Natural Science Forum / Biology / Entomology / July 2006

Can someone please explain what the heck is going on here:
http://user.it.uu.se/~svens/larverna/normal.html

We have what I'm pretty sure are a pair of large tortoiseshells around
the buddleias in our garden in County Durham (north-east England) this
morning. I have some decent photos. What's the latest on these? Are
they as rare as they used to be?

This strange insect showed up at my house today, and I've been scouring
the internet trying to identify it. Don't know why this has become a
mission for me, but I've never seen anything quite like it.
I'm not sure if it's a beetle or not, but it has a similar form.

I recently found a small beetle with very unusual markings.  It looked very
much like a ladybird, but I cannot find anything resembling it.
Unfortunately I let it go after looking at it and the photo I took with my
phone was just a blur.  I have done the following (very rough!) ...

Could someone help to identify the following insects:
http://me.metaflow-project.org/insect.jpg
http://me.metaflow-project.org/insect2.jpg
http://me.metaflow-project.org/insect3.jpg

Let me give you some brief background of the insect i try to identify.
I recently went to Indonesia and stay in pretty decent hotel for about 10 days.
On the way back I felt something tickling my face. Like something was crawling near
my eye. Smack it and kill it. Looks like a tiny ...

Dear colleagues,
I would like to know how to measure beetle to tell which the strongest
one out of the coleoptera is.
Would we have to construct some type of basket and mount the basket on

I'm having great fun photographing the wildlife in and around my local
park pond - at the minute mostly dragonfly and damselfly.
Getting fed-up with just labeling everything with one of those two names!
Cribbing from <http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk>, I hope I have these correct?

I live in Southern California and this strange bug just crawled across
my floor. He was very fast and liked hiding in the shadows under
furniiture so I only got one good pic of him. After comparing the pic
to the tile it was taken on, He's 1 inch head to rear (not counting

I remember being told as a child that if i got any of the dust from a moth
wings on my hands, i must wash throughly as it was very poisonous.   is
there any truth in that?   what kind of dust would it be anyway?  thanks.

I seem to have them often, mostly in my bathroom. They are wierd worm
like insects that seem to have a pod casing as a home. Thanks because
they are bugging the hell out of me!
They range from very small to about quarter of an inch in lenght. I

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17078232@N00/189484940
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17078232@N00/189484938
Thanks!

The female mosquitoes, which go around stinging people,
they are attracted by carbon dioxide and various scents.
Now the question is: are they blind or do they see?
Or also: do they get attracted by the UV lamps with the high voltage

I'm interested in identifying this largish, black beetle photographed
in the woods in Montgomery County, Maryland (USA).  Any help you can
provide would be most appreciated.
http://www.dotrose.com/v2images/photo/2006/2006_07_08a_rachel_carson/small/img_0
42963.jpg

Every time that I have gone out this season (since mid-June anyway), I
have encountered Monarchs and have seen several mating exercises. I have
also seen them in our backyard, feeding on the milkweeds there...
Alex