The Tau Emperor Moth (Aglia tau) is an insect in the Saturniidae family of emperor and royal moths.
The Tau Emperor Moth has large, lobed wings. It is brightly coloured, usually orange to brown with a large eye-spot on each of its four wings. It is a distinct marginal line across each wing. The hind wings (back wings) overlap the forewings (front wings). Its body is wide and hairy. It has feathery antennae.
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The Solomon Islands Longhorn Beetle (Batocera kibleri) is an insect in the Cerambycidae family of longhorn beetles. It is also known as the Solomon Islands Longicorn.
The Solomon Islands Longhorn Beetle has an elongated brown, mottled body with extremely long, segmented antennae. It varies in size, shape, and colour. It has brown wing cases called elytra. It has two tarsi (similar to toes) at the end of each of its six legs.
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The Giant Click Beetle (Oxynopterus annamensis) is an insect in the Elateridae family of click beetles.
The Giant Click Beetle is black to reddish-brown. The male has distinctive feather-like antennae. The female has thin, toothed antennae. It has a prothorax (front thorax) that is shield-shaped with sharply pointed posteriolateral tips. The elytra (wing cases) are long and smooth, tapering to a point at the tail end. It has wings, but it is not a strong flyer. It has simple, hairless claws on the tarsal segments of its six legs.
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The Polyphylla fullo Beetle (Polyphylla fullo) is an insect in the Scarabaeidae family of scarab beetles.
The Polyphylla fullo has a strong, robust body that is reddish-brown to grey-black covered with white spots. The adult male has fan-shaped antennae with lots of leaf-like structures. The name ‘polyphylla’ means many leaves. It has two wing cases, called elytra, that protect its wings. It can fly for short distances.
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The Velvet Ground Beetle (Graphipterus sp.; possibly Graphipterus ancora or Graphipterus cordiger) is a common insect in the Carabidae family of beetles. It is a carabid.
The Velvet Ground Beetle has velvety brown elytra (wing casings). It has a light-brown body with dark-brown markings. It has long, segmented antennae. It has a head, thorax, and abdomen. It is flightless, even though it has wings. It runs along the ground.
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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.
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What is an antenna?
An antenna is a sensory organ, or appendage, on the head of insects and crustaceans (crabs and lobsters). It is a feeler. It feels air, heat, vibrations, and it can even sense smell.
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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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The African Giant Mosquito (Toxorhynchites brevipalpis) is a small insect from the Culicidae family of mosquitoes. It is also known as the Elephant Mosquito or the Mosquito Eater.
The African Giant Mosquito has a black body with white bands on its silvery-black legs. It has bushy antennae and compound eyes. It has a dark-coloured proboscis (long nose) for sucking sap from trees.
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What is the difference between the European Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) and the European Paper Wasp (Polistes dominula)?
The European Wasp, also called the Common Wasp, and the European Paper Wasp are both vespid insects.
The European Wasp and the European Paper Wasp are both social wasps living in colonies with a queen wasp and worker wasps.
The European Wasp and the European Paper Wasp both have black and yellow bodies with yellowish-orange legs.
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The Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria) is an insect in the Acrididae family of short-horned grasshoppers.
The Migratory Locust varies in colour from black to brownish to yellowish and green, depending on the colour of the vegetation. Generally, it has a blackish-brown back and light-brown belly and face. It has short antennae. It has long wings and long legs.
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The Giant Round-Backed Millipede (Pachybolus) is in the Spirobolida Order and Pachybolidae family of round-backed millipedes. It is not an insect, nor an arachnid. It is a diplopod.
The Giant Round-Backed Millipede has a thick, elongated, cylindrical, segmented body with a hard exo-skeleton. It can be brown-black, red or yellow. Although millipede means a thousand legs, it actually has about 200 legs. It has two pairs of legs per body segment. It has a short head with a number of simple eyes called ocelli – and poor eyesight. It has short antennae.
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The Australian Cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae) is a common insect in the roach family.
The Australian Cockroach has a brown waxy exo-skeleton, like a shield. Its head has pale yellow markings. It has long antennae. It has wings and can fly short distances. It has 6 legs, with pads and hooks on its feet that enable it to climb. It can even climb on smooth glass.
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What is the difference between the Great Capricorn Beetle (Cerambyx cerdo) and the Rhesus Capricorn Beetle (Dorcadion carinatum)?
The Great Capricorn Beetle and the Rhesus Capricorn Beetle are both insects in the Cerambyx family of longhorn beetles.
The Great Capricorn Beetle and the Rhesus Capricorn Beetle both have hard, protective wing cases, called elytra, that are reddish-brown at the tips.
The Great Capricorn Beetle is thinner than the Rhesus Capricorn Beetle.
The Caucasus Goat Moth (Cossus cossus araraticus) is a large insect.
The Caucasus Goat Moth has greyish-brown wings marked with fine, dark cross lines. It has a wide, fluffy body and short antennae.
The Great Capricorn Beetle (Cerambyx cerdo) is an insect in the longhorn family of beetles.
The Great Capricorn Beetle has an elongated black body with long, curved antennae. The antennae look like the horns of a goat (Capra ibex), which is why it is called Capricorn. It has wing cases called elytra. The elytra are reddish-brown at the tips.
The Robber Fly (Asilidae sp.) is an insect. It is also known as the Assassin Fly.
The Robber Fly is hairy with bristles. Its body has three parts: head, thorax, and abdomen. Its body is long and tapered, and can be brown, black, or grey. It has a short proboscis (sucking nose) and three simple eyes, called ocelli, between their two compound eyes. Its antennae are short with three segments. It has six spiny legs. It has a sharp ovipositor (egg-laying segment). It has smoky-coloured wings.
The Antlion (Myrmeleon sp.) is an insect. It resembles a dragonfly, but it is not related to the dragonfly or damselfly.
The Antlion has 4 stages: egg, larvae (often called a doodlebug, because it leaves squiggles in the sand), cocoon, and adult. The adult Antlion has two pairs of long, translucent wings and a long, slender abdomen. It has an exoskeleton on the outside of its body, which is thin and delicate. It has clubbed antennae.
The Pacific Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) is a marine (saltwater) crustacean. It is related to crabs and lobsters. It is also known as the Skunk Cleaner Shrimp.
The Pacific Cleaner Shrimp is pale with long scarlet bands on its shell. Its shell is called a carapace. It has several white spots on its red tail. It has two pairs of long antennae (4 antennae in total). One antenna is forked into two parts, making it look as if there are three pairs of antennae. It is a decapod, with 10 legs. Two of its legs – the ones in the front, near its head, are pincers. Pincers are also called nippers or claws. Its eyes are located at the tip of each of its two short stalks on its head.
The Leaf Insect (Phyllium philippinicum) is related to stick insects.
The Leaf Insect is bright green and looks like a leaf. It is flat and broad, and has brown spots on the edges of its body. Its abdomen has veins like leaves. Its legs have lobes, which can be green or brown. It has long antennae. Females are larger, thicker, and wider than males.