of vinegar, a big dollop of honey and just a two drops of dishwashing liquid, then stirring it for a few minutes.

    "The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
    -Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    https://us.v-cdn.net/5018289/uploads/editor/0p/mffs99rz6h1z.jpg
    https://us.v-cdn.net/5018289/uploads/editor/nd/0ewncra8zll9.jpg
    https://us.v-cdn.net/5018289/uploads/editor/5n/9ay76r8sa47h.jpg

    Just linking these because if I resize them it'll be even harder to see this tiny thing.

    So I'm sitting outside and this thing tries repeatedly to fly directly into my eye, even after I blew him away a few feet. Is this just a fruit fly? It was alone and wanted to crawl all over me. I found its white butt and interest in my eye too concerning after a bit, so he is no longer, sadly.

  • 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
    If that's a fruit fly I think it might be pretty messed up. I've never seen a fruit fly with a white body like that.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • H3KnucklesH3Knuckles But we decide which is right and which is an illusion.Registered User regular
    Let us know if you become a zombie, Iruka.

    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
  • RendRend Registered User regular
    I feel like it's important to clarify, if you become a zombie let us know BY POSTING ON THE INTERNET. An in person visit is not required for this particular occult- I mean occasion.

  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    ceres wrote: »
    If that's a fruit fly I think it might be pretty messed up. I've never seen a fruit fly with a white body like that.

    Could be yellow

    camo_sig.png
  • SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' Canuck Registered User regular
    Looks far too white to be a yellow. I found a few pictures of albino flies in a search and they looked like that, but none of albino fruit flies in particular, so ???

    Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    The butt was pretty white and large. The rest of the fly was a dark yellow-ish.

    Ceres made me consider it might have been a fungus though: https://phys.org/news/2017-12-fungus-fruit-flies-hosting-spores.html

    It was very small and I didn't see any black stripes on its butt, but maybe?

  • H3KnucklesH3Knuckles But we decide which is right and which is an illusion.Registered User regular
    That only makes it more probable we're reading about patient zero.

    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
  • 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
    An article listed down the page:

    Fungus uses zombie female beetles to infect males

    That shit scares me more than most things.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • Inquisitor77Inquisitor77 2 x Penny Arcade Fight Club Champion A fixed point in space and timeRegistered User regular
    ceres wrote: »
    An article listed down the page:

    Fungus uses zombie female beetles to infect males

    That shit scares me more than most things.

    There's a whole fungus-takes-over-bugs thing that was the genesis for how zombies work in The Last of Us, too.

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