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citheronia regalis

regal moth

location: north america

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Milky cicada aka white ghost cicada, Ayuthia spectabile, Cicadinae (Translucent Cicadas)

Found in Southeast Asia

Photos 1-2 by Bernard Dupont, 3 by lungchris, 4 by yriassic85, 5 by jackychiangmai, 6 by nomascus, 7 by charliev, and 8 by liuguangyu

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saturniidae shaman moth caterpillar

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Seven-spined crab spider, Epicadus heterogaster, Thomisidae

Found in Central and South America

Photo 1 by jeanmartins, 2 by nonoauriz, 3-4 by eduardo_chacon, 5 by nbareschu, 6 by cristinarestrepo, 7 by belweyermanns, 8 by rumeltr, and 9-10 by rogerriodias

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freshly molted cicada

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guys look at this lisa frank ass eupelmid wasp i found

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Better ask, w h a t are true bugs and w h y do they have venomous probiscuses? Probusci? Drinky tube that butterflies have

The word "bug" originally just referred to the insect order Hemiptera, just as "beetle" refers to Coleoptera! Bugs can be shaped a little like beetles, too, but they have only slightly hardened forewings, they have no larval stage, and they're almost the *only* insect group whose mouthparts are fused into nothing but a single straw-like tube.

They also share these traits with the closely related "homoptera," which are the aphids, scale insects, leafhoppers, and cicadas!

To get an idea of just how unusual their fused mouth-tube is, here's a closeup of an assassin bug's:

Literally JUST a spike! But other fluid-feeding insects still have complex multi-part mouths, like a mosquito's:

Many bugs are herbivores and just drink fluids from plant matter, but predatory bugs tend to inject venom and/or digestive enzymes into their prey first!

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jumping spider mama and her babies

image source

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brothers (twins)

#bug art

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Encyrtid parasitoid wasp, Dicarnosis erythrocephala, Encyrtidae, Chalcidoidea

Some species of Encyrtid wasps exhibit a remarkable developmental phenomenon called polyembryony, in which a single egg multiplies clonally in the host and produces large numbers of identical adult wasps. Even more remarkably, some of the larvae are larger than the others and act in a similar way to the soldiers of eusocial insects, attacking any other wasp larvae already in the body of the host, and dying without reproducing (see: biological altruism).

Photographed in Arizona by froggy143

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Lichen Katydid - Markia hystrix

Katydids comprise a diverse group of insects particularly well adapted to survival in rainforest because of their exceptional camouflage. Most katydids are well camouflaged with brown or leaflike green markings. 

The Lichen Katydid, Markia hystrix (Orthoptera - Tettigoniidae), however, has one of the most incredible camouflages of all. It resembles the pale greenish-white lichens on which it lives in rainforest treetops. Not only does the color match the lichens, but the body and legs have a bizarre assortment of spines and points that blend well with lichens, in fact, so well that this insect is extremely difficult for predator to find.

This astonishing insect is known to occur in Central America (Costa Rica, Panama), Colombia and Ecuador.

References: [1] - [2]

Photo credits: [Top: ©Holguer Lopez | Locality: not indicated, 2013] - [Bottom: ©Robert Oelman | Locality: Colombia-Ecuador, 2007]

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Female Iceryine Scale Insects (Icerya sp., Monophlebidae, Coccoidea) by Sinobug (itchydogimages) on Flickr. Pu’er, Yunnan, China See more Chinese true bugs and hoppers on my Flickr site HERE…..

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some drawings i made to use as a new store banner

#bug art

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Chilean stag beetle, Chiasognathus grantii, Lucanidae

Found in Chile and Argentina

Photo 1 by aguaraguazu, 2 by edu_bal, 3 by austral_blizzard, 4 by oebarker, 5 by phygelius, 6-9 by mgargiulo, and 10 (female) by mgargiulo

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I'm delighted every time I remember flies of the Ochthera genus just convergently evolved to have mantis claws. They're far from the only insects that have (water bugs, water scorpions, ambush bugs, mantidflies of course), but it's just especially funny to see on what otherwise looks like an unassuming (if prettily striped) housefly.

My husband did an article on them here!

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