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A Couple More Insect Photos

William H.

Critical Thinker
W
Joined
Feb 26, 2002
Messages
467
I found this May Beetle on my porch when I went to get the paper this morning and then spent over an hour taking pictures of it.


maybeetle.JPG




I didn't expect the hair on its underside:

maybeetle2a.JPG



Don't forget to hit the F11 key for better viewing. If I take any more insect photos I'll put them in this thread.
 
Those are great pictures. I missed your previous posts; have you explained what equipment you're using already? You must have some sort of macro lens.
 
Zombified said:
Those are great pictures. I missed your previous posts; have you explained what equipment you're using already? You must have some sort of macro lens.
Click to expand...

Or REALLY big bugs on his porch!!
 
I forgot to mention that the May beetle is just over half an inch long, the milkweed bug seen below is a little longer than 3/8", it wouldn't sit still on the plant so I had to shoot it in a container. Thanks to Skeptoid for the link.


milkweedbug.JPG
 
They are beautiful. Why do I still shudder and feel repulsed when I get that close a look at them. My mind is in a quandary.:(
 
William:
May beetle? Those are called June Bugs (or june beetles) down here in Texas. In case you're interested, it's a male. No, you're looking in the wrong place. Look at the antennae : the feathery, multi-fingered antennae are the clue. Females have simple, knobbed antennae.

I used to be a lab tech for an entomologist during summers in high school. One of my jobs was surveying june beetle populations. First thing every morning, I'd go dump the light trap and start counting. The catch vessel was a one-gallon pickle jar, and during peak season, it would be about half to two-thirds full. Nothing like being up to your elbows in june beetles. It made for some interesting moments when a guided tour of little old ladies came in the lab while I was scooping out handfuls of beetles with my bare hands, some of them crawling up my arms. We'd sort them by species and gender. Sorry, I've forgotten the proper name for them (too many years ago).

BTW, they stink. You can't tell with only one or two beetles, but a jar of about two thousand will almost knock you flat.

Regards;
Beanbag
 
Zep said:
We call them Christmas beetles for an obvious reason.
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I think you're all turned around on the subject, we call these christmas beetles, that june bug thingy is too small, christmas beetles are 2 to 3 centimetres, (1 inch) long, not half that.

Christmasbeetle.jpg
 
Oh, I used to LOVE June Bugs. When I lived down in southern California, they'd be all over the yard during the summer. I'd catch as many as I could in a big tupperware container and then let them crawl all over my hand. It was one of my favourite summertime activites. I miss catching June bugs; I haven't seen any here in Vegas. We do get some big ol' freaky spider scorpions, but those are icky, and while I'll catch them for fun, I don't touch them. June Bugs are just cute, though.

Again, great pictures.
 
SquishyDave said:
I think you're all turned around on the subject, we call these christmas beetles, that june bug thingy is too small, christmas beetles are 2 to 3 centimetres, (1 inch) long, not half that.

Christmasbeetle.jpg
Click to expand...
Hmmm, I've been mislead then. I was informed they are similar, if not the same animal.

OK! You learn something new every day!
 
they are similar--they are scarab beetles, family Scarabeidae. In the same subfamily as well, but i can never spell that one correctly from memory, so i won't. :)
Your Xmas beetle looks different from what i call a june beetle, but without one of these, I can't be sure. :D
 
I thought Christmas beetles were the big black sorta-shiny-multicoloured ones?

Anyway, yes a furry bottom of a bug is interesting to behold! :) Rather see it like this at a safe distance than in my bathtub though.
 
Common names are notoriously innacurate--each community has it's own name for it's local bugs. An awful lot of different things go by the name "locust," for example.
So, i won't commit to any bug ID's other than a fairly general one. i can visually confirm that it's a scarab by sight, and probably get a genus--but beyond that, you need to start counting tarsi and spines, and looking at genitalia.
For those that are interested in that sort of thing, it's subfamily Melolonthinae. See why i can't spell it from memory?

Edited to add:
uh, the insect's genitalia. :D
 
Beanbag said:
William:
May beetle? Those are called June Bugs (or june beetles) down here in Texas.
Click to expand...


Sunday when I first found it, I looked in "The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders" where it is listed as a May Beetle. Today I looked in the back of the same book for more info on it, and they have "June Beetle" as a secondary name for it.

So I guess it's a regional thing like bug_girl said. We call them June bugs up here in the midwest too, but I went with the authority of the book and referred to it as a May Beetle in my OP.
 
The development of the May Beetle/June Bug is largely driven by soil temperature during its entire 3 year life cycle. Thus, May Beetles emerge in the southern states and June Bugs emerge in the northern states (in the US). Same bug though.

The larvae of the June Bug (hey, I live in Wisconsin) are the white grubs that feed on the roots of our lawns, causing brown spotting. Skunks love to feed on these grubs and if you ever wake up one morning and notice about 50 small holes dug in your yard, you can be pretty sure a skunk or raccoon had a hearty meal overnight at the expense of the beauty of your lawn. :)




Edit- clarity.
 
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