Insect Picture of the Day

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AJ Reardon sends in this great picture of a “squishy worm” she photographed outside her apartment. Like me, AJ often has trouble identifying species, but will try to get as close as possible. She has narrowed this caterpillar down to some kind of “freaky larva thingie”. I just want to say that this is the best trial identification I have received to date.

AJ points out that this insect looks a bit like a hornworm, but that the coloration was unusual: this bug was nearly translucent. I wish I could have been there to watch the photography session; watching a bug’s innards squoosh and splurt around inside its skin as it crawls around would certainly have made me lean more towards “freaky larva thingie” myself.

Also, I apologize to any of you who read that last sentence while trying to eat breakfast. To you I offer this hopefully helpful question: What on earth are you doing reading InsectPOD over breakfast? You realize you’re doing this to yourself, right? Seriously, what is the matter with you?

But I digress. I did some research on this critter, and it does indeed look to be some kind of hornworm. Some hornworms can actually change coloration over their lifetime, though I do not know if it an actual change in skin coloration or the coloration of their foodplant showing through translucent skin. In addition to the horn at the back, the angled stripes along the body are typical of these caterpillars. I suspect that this critter will become a Sphynx Moth, Subfamily Sphinginae, and if AJ took this in North America then it can be further specialized to Tribe Sphingini. (I didn’t know the taxonomy tree had “tribes” before today, did you?)

Awesome photo, AJ! Thank you!

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Today’s butterfly is the third and final (for now) installment of the Alan Krause butterfly submissions. This may be another swallowtail like Monday’s.

It is notable that of Alan’s pictures, this one was not his favorite, nor mine… but it is still really outstanding. He really sent some amazing stuff.

As always, you can grab the larger image and use it as a wallpaper.

Thanks, Alan!

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Alan Krause says that yesterday’s photo is his favorite, but this one is my favorite of the three hands down. It is a picture of, as he puts it so eloquently, “a couple of butterflies getting busy on [his] wife’s shorts.”

I think these are buckeye butterflies, but that’s an entire genus of butterflies common to the Eastern U.S., and I don’t recognize the specific markings of this species, so I could be totally wrong. What a gorgeous shot; I love the coffee-creamer streaks in the wings around the spots. Be sure to check out the larger version of the image, where you can see the festive red-and-white coloration of their bodies and heads!

Another amazing shot, Alan. Thanks!

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This gorgeous butterfly photo comes to us from Alan Krause. Alan sent in three photos, and we’ll be looking at the others soon. He says this is his favorite of the three. This picture was taken in Callaway Gardens in Georgia, U.S.

I don’t know the species on this butterfly… do we have any takers for an ID? Don’t forget to grab the larger version, it looks gorgeous as a wallpaper.

Thanks, Alan!

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When I first started running insectpod, I was worried that we’d be overrun with pictures of Phidippus audax, one of the most common (and photogenic) spiders. Tiogshi Laj sends in our third look at Araneus diadematus, however, so it looks like the popularity contest is on!

Tiogshi actually sent in several pictures of this spider, the first of which was of her hanging in her web. Apparently the camera came too close, however, and she jumped out to scuttle away to freedom. I love how this spider’s coloration, quite striking when viewed hanging in free space, becomes very successful camouflage on an autumnal forest floor.

It is clear that the diademati are photogenic as well. I’m still more of a Phidippus man myself, but I’m open to other viewpoints. What do you like more, and why? Garden spiders, jumping spiders, or perhaps a different kind altogether?

(Note: I have several friends who would ask if they could vote for “dead” as their preferred spider type. For the sake of argument let’s confine ourselves to species; there’s no call for vitalist remarks like that.)

Well, it’s like this guys… I’m out of pictures. Don’t panic! InsectPOD is NOT shutting down, but I need to start rationing pictures until Spring.

You may have noticed that I have throttled back pictures to 5 days a week. I have lots of spider pictures, and that leaves me with 4 slots per week to fill. I’m getting about 3 submissions per week, and I have between 3 and 10 photos of my own left to publish. At this point all I can do is hope for an early thaw.

(Actually, I live in a drought-beset area of the U.S., so to be perfectly honest I’m thrilled that there’s snow on the ground right now.)

I promise this won’t happen again next year. I started InsectPOD in Autumn of last year, and really had no idea how early and hard Winter would hit. (Winter of 2006/7 came very late and left us early; see previous comment about drought.) As soon as I can get out there and get bug photos again, I will, and I’ll make sure I’ve got photo reserves. Before next Winter I also plan to make it a little easier for you folks to submit images to the site so we can build up a huge collection here.

So, here’s the plan: I am going to throttle back to 5 days a week in order to ration photos until Spring. I currently have about 10 guest submissions to run as well. If I get over 30, I’ll start running 7 days again. So, those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, InsectPOD needs you now more than ever!

Also! In the “Dave is a dummy” category, I have lost an e-mail from one of my readers. One of you, and you know who you are, and I hope you’re still reading InsectPOD, sent me an e-mail with links to over 30 images in a photoblog. I switched e-mail clients a couple of months ago and somewhere along the line, it decided to start trashing e-mails older than a given date. Ugh! If you’re still reading this, PLEASE send me those links again!

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This ladybug was cruising around the front yard at Howard and Sandra Tayler’s back in September. There were fully-grown ladybugs and a few larvae as well, so I wonder if some of them don’t overwinter like some caterpillars.

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Reader Tim Eisele sends in this crazy photograph. This a snowfly, a cold-blooded insect that actually lives part of its active life cycle wandering around in the snow! This is cold-adaptation at its finest–the snowflies actually come out to mate and lay eggs in the snow.

Related to craneflies, they have small halteres behind their wings like their cousins. This one doesn’t have wings; I don’t know if they lose them during part of their life cycle or if they just don’t have them at all. In which case, I have to wonder, why aren’t they called snowwalks?

Tim has written up an even better report on this critter, so I’ll just direct you to his own blog, somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com, which I am forced to admit is a way better blog name than insectpod.com. He’s also got a few more pictures of this snowfly. Check it out.

Thanks, Tim!

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We have reader Cornelius to thank again for another beautifully-composed shot of a hard-to-identify insect! I love this photo. I could have cropped it in really close to zoom in on the bug but I really like the layout and color contrast of this shot. In fact, if you’d like a gigantic version of it for wallpaper (or just for getting really close to that bug, you can click here).

I must appeal to our wiser readers for an identification on this bug. The wing coloration seems like it should indicate a solitary wasp. Wing coloration is often too broad for identification, however, and the shape of the abdomen and waist is more commonly found in social wasps.

So, I dunno. I know it’s a pretty one, and that’s about it. Thanks again, Cornelius!

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Quick! Anybody remember the hit dice on a carrion crawler?¹ Reader Matt Smith sends in this photo of caterpillar from Australia.

Well OF COURSE it’s from Australia. What IS IT about freaky animals and Australia? I mean, is there some weird genetic scrambling force down there? Or is there maybe some migration gene crosslinked with excessive mutation that says “Hey, we just grew tentacles; time to migrate down under.” Maybe Nature herself used it as a penal colony long before humans did. “Whoa, there, snakey. You have enough venom in your head to kill the Eastern Seaboard. Off to Australia, mate.” Or maybe it’s like an exclusive club with tight entrance requirements. I wonder if spiders get turned away on boats all the time down there. “Nar, mate, we already got six kinds that kill people. If you or any of your friends back in Chile can, say, burst into flames or shoot lasers out yer bum, come back and see us, hey?”

Thanks for this photo, Matt… it’s just amazing. I have no idea if those tentacles are dangerous but my money is on “yes”.

¹ 3+1 HD in AD&D; 3d8+4 (19hp) in 3.5 ruleset.