Cheers mate, just found it.
Got the Collins Spider book, cracking guide. Must get the insect one. Their reptile and amphib book is good too. Hardly an errors at all. I have told them about those, but they ignored all my 1398 emails.
The "What is this bug?" thread
- Thread starter Harvestman
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Cheers mate, just found it.
Got the Collins Spider book, cracking guide. Must get the insect one. Their reptile and amphib book is good too. Hardly an errors at all. I have told them about those, but they ignored all my 1398 emails.
They have a 1400 email response threshold.
I thought everyone knew that?
The collins spider book by Roberts is good if you have a microscope, less so otherwise. The best field guide for the UK is A Guide to the Spiders of Britasin and Northern Europe, by Dick Jones, published by Hamlyn. it hs a few flaws, but is a photgraphic guide, and I recommend it if you can get hold of it. Has been out of print for years, but sometimes turns up on ebay. For insects, make sure you get the collins guide with pictures, not the one that is mainly text.
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More pictures from me
Six spot burnet moth
Large Skipper
Marbled White
Red Admiral
Honeybee
Merodon equestris, a bee-mimicking hoverfly
S St Marks fly, Bibio sp
Green tiger beetle
Sawfly, Tenthedro maculata
Six spot burnet moth
Large Skipper
Marbled White
Red Admiral
Honeybee
Merodon equestris, a bee-mimicking hoverfly
S St Marks fly, Bibio sp
Green tiger beetle
Sawfly, Tenthedro maculata
Not the best pic, Nice65, but a shiny black house spider at about that size is likely to be Steatoda bipunctata, one of the false widow spiders, but unlike some of the larger spiders in that group, harmless and unable to bite people. Most os the money spiders are black and shiny, but they aren't usually that large.
I'd like to see a pic that shows any markings that it might have though.
I'd like to see a pic that shows any markings that it might have though.
This one predates upon your one if memory serves... Rhyssa persuasoria unless I've misidentified it?
This one predates upon your one if memory serves... Rhyssa persuasoria unless I've misidentified it?
That is beautiful. I've never seen it. It certainly looks like Rhyssa persuasoria to me
My book says parasitic on horntail, Urocerus gigas, normally called the wood wasp.
Thanks for sharing.
I took it a while ago on my iPhone. I now have a nice Canon so will see if I can get a better pic. Cheers for that, I'll look it up.
Seriously? That's a real result.
The only proviso with Dick Jones' book is that he thinks that most british spiders can be identified to species by appearance alone. He is the only UK arachnologisit to think so. However, if you want a pretty fair idea (to genus, maybe to one of 2-3 species) the book is brilliant. Oh, and it doesn't cover money spiders (no pocket book could), and for one or two species (notably the common garden spider Araneus diadematus) he's managed to find a strange colour form (the garden spider he pictured is pink!) and publish that.
My copy is battered because I use it all the time when doing demos.
Was there more than 1 for sale?
Genius thread, just been able to now identify Araneus quadratus on one of my foxgloves.
Thank you.
This flew across the road in front of us in the Ardeche a couple of years ago - at first we thought it was a small bird it was so large, approx 4 to 5 inches wingtip to antennae.
There was the one paperback which i got and a couple of hardbacks starting around £32 i think.
Good luck.
I collected a male Roesel's Bush Cricket today. Another orthopteran I've never seen before today.
The damned thing is now sat next to me, in a container, and is calling.
I'm getting heckled by a cricket.
Not my pic.
Thats an amazing shot ...
One for Harvestman...
The leaf is interesting too - not exactly native but the pic was taken in Cumbria a fortnight ago.
The leaf is interesting too - not exactly native but the pic was taken in Cumbria a fortnight ago.
Ok, Adze, the spider is Araniella, no common name, either A. opisthographa or A. cucurbitina, but impossible to tell which without a microscope (and difficult even then), or one of two much rarer species not known from that far north.
The other thing is Grasshopperus giganticus, otherwise known as I haven't got a clue. I'll have a look and maybe make a guess later, but I've been studying UK Orthoptera for less than 2 weeks, and that isn't a UK species.
The other thing is Grasshopperus giganticus, otherwise known as I haven't got a clue. I'll have a look and maybe make a guess later, but I've been studying UK Orthoptera for less than 2 weeks, and that isn't a UK species.
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