The "What is this bug?" thread

davidpingu

Forager
Nov 3, 2012
132
1
Cwmbran
Thank you so much! It definitely looks the same when googling pictures. They live mostly underground by the seems of things so I feel quite lucky to have seen it.

Thanks very much for the ID :)
 

Harvestman

Bushcrafter through and through
May 11, 2007
8,656
26
55
Pontypool, Wales, Uk
Wood wasp (but not really a wasp at all), aka Horntail, aka a really big sawfly. Harmless. the long 'sting' is for drilling into wood to lay eggs. I would love to see one of these but never have.
 

Harvestman

Bushcrafter through and through
May 11, 2007
8,656
26
55
Pontypool, Wales, Uk
Its a bug. hemiptera. Not a clue ab#part from that, especially from this angle, though I doubt a different one would help me given my knowledge of bugs.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
Brushing the path at the back door and I moved the Winter doors mat that I'd had lying agin the wall to make a tidy job of it, and this huge spider ran out. We get a fair number of these around the garden, they seem to like behind things and inside sheds.

Spider

14294809369_a8029126ce_z.jpg



and in the same sweeping, I moved an edging brick and in among the usual dark grey slaters was one that looked exactly like all the rest except that it was a kind of toffee brown.


Wood Lice

14480168242_1eb3e7bcd9_z.jpg



What's the spider ? and is this normal for woodlice ?

Photos by HWMBLT :)

cheers,
M
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
HWMBLT was out watering the pots in the garden and stopped and came in to get a pair of tweezers and his camera. He'd found a bee on the honeysuckle that had an insect stuck to it's tongue. Both he and the bee had no joy removing the insect, and the bee was definitely trying, but the bee flew off before Himself managed to get the tweezers to it. He had thought he could maybe crush/kill the insect and free the bee's tongue that way.

Bee

14465811612_4db2b84578_z.jpg


Himself's just said that whatever the 'insect' was it kind of looked like a pupae :dunno:
Any ideas ?

cheers,
M
 
Last edited:

Harvestman

Bushcrafter through and through
May 11, 2007
8,656
26
55
Pontypool, Wales, Uk
Fun pictures Mary. I'm afraid no fun for the bee though, which looks like it has a mite on its tongue, which is nasty as it it will be piercing it to feed on the fluids. No wonder the bee was trying to get it off. The tweezers would have been appreciated. Like having a tick on your tongue that was so big you couldn't bring your tongue back into your mouth! :yikes:

As for the woodlouse, you do get odd colour forms now and then, especially in juveniles, which is what I think you have there, although I can't be sure from the picture.

The spider is a very pretty Tegenaria, not sure which species, a.k.a. common house spider. A bit of a paler brown than is common, but nothing untoward.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
Thanks Mike :)

The bee definitely was not happy about the thing stuck to it's tongue. It's not clear in the photo, but the tongue is kind of curled and it couldn't pull it back.

The two dark grey slaters are full size and the brown one was pretty near; it looks flatter in the photo but it was actually just as round as the grey ones.

Ah, I wondered about the spider; we get little ones in the house trying to set up behind things, but being a fussy pain about them I redd them out, I know we don't get anything near that size indoors; it's body/head was nearly 2cm long and with it's legs stretched out it seemed a great deal larger.

Thanks again,

cheers,
M
 

GGTBod

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 28, 2014
3,209
26
1
That does not look your regular Scottish spider, the insect with the bee could it be a parasitic mite?
 

Samon

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 24, 2011
3,970
45
Britannia!
I know what this little guy is but for the sake of contributing to those may not!..



Just to clarify, i released back outside under his log once I'd shown him to the family and let him dance onma big shiny knife for the camera! ;)
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE