Other Insects

I found this insect crawling on my car's fender after I had parked under an oak tree.  It's probably an Acorn Weevil of the genus Curculio, which uses it's long down-curved mouthpart to pierce acorns.  A single egg gets deposited inside of the hole, and the larva feeds there for up to a year before emerging as an adult.

Another day, another weevil on the car (this time on the glass)!  This is an Oak Leaf Rolling Weevil (Homoeolabus analis).  The females will lay an egg in the protection of a rolled up leaf.

This is a Diaprepes Root Weevil (Diaprepes abbreviatus), an invader from the Caribbean that is now a major pest of citrus trees in the U.S..  

This tiny fellow is a Varied Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus verbasci).  The adults only live a couple of weeks, but the larvae (that's one in the top picture) can take years to mature, and in the meantime eat fabrics and fibers.

This is a Green Mantisfly (Zeugomantispa minuta). 

This is a Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla rufilabris), a beneficial insect whose larvae eat aphids and other plant pests.  The adults are weak fliers that are mostly active only at night.

Here is an adult of another ladybug species, the Twice-Stabbed Lady Bug (Chilocorus stigma).  It's an insect with a name that's descriptively appropriate, if a bit violent.

Another indoor visitor: some type of Lobopoda beetle.

I noticed this insect on my taillight one afternoon.  It's Dicerca obscura, a type of jewel beetle.  While most jewel beetles have brilliant jewel-like coloration (thus the name), this species is more camouflaged.  Well, assuming they don't land on bright red taillights... 

This fearsome looking fellow is a Hardwood Stump Borer (Mallodon dasystomus).  I was gentle in handling him, and he seemed content to just crawl along my hand. 

This is a Rat-Tailed Maggot, which is the larval form of a Drone Fly (also known as a Bee Fly or a Hover Fly, one of the Eristalis species).  They use the long tube at the end of their abdomens to breathe surface air.  Their presence indicates bad water quality, which isn't surprising since we were having pump problems and the pond water was getting pretty stagnant.

This is an Asian Tiger Mosquito, Aedes albopictus, at the edge of our birdbath.  Their first U.S. sighting was in 1985, but they're now quite common all over the country. 

These are mosquito larvae of several different ages, probably from a Culex species.  These larvae are also known as "wrigglers" because of the way they twist and turn when disturbed.  They hang upside down at the surface, where they breathe air through the tip of their abdomens like the Rat-Tailed Maggot.  

This is a Crane Fly, probably a Tipula species.  They look like overgrown mosquitos, but are quite harmless (larvae are decomposers, and adults only live for a couple of days and probably don't even feed).  Some people mistakenly think they eat mosquitos and call them Mosquito Hawks. 

Some summers we've had an unusually large number of these Green June Beetles (Cotinis nitidis) in our yard.  The cats love playing with them.

Crawling on my left pinkie is a Rough Stink Bug (Brochymena arborea).  While most of the true bugs are garden pests, this particular one uses its long sucking mouthparts to attack caterpillars and other pests (perhaps even other stink bugs) and thus is actually a friend of the gardener.

This is the young of another predatory stink bug (Podisus placidus).  I love those bold markings! 

This is a Spined Green Stink Bug (Chinavia hilaris), another plant sucker.

Yet another stink bug: the Conchuela Bug (Chlorochroa ligata).

This is a Leaf Footed Bug, probably an immature Acanthocephala declivis. 

Leaf Footed Bug females lay eggs end-to-end in long strings.  Here a bunch of babies have just emerged from such a string.

This tiny fellow is the Common Picture-Winged Fly (Delphinia picta).  They are often mistaken for fruit flies, but they feed on decaying vegetation.

Here is an even tinier fly: a Bathroom Moth Fly (Clogmia albipunctata).  They're also called Drain Flies, because the sometimes inhabit plumbing. 

Here is a Yellow Bearded Robber Fly, Promachus fitchii.  They eat other insects, but can give a painful bite to humans if given a good reason.

Another Robber Fly, perhaps the same species...

At first I thought this was a wasp, until it landed and I could get a good look.  It's a type of Robber Fly called a Hanging Thief (Dogmites neoternatus), named because it steals prey from other predatory insects and then hangs by a leg or two while it feeds.

Here is another robber fly, of the genus Leptogaster (though I don't know the exact species).

One has to admire the leaf-like camouflage on the wings of this Lesser Angle-Winged Katydid (Microcentrum retinerve).  Katydids are the insects that you might hear making long loud buzzing sounds in bushes or tall grass.

Here is a Carolina Ground Cricket (Eunemobius carolinus).

This is a Ring-Legged Earwig Euborellia annulipes).  They are harmless, despite the fierce appearance of their pincers and false stories about them crawling into ears while people sleep.