The Australian Huntsman Spider (Isopeda villosa) is an arachnid in the Sparassidae family of common huntsman spiders. Sparassids have eight legs and eight eyes.
The Australian Huntsman Spider is reddish-brown, with eight long legs. Its mouth parts are darker than its body. Its body has smooth furry hair.
Continue reading “Australian Huntsman Spider”
The Triangulate Cobweb Spider (Steatoda triangulosa) is an arachnid in the Theridiidae family of cobspiders and tangle-web spiders.
The Triangulate Cobweb Spider has a round, bulbous abdomen, a small head, and six thin, hairy, striped legs. It has dark-brown triangle-shaped patterns on the back of its light-brown abdomen. The female’s patterns appear zig-zagged.
Continue reading “Triangulate Cobweb Spider”
The Rosemary Beetle (Chryolina americana) is a small insect in the Chrysomelidae family of leaf beetles.
The Rosemary Beetle is metallic, iridescent green with purple-brown stripes on its ridged elytra (wing shields), from its pronotum (neck shield) to its tail. It has short wings hidden underneath the elytra. It can fly, but only for short distances. Most tend to walk. It has six little brown legs. Its body is slightly domed with a rounded tail end. It has round, black eyes. Its antennae are light-brown and look like a string of beads.
Continue reading “Rosemary Beetle”
The Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album) is an insect in the Nymphalidae family of butterflies. It is also known as the Anglewing, due to its angular wings.
The Comma Butterfly is orange on the upperside of its wings with dark-brown to black markings and light spots on the edge. It has angular notches on the edges of its forewings (front wings). The underside is marbled brown. The hind wings (back wings) have a white spot in the shape of the letter C. It can look like fallen leaves when resting, which confuses its predators. It is a strong flier.
Continue reading “Comma Butterfly”
The Spanish Gatekeeper Butterfly (Pyronia bathseba) is an insect in the Nymphalidae family of brush-footed butterflies.
The Spanish Gatekeeper Butterfly is brown and cream with orange on its forewings (front wings). On its forewings, it has a black circle with one or two white spots inside, called an eyespot. The underside of its hind wings (back wings) is brown with four or five orange-rimmed eyespots. The female has four eyespots on the underside hind wing, whereas the male has five. Its body is fluffy, thick, and brown. It has club-shaped antennae.
Continue reading “Spanish Gatekeeper Butterfly”
The Common Blue Butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) is an insect in the Lycaenidae family of blue butterflies.
The Common Blue male has iridescent blue wings above with a thin, black-brown border and white fringe. The female is brown above with blue flecks, like dust, and orange spots. Both the male and the female have a row of red or orange spots along the edge of the hindwing (back wing).
Continue reading “Common Blue Butterfly”
The Brown-Banded Carder Bee (Bombus humilis) is an insect in the Apidae family of bumblebees.
The Brown-Banded Carder Bee has a yellow-orange fuzzy thorax. It has a broad dark-brown band on its abdomen. Its body has fluffy hairs. It has a rounded head with short antennae. Its rear legs are bare and shiny.
Continue reading “Brown-Banded Carder Bee”
The Micromoth (Microlepidoptera) is an insect in the Lepidoptera order of butterflies and moths. The order includes many different species of moths in superfamilies, such as Andesianoidea, Cossoidea, Sesioidea, and Zygaenoidea, which includes mainly leaf miners, rollers, and root borers.
Its wingspan is about 20 millimetres (less than an inch).
Continue reading “Micromoth”
The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect (Dryococelus australis) is an insect in the Phasmatidae family of stick insects. It is a phasmid. It is also known as the Tree Lobster. It was thought to be extinct by 1920, but it was rediscovered in 2001, and there is now a breeding program in some zoos, such as the Melbourne Zoo in Australia.
The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect has an oblong black or dark-brown body with strong legs. Most phasmids have wings. The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect does not have wings, but it can run quickly. It has spikes on its body and on its hind (back) legs. The female has more spikes than the male. The spikes and colour help it to camouflage itself in plants and bushes.
Continue reading “Lord Howe Island Stick Insect”
The Wall Butterfly (Lasiommata megera) is an insect in the Nymphalidae family of butterflies. It is also known as the Wall Brown Butterfly.
The Wall Butterfly is brown with reddish-yellow tints on its upperparts with black margins and eye-spots. The male looks more yellow-orange, whereas the female looks more red-yellow-brown. It is browner on its underparts. It has a brown hairy body. It has clubbed antennae.
Continue reading “Wall Butterfly”
The Purple-Winged Hopper (Titanacris albipes) is a large insect in the Romaleidae family of lubber grasshoppers. It is also known as the Purple Grasshopper. The Pink Grasshopper (Tinacris gloriosa) is in the same Ramaleidae family.
The Purple-Winged Hopper has a heavy, cylindrical, green body and rounded head. It has olive-green forewings (front wings). Its hind (back) wings are violet purple.It has six legs with receptors on each leg that can detect movement and vibrations as well as temperature.Its hind legs are large. At the end of each leg, at the bottom of the tarsus, are claws called tarsal claws which are used for gripping grass and leaves.
Continue reading “Purple-Winged Hopper”
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia is America’s oldest natural history museum. Established in 1812, it has a collection of 19 million specimens, with 4 million insect specimens, representing about 100,000 species of insects.
Jon Gelhaus is Curator of Entomology at the ANS, where he has worked since 1990. He looks after the Entomology Collection. Since 2012, he has also been Professor in the Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science department where he teaches courses in Conservation Biology, Entomology, and Plant and Animal Identification. Entomology is the study of insects.
Jon Gelhaus and Jennifer Sontchi, Senior Director of Exhibits and Public Spaces at The Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS), presented a small portion of the collection during a live streaming event on 12 August 2021.
Continue reading “Entomology Collection at Drexel University in Philadelphia”
The Pearleaf Blister Mite (Eriophyes pyri) is an insect in the Eriophyidae family of leaf mites. It is considered to be a pest in fruit orchards. It is a leaf gall. It is related to spiders.
The Pearleaf Blister Mite is tiny and whitish. It produces visible galls that look like yellow rice on the top surface of leaves. The galls are domed with openings. Initially, the galls are yellow-green, and then they turn brown.
Continue reading “Pearleaf Blister Mite”
The European Hobo Spider (Eratigena agrestis) is an arachnid in the Agelenidae family of funnel web spiders.
The European Hobo Spider varies in appearance. It has a light-brown body, and eight legs. Its two front legs are longer than its other legs. Its abdomen has a V-shaped pattern down the middle.
Continue reading “European Hobo Spider”
The Red-Tailed Black Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) is an insect in the Apidae family of bees.
The Red-Tailed Black Bumblebee has a black body with orange at the end of its abdomen. The male has a yellow ruff around its neckline and often yellow markings on its face. Its body has fluffy hairs. It has a rounded head with short antennae.
Continue reading “Red-Tailed Black Bumblebee”
The Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) is an insect in the Coenagrionidae family of dragonflies and damselflies. It is also known as the Common Bluet or the Northern Bluet.
The Common Blue Damselfly has a long, thin, cylindrical beige to cream body with a light-blue head and a light-blue bulbous tail. Its wings are long and translucent. The male is blue with black markings, and the female can be varied in colour.
Continue reading “Common Blue Damselfly”
The 22-Spot Ladybird Beetle (Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata) is a small insect in the Coccinellidae family of ladybird beetles and ladybugs. It is a coccinellid beetle.
The 22-Spot Ladybird Beetle has yellow elytra (two wing cases) with 22 black spots. Its pronotum is yellow with 5 black spots. Its shiny body is oval-shaped and slightly domed. Its wings are hidden underneath the wing cases. It has black compound eyes. Its antennae are light-brown and slightly thickened at the ends. Its neck shield has white spots and usually covers its head. It has little black legs.
Continue reading “22-Spot Ladybird Beetle”
The European Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa iris) is an insect in the Apidae family of carpenter bees.
The European Carpenter Bee is all black with a shiny abdomen. It is not a Bumblebee, because a Bumblebee has a hairy body. It has short mouthparts.Its wings are translucent. The male does not have a stinger. The female has a stinger, but she is not aggressive.
Continue reading “European Carpenter Bee”
What do the feet of the Grasshopper look like?
The Grasshopper, Cricket, and Locust are insects in the Orthoptera order and the Caelifera suborder, with thousands of different species. Most of them are in the Acridoidea superfamily of grasshoppers and locusts. They are all herbivorous, eating grass and vegetation.
They have six legs with receptors on each leg that can detect movement and vibrations as well as temperature.
Continue reading “The Feet of the Grasshopper”
The Silk Moth (Bombyx mori) is an insect in the Bombycidae family of silk moths.
The Silk Moth has a heavy, bristly body and small wings. It is fair to light brown with thin dark bands across its body. Its wings are cream-coloured. It is not capable of sustained flight – it is only airborne for a short time.
Continue reading “Silk Moth”