#black webspinner

[plushiedergen18]

A post showing off some of my favorite less known insects!!

Earwig; Webspinner

Green Lacewing; Antlion/Antlion Lacewing

Damselfly; Cranefly/Mosquito Hawk

Drain/Moth Fly; Hoverfly

Silverfish; Boxelder Bug

[jenfoundabug]

Oligotoma nigra, or black webspinner Northern California These interesting insects spend the vast majority of their lives living in networks of tunnels made out of silk. The silk protects the webspinners and their eggs and allows them to store food. They like to build their nests under things such as rocks or logs, which offer extra protection from the elements and predators.

Only the adult males have wings. After their final molt (incomplete metamorphosis), the males stop eating. They fly away, and die soon after (hopefully) finding a mate. Strangely, they still have mouthparts, but only use them to hold the female during mating.

[onenicebugperday]

@spitbites submitted: A friend of mine found this little buggie in their house in South central Arizona. It kinda resembles a silverfish or something similar to an earwig. My guess is it's still in its larval form. Any idea what it might be?

Ahhhh really cool find! Not sure I've ever had one submitted before. It's a webspinner, which is a type of bug in a not-very-well-known order of insects, Embioptera. Let's zoom for full enjoyment:

Oohhhhhhhh nice! They're called webspinners because they have silk glands in their front legs. I'm guessing this is an adult female black webspinner - only adult males have wings :)

[sandpaperoctopi]

little guy I found on my leg

[onenicebugperday]

@theraphos submitted: This silly little fairy tried to sneak a sip of my chocolate orange tea and fell in! Scooped it out into a spoon and put it on the counter; I figured it was probably dead, but after a long while I saw wiggling and put the spoon outside now that the lil dude is conscious. Any idea who it was, besides a tea fan? (Central TX)

Ah, cool find! Looks like a webspinner. Here's a clearer photo:

Cute :) Photo by danjohnson

They are MUCH smaller than they appear in close photos so they're definitely not easy to photograph! Example:

Small :) Photo by ctoum