bugfacts

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the term "phasmid," meaning "stick insect," comes from a latin word meaning "apparition" or "phantom," due to the creatures' ability to hide in plain sight, and then move around and scare people.

the largest phasmids likely remain undiscovered; the longest insect known to science was a phasmid from a species that remains formally unnamed and undescribed, even since being captured for the first time in china in 2014.

a female specimen of the quasi-mythical australian species of gargantuan stick insect was sought by a curator of museum victoria for three years before he encountered one, also in 2014. upon realizing what it was, he says, “I started screaming."

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Video by me and Ainsley Seago trying to explain the important work insect taxonomists do

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Caenochrysis doriae, a member of the cuckoo wasps

May 29, 2025

Southeastern Pennsylvania

Cuckoo wasps rarely stay still for me, but this one was very intent on whatever was in that crevice.

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Scorpion-tailed spider, Arachnura simoni, Araneidae

Found in New Caledonia

Photos 1-4 by adurbano and 5-8 by damienbr

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It's the season!! Leafcutter season!!

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lets roll up with mama

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quickie 030

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Saw plenty of my favorite dipteran family today, bee flies! They mimic bumblebees, but are actually flies. This one is Bombylius major, an important nest parasite of solitary Andrena bees. They help control other insect populations, but are also crucial pollinators for native wildflowers.

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Pacific velvet ant, Dasymutilla aureola, Mutillidae

Velvet ants are a type of wasp; females are wingless and can deliver a powerful sting.

Photographed in California by brianjdykstranativebeesociety

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アメリカシロヒトリ

Fall webworm

2021.7.7

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Pulchriphyllium giganteum molting timelapse, recorded on December 14th!

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The leopard lacewing, a species of heliconiine butterfly found from India to southern China (southern Yunnan), and Indochina.

Tucson Botanical Gardens, Arizona

Feb. 2019

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Freshly peeled Charlie Lonnit

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Daily Dose of Lepidoptera

[Day 16]

-Emperor Gum Moth-

Opodiphthera eucalypti

-Purple-Bordered Gold Moth-

Idaea muricata

-December Moth-

Poecilocampa populi

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Rosy woodlouse, Androniscus dentiger, Trichoniscidae

Photographed in France by bvcruz