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Hey guys! I wanted to let you new followers/ bug enthusiasts know that this account is dead, but you can follow my (mostly active) Instagram account under the same name as this blog! Thanks!

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UPDATE - Moving to instagram

Hey! I greatly prefer instagram’s layout to tumblr’s, so i’m moving my bug documenting/ recording stuff over there. 

All my current posts will stay up, and i’ll reblog here now and then, but I won’t be making original posts here anymore.

https://www.instagram.com/salticibae/?r=sun1

[truespiderfactz]

Cyoot spider friend!

[arthro]

Chomp

[newshour]

What does it take to teach a bee to use tools? A little time, a good teacher and an enticing incentive. Read more here: http://to.pbs.org/2mpRUAz

Credit: O.J. Loukola et al., Science (2017)

[strangebiology]

A fireworm! (gif’d from vid)

[meatthrone-blog-deactivated2021]

The Onychophora forcefully squirt slime from their oral papillae; they do so either in defence against predators or to capture prey.

They prey on smaller animals such as insects, which they catch by squirting an adhesive mucus.

After a kill, the dominant female always feeds first, followed in turn by the other females, then males, then the young. Social hierarchy is established by a number of interactions: higher-ranking individuals will chase, bite, and crawl on top of their subordinates.

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Darwin (left) and Orestes (right)!

[coriandercoriander]

[dimetrodone]

Its not in the human range of hearing but this is what it sounds like.

[usgsbiml]

An eastern Osmia or Mason Bee….this is Osmia georgica.  Noted for the large projecting horns on its mandibles that likely help the female carry mud to her nest to make partitions.  A hole nester that will take up residence in holes if you drill them your front porch posts like I do.  Check out their distribution at:  http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?act=make_map.  Photos by Ashleigh Jacobs

All original pictures completely public domain and available at our Flickr site:https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/

Photography Information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY

Follow us on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/usgsbiml/

sam droege, public bee servant

[buggirl]

This was interesting.  One night we ran my moth light and hundreds of these Fulgorids showed up.  Quite large and quite beautiful.  Their wax butts remind me of a bird butt :)  No idea on the genus.   Lovely animals.  Tiputini (Yasuni national Park in the Amazon Basin) Ecuador. 

[buggirl]

An awesome example of ant mimicry- in this case, this spider in the family Corinnidae is a rather convincing mimic of a bullet ant right down to the way he moved. 

[ecuadorlife]

Giant Sphinx moth caterpillars, Pseudosphinx tetrio by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.flickr.com/andreaskay/albums

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holy moly Orestes sure is popular?? maybe i'll post my other spiderling, Darwin, in the morning

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cleaning out the spids, Orestes is so beautiful...

[arthro]

European Earwig Mamas Tending to Their Young Binomial name: Forficula auricularia

Some more earwigs were hiding under my flowerpots! Both of them were mothers. Did you know that earwigs care for their eggs by licking them? The licking keeps the eggs fungus free while also keeping them wet!

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A freshly hatched phyllium philippinicum! it's the only one so far out of 12 but i'm hopeful that more will emerge over the next few weeks

[drhoz]

#1212 - Miltogrammine Calliphorid - Satellite Fly

Cheryl Macaulay was watching a small drama unfold in her yard, where two Sphecid wasps were having a squabble - one had tried to pilfer a paralysed caterpillar, while the other was busy checking her burrow.

What they SHOULD have been doing is paying attention to the small blowfly that was following them around the yard, keep a very careful distance, like a satellite following its host planet.

Blowflies in the Miltogramminae subfamily are kleptoparasites of solitary bees and wasps - she’s waiting for an opportunity to drop a live maggot into the burrow dug by the wasp, where it will then dig down to the paralysed caterpillar, pollen and nectar, or whatever else the target has prepared. Many calliphorids bear live young, but this was the first time I’d come across the term ‘larviposit’. Nice.

I have seen a Satellite Fly once myself - it was lurking a few centimeters away from the burrow of a small solitary wasp - the wasp was NOT pleased when she climbed back out and spotted her there.

Australia has 6 genera of Satellite Fly, but I’m unwilling to ID further that subfamily. Worldwide, there’s a much wider variety, including species where the fly is small enough that they can share the food supply with the target species, without necessarily starving it to death. That could well be the case with some of our locals, but I don’t have references for it.

Perth, Western Australia