Category Insects, Arachnids, and Bugs

Flat Badge Huntsman Spider

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The Flat Badge Huntsman Spider (Neosparassus patellatus) is a large arachnid in the Sparassidae family of badge huntsman spiders. Sparassids are eight-eyed spiders.

The Flat Badge Huntsman Spider has a grey, thick, flat body with smooth furry hair. The female is lighter, often orange to pinkish brown. It has a distinctive shield, called a badge, with white spots on its underbelly. Its abdomen, called a carapace, is oval with a square front near its eyes. On its abdomen, it has a series of black dots. It has eight long legs. The first two pairs of legs are longer than the other legs.

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White Plume Moth

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The White Plume Moth (Pterophorus pentadactylus) is an insect in the Pterophoridae family of moths.

The White Plume Moth is white – with white wings and a white body. Each of its hind (back) wings is divided into three thin feathery plumes. Each of its front wings is divided into two thin feathery plumes. It looks like it has five feathery fingers on each side of its body. It has long white antennae and white legs.

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Vietnamese Cane Spider

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The Vietnamese Cane Spider (Heteropoda venatoria) is an arachnid in the Sparassidae family of tropical huntsman spiders. It is also called the Vietnamese Giant Crab Spider. Sparassids are eight-eyed spiders.

The Vietnamese Cane Spider has a flat, brown body. Its body is very hairy, but its 8 legs only have hairy tips. The clypeus, the area in front of its eyes, is yellowish. The carapace, behind its eyes, has a wide tan-coloured band on the female and a cream-coloured band on the male. It has eight long, banded legs. 

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Leather Beetle

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The Leather Beetle (Carabus coriaceus) is an insect in the Carabidae family of ground beetles. 

The Leather Beetle has a small rounded head, a small thorax (chest), and a long, deep black, leathery abdomen (body). It is wingless. It has long, black and ridged antennae. It has a groove on its foreleg with a comb of hairs used for cleaning its antennae. It has bulging eyes. It has six long, thin, hairy legs. 

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Madagascar Huntsman Spiders stitch leaves together with silk

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Madagascar Huntsman spiders stitch leaves together with silk to trap tree frogs. 

Researchers in a vanilla plantation in north-east Madagascar in 2017 found an unsual Huntsman Spider while conducting wildlife surveys. While surveying birds, Dominic Martin at the University of Goettingen in Germany noticed a Huntsman Spider (Damastes sp.) eating a tree frog (Heterixalus andrakata).

His colleague, Thio Fulgence, at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar, who was surveying reptiles and amphibians in the plantations, noticed that the spider was sitting between two leaves that it had stitched together with its silk to form a type of envelope. 

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Coffin Fly

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The Coffin Fy (Phoridea sp.) is a small insect in the Phoridae family of coffin and scuttle flies. It is a phorid fly. It is also known as the Hump-Backed Fly or the Phorid Fly.

The Coffin Fly resembles a Fruit Fly. It has a brown-black body with a humped back (a humped thorax). Sometimes, it is yellow, orange, pale-grey, or pale-white. Its bristly head is rounded with two compound eyes. The male has close-set eyes, whereas the female has wide-set eyes. This is called dichoptic. It has short antennae with feathered tips. It has a short proboscis, which is a tubular mouthpart for sucking nectar from plants. It has six brown legs. Its wings are translucent (see-through) with black veins. Unlike other flies, its wings do not have cross-veins.

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Pauxillum Sweat Bee

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The Pauxillum Sweat Bee (Lasioglossum pauxillum) is a common, small insect in the Halictidae family of sweat bees. It is called a sweat bee because it is attracted to the sweat of animals and humans.

The Pauxillum Sweat Bee is metallic black. It has thin, whitish abdominal bands. It has six legs, two pairs of wings, and three body parts: (1) head, (2) thorax, and (3) abdomen. Its wings are translucent (see-through). It has enlarged compound eyes. 

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Bark Crab Spider

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The Bark Crab Spider (Bassanianasp.) is a small arachnid in the Thomisidae family of crab spiders. 

The Bark Crab Spider is black. The male is darker than the female. The length of its eight legs are uneven. Its four strong front legs, used for grabbing, are longer than its four back legs. Its front legs have more hair. It moves sideways like a crab. The first two pairs of legs can rotate. It has eight eyes.

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RESEARCH: Bumblebees can fly sideways

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Can bumblebees fly sideways? New research shows that bumblebees can fly sideways to fit through tight gaps.

In November 2020, the New Scientist magazine included an article about bumblebees. Researcher Sridhar Ravi and his science colleagues from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, studied the flight of the Buff-Tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

The scientists were testing whether bumblebees are aware of their size, because they are larger than honeybees. The scientists connected four bee hives to tunnels. The Buff-Tailed Bumblebees had to go through the tunnel to reach some food. Then the science researchers put a wall in the middle of the tunnel which partially blocked the tunnel, leaving a small gap (space). The scientists observed the bees to see what they would do when they reached the wall. Would they go through the gap or not?

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Red Flea Beetle

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The Red Flea Beetle (Sphaeroderma rubidum) is a small insect in the Chrysomelidae family and Neocrepidodera sub-family of flea beetles. It is a chrysomelid. It is also referred to as the Red Altise Beetle or Red Artichoke Beetle. 

The Red Flea Beetle is entirely red or rusty-red or orange-red. It has a round domed abdomen (almost circular or globular), with red elytra (wing cases). It has a wide head and large eyes. The pronotum (behind the head) has no grooves. Its six legs are light-red. It has long, thin antennae that are close together. Its hind (back) legs are longer than its front legs, which enables it to hop.

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