Strange Bug

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 | General | No Comments

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I’m not really sure what this is, but its awesome, and I love it.

She said, “Don’t touch it!”, I totally would have picked it up, its all furry. :)

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Archimantis latistyla

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 | Mantes (Mantises) | No Comments

Something real quick. (via wikipedia)

Aww

Aww

Archimantis latistyla, commonly known as the large brown mantis (also known as the stick mantis or Australian mantis) is a species of mantid native to Australia. The large brown mantis has a few subspecies, and one of them is the stick mantis ghost from Bundabergs Turtle Sands. The stick mantis ghosts are not as aggressive as the original species but have a defense display used to make the mantis appear larger by flinging its front legs into the air and putting its head down along with its antennae. Large brown mantids are light brown with short winged female and a long winged male. The subspecies from Bundaberg is a pale cream white with a yellow and black eye in between the arms (one and a half times the size of the original species). The large brown mantis female is called “short winged”—the pair of wings reach only half her abdomen and she is not able to fly—but the long winged male has wings that cover the entire abdomen. The wings have four sets of wings and wing covers. The top set are the covers and the bottom wings enable the mantis to fly.

Kung-Fu

Kung-Fu

Just a couple mantes

Monday, November 10th, 2008 | Mantes (Mantises) | 2 Comments

Giant Mantis in the classroom

Giant Mantis in the classroom

Parasphendale Agrionina (Budwing Mantis)

Parasphendale Agrionina (Budwing Mantis)

Phyllocrania Paradoxa (Ghost Mantis)

Phyllocrania Paradoxa (Ghost Mantis)

Praying Mantis (National Geographic)

Praying Mantis (National Geographic)

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Monochamus

Monday, October 27th, 2008 | Beetles | No Comments

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Monochamus
Monochamus galloprovincialis

Monochamus galloprovincialis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Superfamily: Chrysomeloidea
Family: Cerambycidae
Subfamily: Lamiinae
Genus: Monochamus
Megerle in Dejean, 1821 [1]

M. sartor

M. sutor

Monochamus is a genus of longhorn beetles that are found throughout the world. They are often known as sawyer beetles, as their larvae bore into dead or dying trees, or bark beetles[2]. They are often found in pine or evergreen trees. Some species are know to transmit the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, which is the cause of pine wilt disease[3].

[edit] References

Wikispecies has information related to:

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Devil’s Flower Mantis

Saturday, October 11th, 2008 | Mantes (Mantises) | No Comments

I had to share this.  The Devil’s Flower Mantis (Idolomantis diabolica).

Devil’s Flower Mantis
Idolomantis diabolica

Idolomantis diabolica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Mantodea
Family: Empusidae
Genus: Idolomantis
Species: I. diabolica
Binomial name
Idolomantis diabolica
Beier, 1956

via [wikipedia]

Apparently there isn’t much information about them but they are beautiful.

Here are some pictures.

Devil's Flower Mantis

Devil's Flower Mantis

Defense Pose

Defense Pose

Another Defense Pose

Another Defense Pose

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In case you had any doubt …

Friday, October 10th, 2008 | Mantes (Mantises) | No Comments

Of how bad ass mantes are … Watch one eat a mouse.

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Brazilian Wandering Spider

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 | Spiders | No Comments

Brazilian Wandering Spider

Brazilian Wandering Spider

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Ctenidae
Genus: Phoneutria
Perty, 1833
Diversity
8 species
Type species
Phoneutria fera
Perty, 1833
Species
P. bahiensis
P. boliviensis
P. eickstedtae
P. fera
P. keyserlingi
P. nigriventer
P. pertyi
P. reidyi

The genus Phoneutria (Greek for “Murderess”) contains eight similar scientifically described species. The Brazilian wandering spiders can grow to have a leg span of up to 10-13 cm (4-5 in). Their body length ranges from 17 to 48 mm (0.7-1.9 in).[2] The genus is distinguished from other related genera such as Ctenus by the presence of dense prolateral scopulae on the pedipalp tibiae and tarsi in both sexes.[2] Phoneutria are especially easily confused with Cupiennius, in which some species (such as the recently described C. chiapanensis) also have red hairs on the chelicerae.

Danger to humans

Phoneutria has a highly venomous bite. This genus includes some of the relatively few species of spiders known to present a threat to human beings.

These spiders are notorious both because of their toxic venom, and because they are not reluctant to attack people who appear threatening. Of the eight described species, P. nigriventer and P. fera most frequently receive mention in mass-media publications. P. nigriventer is the species responsible for most cases of venom intoxication in Brazil because it commonly is found in highly populated areas of south-eastern Brazil, such as the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. The species P. fera is native to the northern portion of South America in the Amazon of Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and the Guyanas.

Recent studies suggest that these spiders only inject venom in approximately one-third of their bites and may only inject a small amount in another third. However, research in this area is hindered by the difficulty of identifying particular species.

Bites from these spiders may result in only a couple of painful pinpricks, or may involve full-blown envenomation; but in all cases, people bitten by a Phoneutria, or any Ctenid, should seek immediate emergency treatment, as the venom can be life threatening. P. fera and P. nigriventer are the two most commonly implicated as the most virulent of the Phoneutria spiders. Phoneutria not only has a potent neurotoxin, but is reported to have one of the most excruciatingly painful envenomations of all spiders, because of its high concentration of serotonin.

via [wikipedia]

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Update

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 | Grasshoppers, News | 1 Comment

Well, as I already new, GoDaddy are no good. I got hosting with them, had everything going nice, modded quite a bit of the forum. Then to my surprise, *Almost* everything under the blog directory was deleted, the *Entire* forum directory was deleted. When I sent them an email, because yes, GoDaddy won’t shell out the money to get a 1-800 number. And I’m not calling customer service long distance, I shouldn’t have to. They told me I deleted it. Anybody who has ever had a basic go daddy hosting plan lets you know they pretty much don’t let you control any aspect of it. I told them, I wouldn’t do that, I’ve been hosting my own stuff for a long time, and I don’t accidentally delete anything. They told me they would restore their mistake for 150 dollars. Yes, all you unix users out there, 150 dollars to enter a command similar to “cp -Rv /backup /webserver”.  So anyway, here I am back, this time with bluehost.  I’m very pleased with them so far.  I have more storage, more bandwidth and more control for a lower price.

Painted Grasshopper (Dactylotum Bicolor)

Painted Grasshopper (Dactylotum Bicolor)

Picture Copyright © 2004 Richard C. Hoyer

Helfer pp. 197-198, fig. 319 (2)
Milne, pp. 418-419, fig. 259 (3)
Arnett and Jacques #21 (4)
Salsbury, p. 68 (5)
1. Field Guide To Grasshoppers, Katydids, And Crickets Of The United States
By John L. Capinera, Ralph D. Scott, Thomas J. Walker
2. How to Know the Grasshoppers, Cockroaches, and Their Allies
By Jacques R. Helfer
3. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders
By Lorus and Margery Milne
4. Simon & Schuster’s Guide to Insects
By Dr. Ross H. Arnett, Dr. Richard L. Jacques
5. Insects in Kansas
By Glenn A. Salsbury and Stephan C. White

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