The wildlife identification thread

[David B]

A thread for people to post pics of bugs, fungi, plants....they need help identifying, and for people to help them identify them.

I've googled for a while on this one, thinking it would be easy, but no:confused:

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/PIC_0024.jpg

Any ideas?

David

[premjan]

http://images.wildmadagascar.org/pictures/masoala/green_caterpillar0040.jpg

[Berthold]

If it's indigenous: Have you tried here (http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/)?

[Ray Moscow]

A thread for people to post pics of bugs, fungi, plants....they need help identifying, and for people to help them identify them.

I've googled for a while on this one, thinking it would be easy, but no:confused:

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/PIC_0024.jpg

Any ideas?

David

Looks at lot like this one: Antheraea polyphemus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antheraea_polyphemus), a US species. Did you see it in the UK? If so, it's probably a closely related species (the silk moths).

[Berthold]

It's already been found on FRDB.

ETA: Which is down at the moment.

But it's this (http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=1787). It was someone else who identified it. I then just searched for the caterpillar photo with the best likeness (they change a bit during their ontogenesis).

[Ray Moscow]

It's the same family as the one I suggested, so now I feel temporarily clever. :D

It would be cool to see one in real life.

[David B]

It's the same family as the one I suggested, so now I feel temporarily clever. :D

It would be cool to see one in real life.

You missed it by a couple of days, as it was on a path you walked.

David

[muidiri]

He he he... I happen to know what this one is, but I think others might find it entertaining. We spent weeks trying to figure out what the hell they were when our house got invaded in FL.

http://images.whatsthatbug.com/images/lawn_shrimp.jpg

[Ray Moscow]

Sand fleas? I don't know which species.

[Worldtraveller]

Can any of you birders take a look at the flycatcher pics in this post (http://secularcafe.org/showthread.php?p=55333&#post55333)? Even with my bird book, they kinda all look alike to me. I need to get my Sibley book out, sometimes the drawings in that one are just different enough to make it a little easier to ID a bird.

[Matty]

http://images.whatsthatbug.com/images/lawn_shrimp.jpg
they look an awful lot like what we cornish call sandhoppers, which i also guess is the same as a sand flea as Ray says?

[Ray Moscow]

Googling around, they could be Orchestia agilis or O. platensis, both "sand fleas". See Google Image for pictures.

Or something closely related.

[Matty]

down cornwall way they tend to be black but otherwise look just like that.

[muidiri]

:D They're lawn shrimp. Terrestrial amphipods (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN377) - I kid you not.

Although when our house was invaded, we were a bit concerned about being overrun by gigantic mutant fleas. A drought had just ended, and they came up out of the ground to avoid being drowned by the downpour.

You know, I always called these sand fleas as a kid... but apparently they're "mole crabs" although they are commonly called sand fleas by those who don't realize that actual sand fleas exist.
http://www.mariculturetechnology.com/images/mole_crab.jpg

They're probably closely related to Ray's Orchestia agilis though. Seems like a similar sort of critter, although mine are actually crustaceans.