mikrokozmoz

The microscopic alien worlds of insects, archnids, arthropods, parasites, worms, and other microscopic creatures. There is an entire universe below or feet!

[buggirl]

Sand spider palp wiggles

[eartharchives]

Male Termites Pair Up When Females Are Scarce

Homosexual termite pairs will raid nests of heterosexual couples.

[britsnana2]

8/27/16                              Platycryptus undatus   Adult female

Isn’t she the cutest!!!!

Class Arachnida (Arachnids) Order Araneae (Spiders) Infraorder Araneomorphae (True Spiders) No Taxon (Entelegynes ) Family Salticidae (Jumping Spiders) Genus Platycryptus Species undatus (Platycryptus undatus)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes See the World Spider Catalog.

Explanation of Names (De Geer, 1778)

Range Nova Scotia, Ontario and most of the eastern half of the United States as far west as Minnesota, Nebraska and Texas (Barnes 1958)

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

A green assassin bug (Zelus luridus) grabs a wasp off my moth sheet. Nummies!

[bugkingdom]

Good morning, little bug. 🐛

[invertophiles]

Trombidiformes are fine ‘plush toy’ mites. Free living as adults and parasites in earlier stages. Actually, even more complex than this.

Dandendong Ranges, Victoria, Australia

[deactivated-blog]

Cantao ocellatus (female) 角盾蝽 (雌) by YoyoFreelance on Flickr.

[studying-bugs]

Hope you all are doing well! This is a plume moth which can be identified by the family’s unique “T” shape. I had to look this cutie up since this was not a family covered in my class, which goes to show you can’t learn everything in a class.

[eartharchives]

More assassins on the radar: As many as 24 new species of assassin bugs described

As many as 24 assassin bugs new to science were discovered by Dr. Guanyang Zhang and his team. In their article, published in the open access Biodiversity Data Journal, they describe the new insects along with treating another 47 assassin bugs in the same genus.

There are some 7000 described species of assassin bugs, insects that prey upon other small creatures.

[buggirl]

“Found this spider on the side of my house in Eastern Washington. Could you tell me what it is? :)”- yayforwaffles

This looks like a male western lynx spider to me, Oxyopes scalaris, here is an example on bugguide.

[buggirl]

“found this climbing on my face :/ ive never seen before and was wondering if you could id it?” chupacabra

This is a checkered beetle, Enoclerus sp.   Here is an example on bugguide.  These beetles are velvet ant mimics. 

[buggirl]

“Hi! Sorry for the blurry picture, would you have a guess at which species this is? :)”- barrlov

Hi this is a species of cob web spider in the family Theridiidae- the same family that includes the widows and false widows.  Specifically, I believe this is a candy-striped spider in the genus Enoplognatha.   Very lovely 

[buggirl]

”this massive guy was on the sidewalk outside of my office (stuck on his back, we flipped him over). curious as to what he is! located in southern NJ. thanks!”-interstellaralligator

This is a male reddish-brown stag beetle, Lucanus sp.   Cool sighting!

[buggirl]

“Hi! Sorry for the blurry picture, would you have a guess at which species this is? :)”- barrlov

Hi this is a species of cob web spider in the family Theridiidae- the same family that includes the widows and false widows.  Specifically, I believe this is a candy-striped spider in the genus Enoplognatha.   Very lovely 

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Tiny longhorned beetle (Urgleptes querci) that snuck inside the office I was working in (along with 5 bazillion gypsy moths).

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Tiny longhorned beetle (Urgleptes querci) that snuck inside the office I was working in (along with 5 bazillion gypsy moths).

[britsnana2]

Class Insecta (Insects) Order Neuroptera (Antlions, Owlflies, Lacewings, Mantidflies and Allies) Suborder Hemerobiiformia (Lacewings, Mantidflies and Allies) Family Chrysopidae (Green Lacewings) No Taxon Debris-Carrying Larvae Remarks It seems that the trash carried by these larvae confers some protection against predatory lady beetles. Leucochrysa is an example of a genus with trash-carrying larvae. See Also Green Lacewings for general information on this family.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/937072