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Bug of the Day

Found this cool sap beetle feeding on moth bait last summer.

(Glischrochilus sanguinolentus)

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

TFW you take the dogs out to "do their business" and you find a new species, genus, and family of fly in your yard. Oh and did I mention it's freaking JANUARY so the bug pop is close to zero around here? Hooray for climate change? lol

Check out this cool af HAMMERHEAD FLY (probably Sphyracephala brevicornis). Admire it's bizarre eyestalks. Try to ignore that I boffed the photos a bit on this one - I am out of practice!

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

I am getting weird Gulliver's Travels vibes from this photo of a May/June beetle (Phyllophaga sp.) that turtled at the light last summer. If I had art skillz I would draw the ropes these flies are obviously using to keep the beetle tied down lol.

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Just going through some of my pitfall trap photos from the spring and realized I never posted a shot of this cool ground beetle that kept showing up, red-headed ground beetle (Amphasia interstitialis).

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Happy New Year everyone! May your 2024 be better than your 2023.

(The Angel, Olceclostera angelica)

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Funky coloring on this treehopper (Telemona sp. I think). From July 2023.

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

This funky dude is a reticulated beetle, Cupes capitatus. I think this shot is a good view of where the family gets its name - reticulated refers to the lattice-like pattern on the wing covers (technical entomonerd verbiage: "clathrate elytra"). But also, that shrunken nugget of a head is hilarious to me LOL.

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

I remember this night. This night was a good night.

(Polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus - there are at least 4 insect orders in this photo, can you spot them all?)

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Happy Fly Day Friday!! Please enjoy the excellent wing patterning on this tiny, non-biting midge, Psectrotanypus dyari.

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Man, these dusky birch sawflies (Nematus latitarsus) were going to town on the birch in the field we were in. Larval aggregations are impressive defoliators :-)

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Sometimes you wonder what the heck is eating that plant, and sometimes you flip a leaf over and WHUHLAH it is just really obvious :-).

(Four-lined Plant Bug, Poecilocapsus lineatus)

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

I love this shot of a stilt bug (Berytidae sp.) doing its thing on a purple-flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus). This is probably Jalysus wickhami, since they prefer to hang out on plants covered with glandular trichomes (gland-tipped hairs), but I am not sure I can id it to species.

Hope y'all have a Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate!

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

This neatly-colored firefly appears to be Pyractomena sp., not a genus I see too often. I did not get to see it light up but it was still pretty cool.

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

I always feel special when I find an Odonate at night. This damselfly came to a moth sheet back in July. Not sure what it is yet beyond something in the Coenagrionidae family.

Update: It's a sedge sprite!

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Found this large lace-border moth (Scopula limboundata) resting on a grass flower on the edge of a big field.

[coolbugs]

Hello I really like your bug photography and wanted to ask if it would be alright to use your photographs for art studies?

All of my photos are under a Creative Commons license, so have at it! I would be honored.

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Happy Fly Day Friday! Please enjoy this colorfully-eyed deer fly (Chrysops geminatus)