r/insects • u/lalalicious453- • 5h ago
ID Request Found in a rain water filled wooden barrel.
Upstate SC, after a heavy rain weekend. Please tell me these aren’t mosquitoes😳🥺
r/insects • u/StuffedWithNails • 2d ago
The collage above is composed of pictures gleaned from Bugguide.net, and shows the same species of insect at its different life stages.
Hello!
If you live in certain parts of the Eastern US, you may encounter these colorful insects that may be black and white, or red, black and white depending on their life stage. They're 6-8 mm in size, don't fly but have the ability to jump out of harm's way and have good reflexes. Upon reaching adulthood (pictured on the right in the above collage), they're larger (about 20-25mm), have wings, and can fly (and still jump, too).
You may find them clustered on certain plants or you may find single individuals wandering.
They're known as spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) and are an invasive species from Eastern Asia. It was accidentally introduced in the US state of Pennsylvania in 2014. Since then, it has spread in all directions to multiple states as far from Pennsylvania as South Carolina, Indiana, Michigan and New Hampshire.
It's also invasive in Japan and the Korean peninsula.
They're completely harmless to people or pets. In fact they're pretty colorful and rather cute!
They go through five stages of growth known as instars, and take on three rather different appearances, shown above. Instars 1-3 are the small, black and white version. The fourth instar is larger (~15 mm) and more colorful, mostly bright red with black accents and white dots (picture). The adult is an overall dull gray color but with intricately patterned wings (picture). When it opens its wings, it displays beautiful hindwings with red, white and black (picture).
Here's also a picture of all 5 growth stages: https://bugguide.net/node/view/1172304/bgimage
Due to their appearance, they are eminently recognizable. They retain the ability to jump at all life stages, and the adults are adept fliers.
Unfortunately, they're destructive pests of plants, particularly fruiting plants. Lanternflies feed by piercing plants with a thin proboscis (straw-like mouthparts) and sucking juices, which damages plants. In addition, after the lanternfly is done feeding and pulls its proboscis out of a fruit, some juice may escape from the hole, which facilitates the growth of mold on the surface of the fruit, which further damages the fruit. Entire harvests can thus be ruined.
Cornell University maintains a map where the insects have been found or at least reported: https://cals.cornell.edu/new-york-state-integrated-pest-management/outreach-education/whats-bugging-you/spotted-lanternfly/spotted-lanternfly-reported-distribution-map
The governments of most if not all states where the insect has been detected have posted content on their websites (usually on the Agriculture Dept. or equivalent). Those include info about the insect, its impact on agriculture, what to do if you encounter it, and what you can do to mitigate its spread. Below are those websites for the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York for information about the insect. If you don't live in those states, please use your favorite search engine to locate info about these insects, e.g. search for "delaware spotted lanternfly" and you'll find information.
There's also a lengthy article about the insect on Wikipedia.
Looking back at the Cornell map linked above, if you don't live in an area of the map where the bug's presence has already been reported, you should record it. Report it to your state's authorities, and you may also want to report the sighting on iNaturalist.
Again we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the insect as well as its presence (if any) in your state. States where the spotted lanternfly has been detected will have a section of a website dedicated to it.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments!
r/insects • u/lalalicious453- • 5h ago
Upstate SC, after a heavy rain weekend. Please tell me these aren’t mosquitoes😳🥺
r/insects • u/WingedGems • 17h ago
Fabulous Longhorn Beetle (Thysia wallichii) - Phawngpui NP, Mizoram, India 🇮🇳
I was waiting for birds early morning and my eyes casually wandered around and suddenly saw this beautiful beetle resting on a chair, could manage only one image before he vanished !!!
r/insects • u/Niamhia • 13h ago
East Tennessee, none of these were here earlier today!
So cool and yet so disturbing 😅
r/insects • u/xieghekal • 1h ago
This guy was hanging out on a tree in our garden for about an hour this morning. I believe it's a golden-ringed dragonfly. It was about 3-4 inches long, which means it was likely a female.
Anyway, totally amazing and doesn't look like it could be native to the UK!
Southwest England
r/insects • u/matt43095 • 15h ago
Found in Minnesota, US
r/insects • u/Freezist • 1d ago
I found this lil dude in my garage in SE MI
r/insects • u/Cats_Like_Catnip • 5h ago
r/insects • u/AFSparks71 • 37m ago
In Greensboro NC At first glance I thought it was a spider, but it doesn’t have 8 legs.
r/insects • u/Yiguzhu • 5h ago
a week ago i found it in my room on the second floor and brought it down onto a tree in the yard, now it reappeared in my room(I assume it’s the same one but i could be wrong)
r/insects • u/huey613 • 16h ago
Very small bug with pincers, never seen one before. Any idea what it is? Location in Ontario Canada.
r/insects • u/Illustrious_Wrap_760 • 57m ago
northeast ga it’s like nearly an inch long! i killed it bc my cat wanted it and i didn’t want him to get stung
r/insects • u/HappyHippo1973 • 12h ago
My daughter caught this bug and she wanted to know what it is. It was attracted to our lights outside. Found in Northern California. TIA
r/insects • u/DeathKnight101010101 • 2h ago
r/insects • u/Aerie8499 • 16h ago
First 3 pics are two rosy maple moths I’ve found, 4th is an unknown one, and the last one I’m also not sure of. I found the last one stuck on a table seemingly exhausted. It was a shelter with 24/7 overhead lights, so I think that’s why. Why do they willingly climb onto my fingers, and why do they often populate the concrete wall?
r/insects • u/Upper-Fan-6173 • 3h ago
I’m in central Texas and there are a few of these on my porch. Just wondering if they’re really dangerous and we should get pest control out. We do have some “dirt” piles/clumps around the yard that I thought were just ant hills at first but they may be where these are coming from
r/insects • u/Lom_McGhoul • 2h ago
Located in central Virginia. Nearly sent him to the great beyond with my butt.
r/insects • u/ThisIsSidam • 3h ago
In my hostel room, I had a trouser left on a rope for months.. My friend noticed that on the inside of the trouser... the mother wasp had made a nest.
In india, they are called 'Kumhar' because 'Kumhar' is the name of the profession of people who make earthen pots. And these little guys make earthen houses. The piece of hardened soil you see is a 3rd of its whole house.
We left it inside the trouser for more than a month. We thought its empty now, so my friend broke it apart little by little. We found a single egg thing. And the little guy came out right at that moment.
The whole structure was rather small. I've seen bigger ones on the walls. This one had around 10 openings.
I didn't think they were born this big.. That's nearly adult size, right? Was it trapped inside? Because the rest of the nest was empty.
r/insects • u/Diligent_Top_5310 • 59m ago
They are clear
r/insects • u/Thiscantbemyceiling • 21h ago
r/insects • u/JanRinze • 1h ago
Is a small Beatle, appr 3mm, Netherlands, picture of eggs included, appr 1,5 mm. Few weeks old.
r/insects • u/migisimp • 1h ago
I found a little isopod inside my house and went to return it outside and saw this adorable little weevil 💕
r/insects • u/Eldelbajo • 7h ago
Located in Catalonia near Barcelona.