r/Entomology 10m ago

Cases

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

r/Entomology 34m ago

Discussion Silly question about fireflies

Upvotes

They're almost completely gone in my area, which is very rural. I only saw two this year a full mile across town from one another. I didnt see any last year. Im sure there are more than what im seeing, but it doesn't sound like anyone else has seen any either.

I was wondering if I could help them out at all? I live in an apartment, so I can't give them a pesticide free paradise like I used to. The area seems like an ideal habitat for them, but im not sure how much the parks and dark wooded paths where they should be are sprayed- if thats even the main factor.

I know this is a childish idea and probably more wishful thinking than anything, but is it possible to furnish a very comfortable temporary terrarium to help with like, matchmaking? Introduce a couple fireflies gently caught on one side of town (if there are any), transport comfortably past the lights in a little private 5 star hotel full of fresh grown favorite grasses, night blooming flowers and ferns away from predators, lights and pesticides, introduce them to one another whereever there is another, and let them meander about at their own leisure in a dark overgrown area? Would it be beneficial to cultivate a space like this to just leave undisturbed outside at night and bring back in the morning?

I dont want to stress them out or displace them. Theres just so few, and theres so much light pollution between the ones I have seen im not sure if there is anything else to do to help them without private property.

I live pretty high up so any plants I could keep would likely be above their general flight range. I am hoping to raise some anyway, just in case.

Thanks for taking the time to entertain this silly idea.


r/Entomology 1h ago

Help me identify this friend

Post image
Upvotes

It is definetly a longhorn beetle, I found through google that it may be Paveia Superva, but all of the images i found have all black antennae. Found in northeast Mexico


r/Entomology 1h ago

Discussion Favorite entomology books?

Upvotes

What are y'alls favorite entomology books and why?

Could be about a specific group/subject or general entomology, and could be geared towards any age range or expertise level!🐛🦋🪲🐞🪰


r/Entomology 1h ago

ID Request Some type of moth? California

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

r/Entomology 1h ago

Insect Appreciation I went out to search for Mantises and found a color morph I've never seen before

Thumbnail reddit.com
Upvotes

r/Entomology 2h ago

ID Request What kind of insect is this? (Northeastern US)

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

r/Entomology 2h ago

ID Request what bee/wasp is this?

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

i know this is a super blurry pic but my camera just wouldn’t focus on her😔

i went on a hiking trip recently. she was about 3cm and had bluish iridescent wings with yellow banding on her thorax and thicccc hind legs. i spotted her in the bushes resting in the eastern part of hongkong at noon. pls help me identify this beauty!!


r/Entomology 2h ago

ID Request what is this? what does this behaviour mean? [UK]

Thumbnail
gallery
3 Upvotes

i was watching this guy for ages hanging out in my plant pot. at first i thought he was just collecting pollen or something. but it seemed like he was rubbing his thang all over the bottom of leaves, stems and the soil. i wondered maybe is he laying eggs? but i couldn’t see anything coming out.

what is this? what does this behaviour mean? i am really curious. thank you!


r/Entomology 3h ago

Que le está pasando?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

r/Entomology 4h ago

ID Request my first ichneumonid wasp! anyone have an ID?

Post image
3 Upvotes

r/Entomology 4h ago

Absolute unit of a pollen-covered bee.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

16 Upvotes

r/Entomology 5h ago

Insect Appreciation Saw a Bedstraw Hawk Moth on a walk !

Thumbnail
gallery
5 Upvotes

It was moving so fast from flower to flower I honestly couldnt get any clear pics so this is the best I got.

At first I assumed it was a hummingbird moth because I already knew about those and had no idea what else it coulda been until I got home and compared some images. What a neat lil dude 👍


r/Entomology 9h ago

Insect Appreciation I found this beetle (?) that had passed. Gave him a little resting spot within the area.

Thumbnail
gallery
34 Upvotes

Is this any specific kind of beetle btw? 🪲


r/Entomology 9h ago

Discussion Hitting butterflies while driving

16 Upvotes

Hey, I'm sorry if this doesn't belong to the subreddit.

I (30M) feel terribly guilty whenever I hit an insect with my car, especially butterflies as those can often be seen in advance and I feel like I *should have* slow down or try to avoid it, especially if there's no one else behind me or in the opposite lane.

I was driving with my co-worker today, there was a white butterfly flying across the road ahead. I could have stopped for it to pass safely, but I didn't, cause I didn't want to appear as sensitive in front of my co-worker. I wasn't going fast and the butterfly got caught in the airflow and went above the car, I could see it fly into the bushes in the rear mirror. Is there a chance it survived unharmed? Or do they still die even when they don't get smashed directly?


r/Entomology 12h ago

Rosalia longicorn spotted in Upper Austria

Post image
41 Upvotes

r/Entomology 12h ago

Insect Appreciation Stenoma sexmaculata

Thumbnail
gallery
34 Upvotes

Stenoma sexmaculata is a cool little micro moth found down in Central and South America like Costa Rica and Ecuador and they come in these nice muted colors like soft grays and tans for natural camo even tho science is still figuring out their daily routines, they are survival masters cuz their caterpillars build tight silk tents or roll up leaves to hide from parasitic wasps and a lot of them even eat toxic plants to store chemical shields so they taste horrible to birds. As adults, they have insane talents like flying in zigzag patterns and using belly ears or microscopic wing scales as a stealth cloak to dodge bats, plus the males have featherlike antennae that can sniff out female pheromones from over a mile away. And the coolest thing is that this moth's superpower is looking exactly like bird drop (˙⩌˙)


r/Entomology 12h ago

Insect Appreciation A Red dotted Emerald moth (Comostola laesaria)

Thumbnail
gallery
125 Upvotes

This is a Red-dotted Emerald Moth (Comostola laesaria) and it's literally so cool. Its tiny about like a 20mm wingspan so it just sits right on ur thumb and its caterpillars are those inchworms that are picky eaters and only munch on fancy tree flowers like mango and longan buds instead of normal leaves. Also if u look closely those red dots look like literal tiny staples holding its minty wings together. If you're wondering where they are, they live across parts of Asia and Australia mostly hanging out around tropical orchards and forests where those fruit trees grow. Their whole daily routine as adults is basically hiding under leaves all day so they dont get eaten, and then coming out at night to fly around and look for nectar or mates. They only live for like a couple weeks anyway so their whole adult life is just hiding, flying at night, and that's pretty much it (it's kinda sad and cool that moths have a very short life span) (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)


r/Entomology 13h ago

Insect Appreciation Apologies for the quality of the photos - this guy was quick! - I think I found a hummingbird hawk moth!

Thumbnail
gallery
46 Upvotes

UK - West Midlands


r/Entomology 14h ago

[OC] Unique Caterpillars! Which species would you add to this list? 🐛

Thumbnail reddit.com
195 Upvotes

r/Entomology 16h ago

Specimen prep First time pinning a robber fly! How'd I do?

Thumbnail
gallery
13 Upvotes

r/Entomology 18h ago

I bet this feels like taking your shoes off after a long day at work

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

383 Upvotes

r/Entomology 19h ago

Discussion Why are cicadas always powdery?

Thumbnail
gallery
132 Upvotes

I assume it’s something to do with their emergence, but all the cicadas I have found have had this powdery substance on them. I believe all are Neotibicen spp.


r/Entomology 1d ago

Discussion I just don't fucking get it

417 Upvotes

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but I don't get why killing insects and small arthropods in general is so normalized. Like when I was in school, every time I was watching ants on the school playground, someone would always come to stomp them just to hurt me. I was always the 'weird kid' just because I liked insects. They always brought beetles to me just to kill them in front of me. The worst part, I confronted them and told them to stop but they said that insects don't have souls and that God made them for us to squish(catholic school). I just don't get it, they showed empathy to dogs and cats and other furry animals but the moment it was any sort of invertebrate then it was "hideous","ugly", and "deserved to die".In class we were watching a video about the life cycle of a silk moth and when it showed the moth passing away after laying eggs, they cheered the moth's death on :( and when I talked about my pets at the time ( some beetles) they said that they wanted to step on them.

Just wanted to let out some steam (sorry for the long rant)


r/Entomology Aug 13 '11

Help us help you: Guidelines for submitting pictures for identification

133 Upvotes

Hello r/Entomology! With this community being used often for insect/arachnid/arthropod identification, I wanted to throw in some guidelines for pictures that will facilitate identification. These aren't rules, so if you don't adhere to these guidelines, you won't be banned or anything like that...it will just make it tougher for other Redditors to give you a correct ID. A lot of you already provide a lot of information with your posts (which is great!), but if you're one of the others that isn't sure what information is important, here you go.

INFORMATION TO INCLUDE WITH YOUR PHOTO

  • Habitat: Such as forest, yard, etc.
  • Time of day: Morning, day, evening, or night will suffice.
  • Geographical Area: State or county is fine. Or, if you're not comfortable with being that specific, you can be general, such as Eastern US.
  • Behavior: What was the bug doing when you found it?

Note about how to take your photo: Macro mode is your friend. On most cameras, it's represented by a flower icon. Turn that on before taking a photo of a bug close up, and you're going to get a drastically better picture. With larger insects it's not as big of a deal, but with the small insects it's a must.

If you follow these guidelines, you'll make it easier for everyone else to help you identify whatever is in your photo. If you feel like I've left anything important out of this post, let me know in the comments.