ALERT FOR VISITORS TOMORROW:
MY SITE METER COUNT, AS I WRITE THIS, IS 249,864
ONE OF YOU IS LIKELY TO CLICK OVER THE COUNT TO ONE QUARTER OF A MILLION VISITORS, TOMORROW.
IF YOU HAPPEN TO NOTICE THAT NUMBER POP UP ON THE SITE COUNTER (GREEN BOX ON RIGHT HAND SIDE-BAR)
- CONGRATULATE YOURSELF
- AND KINDLY "CLAIM" THE STATUS OF BEING THE QUARTER MILLIONTH VISITOR BY LEAVING A COMMENT ON THE BLOG.
Several evenings ago I noticed a small insect walking in a strange lurching manner. It had come to my front porch light on 11 February.
It had wings, obviously, but walked along quickly.
But it was incredibly hard to photograph (because it was relatively long and narrow, but active, so it kept walking out of focus).
But it was incredibly hard to photograph (because it was relatively long and narrow, but active, so it kept walking out of focus).
I had worked out that it was probably yet another species of Assassin Bug. But which one?
There are several odd things which I have still not resolved, but let me say, the closest image I have been able to track down is of the Long Assassin Bug (Australcmena lineativentris)
But mine seems to have strange spotted or alternately coloured and transparent marks on its legs.
Also the neck is very thin - thinner than this image appears to show, from the Brisbane Insects site.
The other feature on this insect which I can observe is the extremely sparse, coarse hairiness of its legs.
You need to click on the images to expand them to get more details.
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| Assassin Bug, small, hairy, long-legged, with thin neck |
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| Assassin Bug, small, hairy, long-legged, with thin neck |
In this photo you can clearly see how thin the neck is.
Click to enlarge image
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| Assassin Bug, small, hairy, long-legged, with thin neck |
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| Assassin Bug, small, hairy, long-legged, with thin neck |
If anyone can help with identification of the species
I would really appreciate it.
EDIT: Assistance came via a comment from Joy.
She reminded me that I had posted about a similar insect previously
It was my very first Assassin Bug in fact.
I knew I had one more Assassin Bug
than I could find on my own blog.
But I had failed to index it properly as an Assassin Bug,
because when I drafted that post, I hadn't worked it out.
So it was simply indexed under "Bug".
Thanks to Joy for the assistance.
As I said to her, in the comments, it shows I am either
losing my touch, or was simply too tired, when searching
the sources for this one the other night.
In fact it was probably because
I have changed my computer over,
and have lost all my old "Bookmarks".
EDIT: Assistance came via a comment from Joy.
She reminded me that I had posted about a similar insect previously
It was my very first Assassin Bug in fact.
I knew I had one more Assassin Bug
than I could find on my own blog.
But I had failed to index it properly as an Assassin Bug,
because when I drafted that post, I hadn't worked it out.
So it was simply indexed under "Bug".
Anyway, the answer is: Stenolemus bituberus.
There is a good image of a "pinned" specimen
from the WA Dept of Agriculture.Thanks to Joy for the assistance.
As I said to her, in the comments, it shows I am either
losing my touch, or was simply too tired, when searching
the sources for this one the other night.
In fact it was probably because
I have changed my computer over,
and have lost all my old "Bookmarks".
7 comments:
Thirty-seven visits too late! Congrats on the >250,000, Denis!
No idea about your bug, but I'll be interested to see how it goes. I've got a buncha bugs here that I am struggling to get down to family, let alone species. Good luck!
Thanks Bronwen
You were the only one to "claim" anything as a comment.
Thanks.
Insects make me want to stick to Orchids. Insects are WAY too hard.
Denis
I am 214 too late! I was a tad busy yesterday so missed the warning. Anyhow, congratulations on the milestone, and I hope you are soon able to ID the Assassin Bug!!
Martin
Hi Martin.
No prizes for second, I am afraid.
:-)
But thanks for the acknowledgement of the Milestone.
.
I am not confident of getting the Assassin Bug sorted.
But the Internet is funny, one sometimes gets responses years later. I had one last week re the Stick Insects, where the guy went back through other pages on my site and corrected one of my really old IDs.
One lives in hope.
Cheers
Denis
Hi Denis,
I think your bug looks like the Stenolemus bituberus from Feb 2009 posting - but I'm no expert,
Joy
Thank you Joy.
.
I searched high and low for my own original Assassin Bug post, and could not find it. (I did know there was one I was missing).
.
At some stage I have "upgraded my computer", and as a result I have lost many of my old "bookmarks" (favourites). So I could not even do as good a search as I managed the first time.
.
But you are spot on.
Makes me think I am losing the plot if I cannot do as good a search as I managed with my very first Assassin Bug.
.
I really appreciate your intervention.
I have now gone back to that post and tagged it properly, now. And I will edit this post to acknowledge your assistance, and point back to the original post as well.
Cheers
Denis
Hi Joy
The entry is now update, thanks for your assistance.
Cheers
Denis
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