The "What is this bug?" thread

[21st century pict]

oops sorry no image , nothing to see here

 

[21st century pict]

Polyommatus icarus
Common Blue , male on the left . 99% sure

 

[Harvestman]

Polyommatus icarus
Common Blue , male on the left . 99% sure

Spot on I think, although I'm not familiar with some of the less common ble varieties, but you need to see the underwings to be certain.

 

[British Red]

Pretty sure this is a stag beetle larva but would like a confirm please?

Stag Beetle Larva? by British Red, on Flickr

Grub from log by British Red, on Flickr

 

[Harvestman]

I'd have to google it to confirm. Looks plausible. Fine looking insect.

 

[JonathanD]

It is. My favourite beetle. Grubs taste good too.

 

[British Red]

What do they taste of Jon?

 

[JonathanD]

Wood pulp

 

[British Red]

Hmm I'll pass

 

[JonathanD]

You might like 'em if they were wrapped in bacon and a bit of Yorkie pud.

 

[British Red]

I probably would

 

[brancho]

I found this on a birch tree the other day any ideas. My first thought from a distance was a ladybird lava but I think not.

Unknown by alf.branch, on Flickr

 

[sandbender]

Three pics today...

The first of an innocuous looking hole in the ground, I wouldn't have given it a second glance but something moved back into the hole as I approached.

Crop the picture and up the fill light...

...theres a monster in there.

Unconnected to that first pair of pics, I found this trundling along the ground, she was huge! Maybe five or six centimeters across.

 

[Harvestman]

Okay, last picture is one of the big Lycosidae, usually referred to as Wolf Spiders because of their habit of chasing down their prey instead of using a web. I can't say which species that is, but it is a female with a ball of eggs. They don't get that big in the UK, so I suspect that this is a true Lycosa.

For the thing in the hole, I will speculate that it might be a mole cricket, as they are big insects and they sit in the mouth of a burrow to produce their calls, using the burrow as a sort of amplifier to project the call further. That's a guess though, as I can't see it well enough.

 

[dwardo]

Had several of these trying to escape the belltent as we packed away.

 

[sandbender]

"...For the thing in the hole, I will speculate that it might be a mole cricket, as they are big insects and they sit in the mouth of a burrow to produce their calls..."

Thanks. I just looked up 'mole cricket' on google image search, I was correct, it is a monster.

 

[Harvestman]

Had several of these trying to escape the belltent as we packed away.

Female Mitopus morio, a harvestman. In fact, the harvestman, in as much as it is the one that gave me the username. I was on a field trip, and students kept rushing up to me shouting "Mike! I found this spider!", It happened so often that my reply "It's not a spider, it's a harvestman" started coming out before I had even looked, and I became Harvestman.

 

[dwardo]

Thanks,

No idea why but this one looked different to all the other "eggs on legs" I see. Must not be looking hard enough

 

[Harvestman]

Thanks,

No idea why but this one looked different to all the other "eggs on legs" I see. Must not be looking hard enough

'Eggs on legs'! I love it. I'm going to use that one.

 

[Mesquite]

Am I right in thinking that this is an emperor hawk moth caterpillar?