Insect of the Day

[Bruce Williams]

Not an insect I know (and not even a spider) but this is the first male Dicranopalpus ramosus that I've come across to date (and I saw two today). I recognised it immediately as remembered Art (Pudding4brains) mentioning that the male of the species has the nickname Zorro. Very appropriate in this case I think.



Bruce

[pleb]

If I've not screwed up, this pic should show one of the stick insects from my garden. I believe it is Acanthoxyla geisovii from New Zealand which arrived in my garden, out of the blue, a few years ago and has been with us ever since. Sometimes we have had about a dozen individuals but this year we have only seen two. But we did have to cut the myrtle hard back last year and we have had a cold winter.

Pleb

[kiwi]

My insect of the day is the grasshopper which i saw midday yesterday actually.

[Trinity]

does anyone know if Amaurobius fenestralis are poisonous, I've been seeing a little too much of them lately

[blacknest]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Mine was another damn lily beetle..On my beautiful lily's..I seem to be picking one off a day.

Pretty beetles 'tho aren't they?

However many I remove they always manage to lay some eggs (little patches of elongated orange eggs, attached by one end usually to the underside of the leaf). Some eggs always hatch so I wash my lilies down with a hose once the larvae are visible: you get a fat little orangce grub surrounded by a nasty mush of pooey stuff as it munches through the leaf.
They will overwinter too , as white grubs and it helps to lift the bulbs in winter and clear out the grub-filled soil, replacing with fresh compost around the bulbs : worth doing certainly for lilies in pots & tubs.

In gardening...some ya win...some ya lose

[Pete Collins]

This morning I went to Ivinghoe Beacon, amongst other things hoping to see another Dark Green Fritillary like I did at nearby Pitstone Hill on Monday. I got lucky!

[Deer Stalker]

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly from the Forest for me today.

[Jason Green]

I'll have to say the distinctive Heterotoma planicornis, eating a dead ant in my garden

[grymalkyn]

The female broad bodied darter I saw a couple of weeks back is still about and has found a mate. Both were darting over the pond yesterday, courting. He's the most beautiful blue, as in the majority of pix I found. Hope they have/do mate and we get more IDC

[acherontia]

Lots of insects about and very appreciated they are too!
A confirmation on these would be very welcome - I've only just started doing insects and the 'expert' (OH) is out.

I know the butterfly is a comma (you can see why) and I think the DF is a four spotted chaser?
Cheers!
Acherontia

[leifus]

I went to a wood that is home to the internationally rare giant northern wood ant and saw loads of them. They are red and black

[mrs fish]

Giant Northern Wood Ants sound large

I have seen Wood Ants and they look big

[nutmeg]

I spent some time down at my pond and saw four species of damselfly:

Azures:


Blue-tailed:


Large red (a first for the garden!):


Banded demoiselle male... but not within camera range, so one that got away

Wasn't easy photographing them because it's rather boggy round the pond and my wellies got stuck when stepping in to get a better view!

[mrs fish]

The large red is beautiful

[pressld2]

No idea what these are, apart from alcoholics. That's MY wine they're drinking!



Love the one at the bottom of the second pic who's doing the backstroke...

Dave P.

[wildmanofthewoods]

Today i saw a Fox then a Grass snake but the insects were the stars today several day flying moths, butterflies etc but my insect of the day is

The Summer Chafer there were millions of them

[nutmeg]

I saw plenty of insects in the warm sunshine, but the stars of the day were Marsh Fritillaries . I saw a small number at a site in the Lincolnshire Limewoods.

[dmclean2]

For me it's got to be this guy , and it was BIG,
I still need ID on it though ,
Duncan

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by dmclean2

For me it's got to be this guy , and it was BIG,
I still need ID on it though ,
Duncan

Looks like a Tegenaria species to me. Coincidentally a large one appeared on our kitchen wall last night + is still in the same place now.

[GuyF]

I had a very nice day in the New Forest area yesterday with lots of interesting insects around. Highlights were my first Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and lots of Cream-spot Tiger moths, and other nice insects included and Emperor, Broad-bodied Chasers, lots of Keeled Skimmers, Beautiful Demoiselles, a Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, a Small Red Damselfly, a Speckled Yellow moth and some Red and Black Froghoppers.
Here are a couple of shots, firstly a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

And this is a Cream-spot Tiger


Guy

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by pressld2

No idea what these are, apart from alcoholics. That's MY wine they're drinking!



Love the one at the bottom of the second pic who's doing the backstroke...

Dave P.

Well, they look happy!

[pressld2]

LOL! They all survived too. I fished them out and put them on the garden table where they wandered around, very unsteadily, until they were dry and then flew off.

Bet they all had headaches in the morning!

I've just seen a very pretty little yellow/orange moth but it flew off before I could reach for my camera. Not a micro moth but quite small and very triangular. Scarce umber looks a reasonable match.

Dave P.

[Gaina]

I was going to make this a new thread but I was so impressed with this critter I've decided it was my 'Insect of the Day' ....

I was in a local park with my friends on Wednesday when I saw the most beautiful beetle flying around. It was shiny, green and about the size of a Bumble bee. I couldn't get to where it landed so my friend went to investigate and gave me the best description she could (green, round and BIG). When it flew it looked like it couldn't possibly get off the ground with those little wings.

I have had a look in the Gallery and the closest I can get to it for shape and colour is Green Dock Beetle, or Rose Chafer.

I live in North Somerset and the park was near the coast, if that helps pin it down.

[Deer Stalker]

My insect of the day is this Marsh Fritillary at Hod Hill in Dorset.

[rlchew]

My insect of the day was Heath Fritillary.

I am fortunate to live close to one of the sites in Essex for this very rare and attractive butterfly and I always look forward to early June when they are on the wing. Today I saw at least 2 and possibly 3 individuals.





Richard