Questions tagged [entomology]
The scientific study of Insects. If the question is about some other group of arthropod use 'arthropod' tag.
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Can you recognize this larvae that came from a human nose? (probable nasal myiasis?
Those larvae came at least four different times from the nose (inside - from the mucosal) of a 60 year old man from a tropical area in South America. He lives and works in a city with a tropical ...
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Bug identification request
Can anyone please offer a suggestion of what the insect below is? It is about 3mm in length, and I saw it on my kitchen counter. I live in an apartment, 9th floor of a highrise. It is January 5 (...
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What type of insect is it?
I've found this insect in my apartment and I don't know it could be bed bug or not. Could it be hazardous and what are the ways for getting rid of it?
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Why don't bees sting hornets for defense?
Why don't honeybees sting hornets for defense when their hive is attacked? It seems like a good weapon against bigger animals - why not against hornets?
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What type of bug is this?
Found two larva/eggs in a suitcase. The egg/larva were around same size or maybe little bigger than a grain of rice. When I put them on counter top to better examine, one hatched and a SINGLE insect ...
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1answer
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Beautiful blue enigmatic insect (mantid?) in Kenya
This beautiful insect was found in Kenya today - and we don’t know what it is. We think it may be a mantid of some sort?!
Nairobi kenya, croton trees, cape chestnuts, bougainvilliea, there is quite a ...
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Why do wasps (Vespula vulgaris) build a new nest every year?
I have been searching it for a while, and i haven't found an answer, why do common wasps (Vespula vulgaris) create a new nest every year instead of using the previous one if the old one is still ...
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Spontaneous generation of fruit flies
I live in the South of England. It is currently winter.
Whenever I buy bananas, even one, if I leave the discarded banana peel in my kitchen, within hours or even minutes, there is a cloud of little ...
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Do you know what this black spider-like insect is?
I have encountered these insects before, but I always assumed them to be spiders even though I always noticed they have 6 legs, as an exception. But slowly with time I ended up observing them more. ...
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Unknown larvae in grey cocoon
Location: Germany
While cleaning the windows today, I realized some dirt falling off the top of the window frame. By looking further, it seemed to be some kind of cocoon. (The first picture is very ...
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Why did ants and meliponine bees lose their sting? What's the evolutionary advantage in it? [closed]
We know Aculeata is the Hymenoptera’s lineage where the ovipositor evolved into a venomous sting. However, most ants have lost this sting, as well as meliponine and some other bees.
Kerr & Lello (...
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Is this a bed bug? Found this on the pillow as I was putting my daughter to sleep [duplicate]
My husband found this small (~4mm long) insect on a pillow while putting my daughter to sleep in our New Jersey (USA) suburb home.
We checked our daughter's and our own mattress as well as the rug, ...
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Do the posterior legs of mosquito plays the role of antenna?
I have had this question for years and this stems from the observation that when I bring my hand close to a mosquito lying on some surface (e.g : wall) I see its posterior legs - which are in a ...
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1answer
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Help identifying a bug which looks like a housefly and mosquito hybrid
I'm from Kochi, India (southern part of India). I found this bug inside my house , it was about a centimeter long . But how can such an hybrid be possible. (It was raining before I found it).
1: https:...
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What species is this golden fly?
Last summer I was visited by this unusual golden fly, whose kind I have never seen before. It was impossible to scare away so I could take relatively good pictures.
The pictures on this hobbyist page ...
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Indian Spider Identification
Today I saw this curious colorful spider on its web near a sapota tree in my garden.
I have never seen any spider like this,its around 2cm or a little less.
The most curious part is this part of its ...
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What makes boric acid so toxic to roaches and not so much to any other insect?
When I look up boric acid on the net there are various ads for it to kill roaches but no explanation of why it is effective on roaches. I am in East TX , roach central. When my house was built I put ...
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Which ant/wasp species is that?
Anybody knows which species (or genus, family...) of ant/wasp is that?
It's from Brazilian Amazon (Upper Negro River, Amazonas state). About 2-3 cm long (about one inch), maybe. It was walking on the ...
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Caterpillar identification - found on a coffee plant inside a house
Today, I've found a twig-like caterpillar hanging down from my homegrown coffee plant (which explained why some of the plant's leaves appear to be eaten away). What specie is this insect? It was about ...
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Found lots of these insects on my study desk today. What are these? [duplicate]
I came home today, switched on the lights and saw many of these running around my study desk. Any help in identifying these little insects? The picture is zoomed in so it doesn't really do justice to ...
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1answer
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What is the name of this strange white caterpillar?
My friend found this caterpillar in south-central Tennessee in August. No identification guides or databases I've searched had a similar picture. Does anyone know the name of this species?
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Do bees from different continents have different “taste”?
This question was already asked by me at Gardening Stack Exchange, but I was advised to ask it here instead. I see there is already a closely related question: Do animals have different taste ...
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Why do Oak Processionary caterpillars form processions?
Firstly ,I don't live in Europe. I live in South India, and my garden has a Night Flowering Jasmine tree.
And these trees are quite popular, but notorious for their caterpillars. In our region ,there ...
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Streamlined flattened worm identification [duplicate]
These streamline shaped tiny shells are sticking around on dark untouched corners, hanging by one end .Or one of their flat sides is touching a wall. Some are reddish brown in color, others are pale ...
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What changes do ants make to the soil they use for building ant hills
I live in South India ,and among the many species of ants in and around our house, some of them except the weaver ants build the typical small ant hills in the garden.
I have examined the coarse sand ...
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Can ants distinguish individual ants in the colony?
I am aware that ants have the ability to distinguish which female is the queen and which ones aren't. However, can ants also uniquely distinguish other individual ants in the colony? Is the ...
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1answer
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What is this insect? Possible assassin bug? or kissing bug?
I saw this bug (around 2 cm) in the front of the balcony door inside the room.
I googled and found two same insects- Assassin bug and Kissing bug. Could they hide their eggs inside the room? Should I ...
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Can anyone identify this chrysalis?
What kind of chrysalis or pupa is this? It’s about an inch and 3/4 long and is hanging off the brick siding of a house in Piedmont North Carolina. It wiggles when it is touched. It has been hanging ...
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Identify this extremely tiny white bug please! [duplicate]
I have noticed these extremely small, hard to notice with naked eye bug for about 3 nights now. Twice on my body in the kitchen and once on my thumb in my living room. I managed to catch one last ...
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1answer
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Identification - hornet
It has around 3cm. Does it look like a European or Asian Hornet?
The place where I found it is Central Europe/Romania but, after the wikipedia picture for Asian Hornet's head .. it looks exactly the ...
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1answer
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What is the species of this strange insect?
I first saw this photo long time ago, and I still can't identify the species of this insect:
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What spider is this? Is this invasive or dangerous?
Hi the picture below has been taken here,
I've never seen such a spider, is it an invasive specie or a dangerous one?
thank you
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1answer
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What is this thing? It is hairy mostly a cocoon, and i saw a white worm pop out of it. It is spreading rapidly
I suspect it is originating from the mud. This has some plastic bits with it. They are spreading all over my walls. I think it is some kind of cocoon for worm. Should it's rapid growth in terms of ...
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1answer
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Colorful Large Wasp (?) on Milkweed Arizona USA
Observed this very colorful insect on Asclepias subulata (Desert Milkweed) in Phoenix Arizona. About 8 am, temperature about 90F, sunny, late-September. When flying it seemed to have a narrow waist ...
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1answer
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Why exactly are the reflections of sunlight in this dragonfly's eye hexagonal?
I photographed a rather cooperative, large dragonfly today and after getting back to my desk and looking closer at the images I realized that the reflection of the Sun in its eyes produced large ...
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1answer
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Giant insects growing question
During the dinosaurs time 100-200 million years ago there were giant insects like 1 meter long. An example is here. One of the theories why they could grow this big is that oxygen level was much ...
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1answer
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Phytophagous worm identification
These worms appear soon after the rain lilies flower and slowly nibble on the leaves growing big and chubby. They are about 5cm long, have many small red legs underneath, have no spines or spikes, and ...
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2answers
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How do crickets get away with being so loud without getting eaten?
How do crickets get away with being so loud without getting eaten? There are a number of bugs that reproduce by blatantly advertising their location. For instance fireflies advertise their location ...
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1answer
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Can I safely handle this caterpillar?
I just found this caterpillar in my garden. I’m about to mow the grass for the first time. Can I safely handle it? What type of caterpillar is it?
For reference, I’m in Leeds, UK. Here are some ...
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1answer
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What causes the sound of climaxing bees?
I just saw the funniest video of bumblebees(?) having sex. (mirror) As they were getting it on, there seemed to be an almost audible 'moaning' coming from the pair. From what I presume it was a sexual ...
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1answer
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Identify this dragonfly with orange body and orange wings?
The photo shows a red dragonfly on top (in front of some hot pink snail eggs) but an orange dragonfly with orange and perhaps translucent(?) wings near the bottom. This is the best resolution I could ...
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1answer
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Identify these two large, colorful dragonflies in Taiwan?
Here are two dragonflies that I photographed today in Hsinchu county Taiwan. They are both quite large, with a body length of about 5 or 6 cm.
I often see them in the same pond or nearby marshy area. ...
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1answer
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Why do dragonflies have these special little spots on their wings?
The wings of several kinds of dragonflies I've seen here in Taiwan all have an apparently special little pigmented spot near the ends of each wing.
Does this spot have a name and a function?
below x2: ...
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1answer
123 views
What is this giant mosquito-like insect?
I found this bug in my kitchen in this morning, in a suburb of Houston Texas, about 30 miles Northwest of downtown. It was on the wall, and when I went in for a closer look, it quickly flew away - up ...
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What is this insect, is it a butterfly?
I am not sure if this is the good place: I am wondering what sort of insect is in this picture. It is approximately 10 millimeters long and 15 wide with the wings.
I have found one of them each day ...
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Is there a season for hummingbird moths (US)?
I have seen hummingbird moths the last few years by accident . Always at dusk , usually on 4 O'clock flowers. This year I have looked for them many times but today ( Aug.24) is the first sighting. ...
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1answer
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From what kind of insect might these eggs be
Does anybody know what kind of insect might have laid these eggs:
The photo was taken a few days ago in Limburg, Belgium near a pasture with some goats.
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Beetle Identification / able to retract its head
I can't find any identification of this beetle online. The closest guess I got to it is "Hister beetle" but the rough surfaces on its shell make me think otherwise.
The most common behavior ...
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Can someone help to identify this insect?
I found a few of these insects around my house, and I'm curious what insect it is.
Seen mid-August in Singapore
At least several mm but lest than 1 cm long
Seen walking slowly. I can't be sure but ...
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1answer
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Insect crawling Identification
What kind of insect is this, and is this venomous, or dangerous? Don't need full species name just common name will do, color is red. Grandma always warned me of this, they usually are seen in monsoon ...
