Tag Archives: insects

ID Challenge #7

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

I hadn’t planned on doing another ID Challenge so quickly after the previous one¹; however, this critter is just too cool to keep in my pocket any longer.  Order-level identification shouldn’t be too much of a challenge, but I’ll be … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

A thrips is a thrips…

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

The critter in ID Challenge #6 is, as most surmised, a thrips¹, and although the black-and-white banding of the elytra make the predaceous “banded thrips” (Aeolothrips sp. of the family Aeolothripidae) a logical ID choice, the species in the photograph is actually … Continue reading →

Posted in Thripidae, Thysanoptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

ID Challenge #6

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

It’s been awhile since our last ID Challenge.  I’ll give 2 pts each for correctly naming the order, family, genus, and species and whatever supporting information you can provide.  Bonus points if you can surmise host plant, location, etc.  Standard ID … Continue reading →

Posted in [No taxon] | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Brazil Bugs #16 – Outro Percevejo

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

Another stink bug (family Pentatomidae) from my recent travels to South America, but this one from southeastern Brazil rather than Argentina.  Although the white spot at the apex of the scutellum is a common theme across the family, the jet … Continue reading →

Posted in Hemiptera, Pentatomidae | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bichos Argentinos #4 – Balancing Act

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

I encountered this adult Nezara viridula (southern green stink bug) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in a soybean field in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.  I liked the way it balanced itself on the leaf on which it was sitting to keep its body level. Copyright © Ted … Continue reading →

Posted in Hemiptera, Pentatomidae | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Bichos Argentinos #3 – “Bicho Torito”

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

In her appeal for submissions for her upcoming issue of An Inordinate Fondness, Susannah lamented the paucity of beetles in the closing weeks of her northern winter and mentioned in passing that even I had gone more than a week … Continue reading →

Posted in Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Bichos Argentinos #2 – Pseudomyrmex sp.

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

One of the insects I tracked at La Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina last weekend was this twig ant in the genus Pseudomyrmex.  I had noticed these slender, wasp-like ants previously on trips to the U.S. desert southwest, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Formicidae, Hymenoptera | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Bichos Argentinos #1 – Eristalinus taeniops

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

It figures that perhaps the most striking insect I saw at La Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina would be an introduced species, as the area itself is a man-made reconstruction of the wet Pampas grasslands endemic to coastal areas of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Diptera, Syrphidae | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments