The "What is this bug?" thread

[brancho]

Many thanks for clearing up the mystery for me
I searched for the Synanthedon hylaiformis, but it threw up no further info? but I did find Synanthedon scoliaeformis, which is, apparently called the the 'welsh clearwing' looks identical to the one I saw. I must admit to having a love for moths, but have never seen one of those before.

It doesnt help that I mixed up two names it should say Synanthedon tipuliformis

https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/synanthedon-tipuliformis

 

[snappingturtle]

Moth!! found this hawk moth? fluttering about at work kind of freaked the cleaner, Ari is polish not sure they have them there

 

[beachlover]

Moth!! found this hawk moth? fluttering about at work kind of freaked the cleaner, Ari is polish not sure they have them there

@snappingturtle - Poplar hawk moth (Laothoe Populii)

 

[Paul_B]

A rather disgusting matter that being a bugphobe I probably don't want to know the answer.

At a place I sometimes visit and stay at I found something that looks bug related in the soft furnishings of furniture. It was dead or the remnants of something bug like. About a cm long, one straight the other curved. It was crunchy in that touching them they broke up very easily. Not sure if several examples or part of the same thing.

They were brown with a very thin, lighter colour at what looked like segments. Best description is that they looked like a small millipede outside that is a tube without a space for legs to come out. It looked kind of hollow segments inside.

Now I think it's possibly a growth shell or a pupal stage outer. Or something else. I don't know if it's a bug or something else but it seems bug related to me.

I'm hoping someone knows but I have a problem with bugs so I will have problems to look out up if someone knows what it is. I really want to know in case it's something that is an infestation bug needing eradication in a house as I'll have to let someone know about it. Then never go back until fully treated.

So any ideas??

 

[Ecoman]

While repairing a dishwasher in a customers house today and crawling around on her floor, I saw a spider crawling up my forearm, nothing unusual there in my job. I knocked it off so I could study it closer. I didn't recognise it as a species I had seen before, so I popped it in a container to get a second opinion. I took it to our local NTS rangers, who went through all their spider ID guides with no success. We have deducted that it may be a non native species and they are having an expert have a look at it. The customer has visited the USA last year and Catalonia earlier this year so its a possibility that it has hitched a ride over in her luggage.

Anyway, before jumping to conclusions, I would like to find out if anyone can identify it on here. The spider is totally gloss black with no other markings. It is the same colour all over. There are some small dimples on its abdomen. The silk it span in the container almost resembled the web of a daddy long legs spider, messy and unpatterned. Overall it was about 15mm long (no bigger than a 20p piece).

 

[mousey]

False widow spider?

right shape, size and web pattern. But apparently they usually have more markings, and I'd have thought it'd be a bit cold up there for them to survive?

 

[Keith_Beef]

Moth!! found this hawk moth? fluttering about at work kind of freaked the cleaner, Ari is polish not sure they have them there

Laothoe populi is know in Poland as "Nastrosz topolowiec", meaning "Poplar moth", like its English name. A lot of people have lepidopterophobia (fear of moths and butterflies), maybe your Ari is one of them.

 

[brancho]

While repairing a dishwasher in a customers house today and crawling around on her floor, I saw a spider crawling up my forearm, nothing unusual there in my job. I knocked it off so I could study it closer. I didn't recognise it as a species I had seen before, so I popped it in a container to get a second opinion. I took it to our local NTS rangers, who went through all their spider ID guides with no success. We have deducted that it may be a non native species and they are having an expert have a look at it. The customer has visited the USA last year and Catalonia earlier this year so its a possibility that it has hitched a ride over in her luggage.

Anyway, before jumping to conclusions, I would like to find out if anyone can identify it on here. The spider is totally gloss black with no other markings. It is the same colour all over. There are some small dimples on its abdomen. The silk it span in the container almost resembled the web of a daddy long legs spider, messy and unpatterned. Overall it was about 15mm long (no bigger than a 20p piece).

False widow spider?

right shape, size and web pattern. But apparently they usually have more markings, and I'd have thought it'd be a bit cold up there for them to survive?

Not the right patterns and too dark but possible location according to my book for Steatoda bipunctata also the by length is 4-7mm
It could be Steatoda Grossa or Steatoda Nobilis though a dark form of Grossa is more likely for the location body length maybe 10mm needs miscopic examination of the genetalia to ID though.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Looking for help identifying what looks like a very, very small bee, about 3mm long.

I had these things in twos and threes inside the winter garden about ten days ago. This one stayed still for just about long enough for me to photograph it. I trapped them with a glass and a beermat and put them outside.

 

[Broch]

Looking for help identifying what looks like a very, very small bee, about 3mm long.

I had these things in twos and threes inside the winter garden about ten days ago. This one stayed still for just about long enough for me to photograph it. I trapped them with a glass and a beermat and put them outside.

It looks like a Ruby-tailed Wasp - Chrysis ingita - a type of cuckoo wasp. But they're usually a bit bigger than 3mm (8mm +) - however, there are many similar species.

 

[Keith_Beef]

It looks like a Ruby-tailed Wasp - Chrysis ingita - a type of cuckoo wasp. But they're usually a bit bigger than 3mm (8mm +) - however, there are many similar species.

Thanks, Broch. On another forum, somebody suggested Chrysis ruddii, very similar. It might have been a bit bigger, maybe 5mm, but not more than thay and my picture is quite bad. The little bugger wouldn't stay still for a good shot.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Another insect that has me puzzled. It buzzes around like a big bumblebee or bluebottle, but its mouthparts look more like those of a beetle or a wasp.

 

[Woody girl]

You say it is bee like? The black bee thought to be extinct is actually making a comeback in the British Isles. I googled black bee and tho there seem to be a couple of different kinds there and one picture that looked very similar. Still very rare though.

 

[nitrambur]

Looks like a carpenter bee

 

[mikehill]

I thought this may be a Flea Beetle but they won’t jump for me ?

 

[Keith_Beef]

You say it is bee like? The black bee thought to be extinct is actually making a comeback in the British Isles. I googled black bee and tho there seem to be a couple of different kinds there and one picture that looked very similar. Still very rare though.

Looks like a carpenter bee

Thanks, both; it looks like it is the violet carpenter bee, Xylocopa violacea.

I see these on four or five occasions each year.

I caught this one buzzing around in the winter garden, unable to find its way out: I put a drinking glass over it as it was bumping up against the window, slipped a beermat between it and the window to trap it, then put it in the fridge in the cold and dark to calm it down. When I put the beermat on the anvil outside and lifted the glass, I had about two minutes before it had warmed up enough to fly away.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I've been going through some old equipment; usually stuff that has broken or stopped working for some invisible reason and that I thought I would one day be able to get working again...

I came across an old digital camera that still had a memory card in it. On the card was this picture.

I'd already added the caption back in February 2010, so I had done a little research to try to identify the creature, but got no further than "Unidentified chelicerate".

Any ideas what it might be?

A little more Googling turned up some very similar chelicerata on a Wikipedia page.

 

[awarner]

Probably not much help but I found a list of British false scorpions, not had chance to look further.
http://britishspiders.org.uk/wiki2015/index.php?title=The_Checklist_of_British_False_Scorpions

 

[Keith_Beef]

Probably not much help but I found a list of British false scorpions, not had chance to look further.
http://britishspiders.org.uk/wiki2015/index.php?title=The_Checklist_of_British_False_Scorpions

Thanks.

It is probably a Cheiridium museorum (Leach, 1817), the common name is Book Scorpion.

 

[TeeDee]

Found this whilst out on a walk.

I mean , it was I that was out for a walk and not the other way around... just for clarification..

What is it?? The body I would say was easily the size of my Thumb. So a chunky little monkey.