funkypancake: insects Archives

very big moth

here's a moth and my foot to show you how bit it was when folded in half

it was flapping in the wind and crawling across the path. it's body underneath was about the size of a small mouse and just as furry.

weta-bits

here are some bits of the planet's heaviest insect on a bench in a mini museum. just collected from around and about

thankfully harmless, but quite horrendous to look at (size wise about the same as a kids hand)

demonstration cockroaches

museums love to shock when it comes to live cockroach displays. i thought i'd share this with you.

cockroaches and mosquitoes

two things i really don't like. and spiders. really fast running spiders which bite (in a non dangerous way). don't like them. at all.

large centipede

this small large centipede was in our house. apparently they bite. yuck.

weta bits

weta's are very strange beasties. here's one which was dead on a footpath. it's a tree weta. you can read more about wetas here

crazy caterpillars

i spotted these rather weird fruit on a tree and thought they looked intriguing. it was only upon closer inspection that i found they contained monarch butterfly caterpillars

cicada

how can something so small make such a noise ?

a bee's face down a microscope

lady bird

insects are brilliant. little armoured chaps going about their business.

bee in a rose

i knew someone who had a bee in her bonnet we all laughed as everyone knows bees should travel in your boot (or 'trunk' to any american readers).

lady bird

lady birds are quite cool. i liked this one.

here's the flower san ladybird as they say in france. probably.

2 headed wasp

i was sitting in the park with some people from the conference yesterday and one of them found this wasp which had another wasp's head in its hands. bit weird that isn't it ?

bee

not my favourite kind of shots, but i liked this little chap's bottom - his bee-hind perhaps

daddy long legs

our house is full of daddy long legs at the moment. and mosquitos and midges. it's the like the battle at the end of Star Wars here.

love is ... studying ants with a friend

the funkypancake insect identification service #2
Comments (7)

keith sent me this picture and said:

"The attached shot is of a bug I found on some sweet peas growing in our garden in Southampton. Judging by this site: http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/bugclub/bugid.html
it might be some sort of Hemiptera, but that doesn't mean anything to me so if you run out of things to post, feel free to put it up for readers to come up with a more meaningful name.

Apologies for the large file but I wanted you to be able to enjoy the full horror of it; if you zoom right in, he appears to have actually turned his head towards me to get a better look, if those are in fact eyes on his head..... "

so, what do you think ?

alan's butterfly walk

Alan lead us on a butterfly walk after church yesterday. there was a good turn out considering the wet weather

esther and kezia loved walking through muddy puddles and streams in their trainers

here's alan demonstrating his butterfly lassoo technique

alan really was the star of the show, catching and explaining everything about butterflies and nature and stuff

here he is doing the classic blanket sweep butterfly trawl.

and explaining the catch to the assembled throng

this is a butterfly

here's the specimen jar (temporary accomodation for the catchee before being let free again)

all terrific stuff. i think alan was doing for butterflies what funkypancake does for lost gloves. so perhaps i should do guided photo tours round london ? any interest ? no, i thought not !

kezia catches a snail

the funkypancake insect identification service
Comments (6)

does anyone know what this white insect is ? our friend ian spotted it but didn't know what it was, and wondered if any of the nature-loving (or hating!) funkypancake readers knew what it was. apparently it was a few centimetres long and had two sets of wings.

was it an angel do you think ?

any thoughts greatfully received via comments or email

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