General Discussion

I love bugs! When I was younger my first dream job was to be an entomologist. There are tones of species I adore. While not insects jumping spiders are my ultimate favourite. I also love blue morpho butterfly’s(I actually got the opportunity to photograph them in the wild a few days ago),mantises, stag beetles, oddly enough diving beetle larva, trilobite beetle, and dragon flys! Parasites that are bugs are also some of the most intriguing species on the planet to me.

I have a love/hate relationship with bugs. I LOVE bugs. They're beautiful, fascinating, and I could watch them all day. Unfortunately when the beetle familiar comes into conatct with my skin I wanna shrivel up and die and when bees are too close to me I panic.

But I love and respect bugs so much . Especially ispods and milipedes

I like bugs, although most I do not like to touch LOL- I hate spiders though, as I have a severe arachnophobia. However, my favorite bug would likely have to be Deathhead Hawkmoths, I ADORE those moths with a passion, I even have a plush of one! [img]https://media.posterlounge.com/img/products/740000/735261/735261_poster.jpg[/img] [img]https://breedingbutterflies.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/acherontia-atropos.jpg[/img] Also for anyone wondering, this is the plush I have! :) [img]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51QSlDgJF5L.jpg[/img]

[quote name="AnomalyBeans" date="2024-02-28 13:49:17" ] My favorite category of bugs is leafhoppers/froghoppers! They're absolutely tiny and strong jumping machines that hop so fast that they look like they just teleport or disappear to the naked eye! My favorite of them is the spittlebug, a froghopper that produces a foamy material that looks like human spit and uses it to protect their babies from predators by covering them up on the plant they will feed on once hatched. Sometimes the adults will also cover themselves up with the stuff to make feeding safer. [/quote] Realized I never even posted pictures of them?! [emoji=aberration scared size=1] How dare I... Anyway. Here is the spittlebug that I see most often in my area! [img]https://sodsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/spittlebug-nymphs-close-up-blubbles.jpg[/img] And some bonus other ones :) [img]https://besgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/Froghoppers-spittlebug-nymph-AmarSingh-2.jpg[/img] [img]https://sodsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/spittlebug-close-up-insect-control.jpg[/img] [img]https://i0.wp.com/www.seashoretoforestfloor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/fullsizeoutput_344c.jpeg[/img] Look at how small...

Moths are actually one of my favorite animals!! Tied w/ owls. I don't think I have any particular favorite species of moth, but I am fond of hawk/sphinx moths just because I see them a lot where I live.

Also fond of mantises! My mom keeps flowers & I like to help her sometimes-- every year we see at least one or two mantises living in her flowers.

Centipedes and millipedes are also high on the list of bugs I find neat! Love all their little legs. I won't imbed the image itself just because I know centipedes&millipedes can freak out even bug people, but here's a link to the wikipedia page to one of my favorites-- shocking pink dragon millipedes!

[quote name="Xionahri" date="2024-02-27 09:27:10" ] Snakeflies! [img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Dichrostigma_flavipes_beentree.jpg[/img] They're close relatives of lacewings and antlions and live in temperate forests of the northern hemisphere. They primarily prey on aphids and use their long necks to easily 'graze' them off plants. Even their larvae are predators of plant pests, so it's nice to have these animals around. And if you think that these look really primal, you'd absolutely be right. This is a fossil from the middle Jurassic: [img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Juroraphidia_longicollum.jpg[/img] The actually had their biggest distribution and diversity during the Cretaceous, and are therefore nowadays considered a relic group. [/quote] @Xionahri thats one rock and roll looking fly i love him hes like goth

[quote name="VibinFrogFolk" date="2024-03-21 19:48:52" ] [quote name="Xionahri" date="2024-02-27 09:27:10" ] Snakeflies! [img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Dichrostigma_flavipes_beentree.jpg[/img] They're close relatives of lacewings and antlions and live in temperate forests of the northern hemisphere. They primarily prey on aphids and use their long necks to easily 'graze' them off plants. Even their larvae are predators of plant pests, so it's nice to have these animals around. And if you think that these look really primal, you'd absolutely be right. This is a fossil from the middle Jurassic: [img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Juroraphidia_longicollum.jpg[/img] The actually had their biggest distribution and diversity during the Cretaceous, and are therefore nowadays considered a relic group. [/quote] thats one rock and roll looking fly i love him hes like goth [/quote] The fossil is especially [i]Rock[/i]'n'Roll. ...I'll see myself out.