Category Insects, Arachnids, and Bugs

Eurasian Running Crab Spider

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The Eurasian Running Crab Spider (Philodromus dispar) is a small arachnid in the Araneidae family of orb weaver araneomorphic spiders. It is also known as the Philodromid Crab Spider. 

The male Eurasian Running Crab Spider is very different and more distinctive than the female. The male has a shiny, iridescent, black body with white edges and pale legs. The male has large palps – mouthparts. The female is pale greyish-white with pale mottled legs and a leaf-like mark on her abdomen. It is not a very hairy spider. It only has a few bristles, called setae. Of its eight legs, its second pair of legs is longer than its other legs.

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Green Leafhopper

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The Green Leafhopper (Empoasca decipiens) is an insect in the Cicadellidae family of leafhoppers.

The Green Leafhopper is green, and sometimes it has a pale-blue tint. It has strong hind (back) legs that are modified for jumping. The back legs are also covered with hairs. It has short antennae. It has two simple eyes, called ocelli, on the top of its head. It has two sets of wings – the front wings and the hind wings. It has a mouthpart with a sucking and piercing part that enables it to stick into plants to sip the juices. 

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Why does the Jungle Nymph have spiky legs?

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Why does the Jungle Nymph have spiky legs? 

The Jungle Nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata) is a large insect in the Heteropterygidae family of stick insects.

The female is bright green, much larger than the male, but with very small wings and she cannot fly. She looks life a green leaf. She arches her body backwards. The male is mottled brown, much smaller than the female, with large pinks wings and can fly. 

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European Crane Fly

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The European Crane Fly (Tipula paludosa) is a large insect in the Tipulidae family of crane flies. It is also known as the Marsh Crane Fly.

The European Crane Fly looks like a giant mosquito. It has six very long, thin, fragile legs. The legs easily drop off and re-grow. Its abdomen is long and grey, or brown, or dull yellow, sometimes with a central dark mark along its body. The male has a swollen tip on the end of his abdomen and the female has an ovipositor at the end of her abdomen, which is a tube to lay eggs. It has a large pair of translucent wings.

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Tanzanian Blue Ringleg Centipede

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The Tanzanian Blue Ringleg Centipede (Scolopendra morsitans) is a chilopod in the Scolopendridae family of banded centipedes. It is also known as the Red-Headed Centipede. 

The Tanzanian Blue Ringleg Centipede has a wide, flattened yellow-gold to dark-slate body with black bands. It has a pair of antennae on its head and a pair of spikes on its tail. It has a segmented body, with 15 to 177 segments. 

It has one pair of legs for each body segment (in total it has 30-354 legs). No centipede has exactly 100 legs even though centipede means a hundred legs. Each pair of legs is slightly longer than the pair immediately in front of it. 

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European Long-Legged Fly

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The European Long-Legged Fly (Dolichopus ungulatus) is an insect in the Dolichopodidae family of true flies. 

The European Long-Legged Fly has six long thin legs, but some do not. Its brownish abdomen is long and broad with segments, and it has a pair of smoky-coloured wings with deep veins. It thorax is metallic green. It has large iridescent metallic green-to-blue compound eyes. It has short mouthparts and a bristly head.

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Ground Beetle Larva

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What is Ground Beetle Larva?

Ground Beetle Larva is the grub, or larval stage of an adult Ground Beetle. A Ground Beetle is an insect in the Carabidae family of beetles. It is a carabid beetle.

The Ground Beetle Larva is cylindrical in shape, with several segments. It is brown on the upperparts and pale on the underparts. Its head is darker than its body. It has pincers on its mouthparts, six legs, and two long spikes on its tail.

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Mediterranean Banded Centipede

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The Mediterranean Banded Centipede (Scolopendra cingulata) is a chilopod in the Scolopendridae family of banded centipedes. It is also known as the Megarian Banded Centipede. 

The Mediterranean Banded Centipede has a wide, flattened yellow-gold body with black bands. It has a pair of antennae on its head and a pair of spikes on its tail. It has a segmented body, with 15 to 177 segments. 

It has one pair of legs for each body segment (in total it has 30-354 legs). No centipede has exactly 100 legs even though centipede means a hundred legs. Each pair of legs is slightly longer than the pair immediately in front of it. 

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Soot Sprite

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The Soot Sprite (Coptosoma scutellatum) is a very small insect in the Plataspidae family of true thermophile bugs. 

The Soot Sprite has a round or trapezoidal, shiny, black body with a slightly domed shell called a carapace. Sometimes its colour has a glossy green, blue, or bronze sheen. The edge of its abdomen is yellow. It has six small legs. It has a small head with long antennae. 

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Egyptian Cricket

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The Egyptian Cricket (Homoeogryllus xanthographus) is a small insect in the Phalangopsidae family of crickets. It is also knowns as the Beetle Cricket. It is related to grasshoppers.

The Egyptian Cricket has a black, oval-shaped body with a flat plate on its back. It has long, thread-like antennae. It has long hind legs (back legs). Near the tail of its body, it has a pair of light-beige tubes. It has transparent wings.

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Black Bean Aphid

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The Black Bean Aphid (Aphis fabae) is a small insect in the Aphididae family of soft body aphids. It is also known as the Blackfly, the Bean Aphid, or the Beet Leaf Aphid.

The Black Bean Aphid has a soft, plump body with a small head and a bulbous abdomen. Its body is shiny black or dark-green. It has piercing and sucking mouthparts. Many adults do not have wings. This is called aptery. The winged ones, called alates, are longer and thinner. Near the rear of the abdomen is a pair of thin tubes called cornicles, which secrete waxy liquid. Its legs are pale yellow with black tips.

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What is the difference between the German Wasp and the Yellowjacket Hoverfly?

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What is the difference between the German Wasp (Vespula germanica) and the Yellowjacket Hoverfly (Milesia virginieusis)? 

The German Wasp is a wasp and the Yellowjacket Hoverfly is not a wasp – it is related to the Drone Fly. Both are insects.

The German Wasp is a vespid and the Yellowjacket Hoverfly is a syrphid.

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German Wasp

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The German Wasp (Vespula germanica) is an insect in the Vespidae family of social wasps. It is a vespid. It is also called the German Yellowjacket in America, although the Yellowjacket is in the Dolichovespula genus, whereas the German Wasp is in the Vespula genus. The German Wasp is related to the Common Wasp.

The German Wasp has a smooth black and yellow segmented body with smoky-coloured wings. The yellow stripes on its body have black marks that look like arrows. It has yellow spots on its thorax. Its legs, called tarsi, are yellow. Its antennae are long, thick, and black. Its head is black with a yellow-orange face. The female has a smooth barbless stinger that can repeatedly sting an animal.

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Common Darter Dragonfly

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The Common Darter Dragonfly (Sympetrum striolatum) is an insect in the Libellulidae family of dragonflies.

The Common Darter Dragonfly has a long, cylindrical body, two pairs of wings with black tips, and a head with large eyes. Its legs are black with a cream or yellow stripe. The male turns red as it ages. The female looks different from the male, because she has a light-yellow thorax and abdomen, which turns dark-brown with age.

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