Today’s featured insect specimen is a striped walkingstick (family Pseudophasmatidae) from Costa Rica. Unlike most walkingstick species, which are wingless, this species has striking wings that it likely uses for defense rather than flight.
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Today’s featured insect is a leaf beetle (family Chrysomelidae) from the genus Calligrapha, which includes over 100 species. Found throughout North and Central America, these beetles are notable for the intricate, high-contrast “ink spot” markings on their wing covers (elytra).
Today we feature Mydromera notochloris, an attractive Erebid moth from Costa Rica that was described by Boisduval in 1870. It is diurnal and has transparent patches on its wings.
Today’s featured insect is Erotylina leoparda, a pleasing fungus beetle (family Erotylidae) from Costa Rica. First described in 1842, this species has distinct colour patterns that vary with latitude, altitude, and temperature.
Today’s featured insect is the eastern poplar buprestid (Poecilonota cyanipes), a metallic wood-boring beetle native to North America. Found from subarctic Canada to the southern U.S., its larvae tunnel beneath the bark of weakened poplar, aspen, and willow trees.
Today’s featured insect is Gyrinus wallisi, a whirligig beetle (family Gyrinidae) from Churchill, Manitoba. These carnivorous aquatic beetles swim in circles on the water of lakes and ponds, using split eyes to see above and below the surface at once!
Today's featured insect is Huddlestonium exu, a rare parasitic wasp from Kruger National Park, South Africa. It is the sole species in its genus and belongs to the tiny family Geoscelionidae, which has only eight species — most known from ancient amber millions of years old.
Today's featured insect specimen is the convergent lady beetle (Hippodamia convergens), whose range includes much of North America. Both adults and larvae are predators of aphids. Females can lay over 1,000 eggs over the course of spring and summer.
Today's featured insect specimen is Stolas lebasii, a tortoise beetle (family Chrysomelidae) from Costa Rica. Like other members of the genus Stolas, it feeds on plant leaves and stems, using its broad, dome-like shell, formed by its elytra, for defense.
Today's featured insect specimen is a short-horned grasshopper from coastal New South Wales, Australia. Australia has about 500 described native grasshopper species, though experts estimate that the total number exceeds 1,500 species.
Today's featured insect specimen from Nunavut is the fiery scavenger beetle, Corticaria ferruginea (family Latridiidae). These minute brown scavenger beetles, along with their larvae, feed exclusively on the hyphae and spores of fungi, moulds, and mildews.
Today's featured specimen is the giant mayfly, Hexagenia limbata. It's the most widely distributed mayfly in North America. Its aquatic larvae live in mud burrows in lakes and rivers. Adults have vestigial mouthparts, do not feed, and live only long enough to reproduce.
Today's featured specimen from the Yukon is Bobitus fungicola, a rove beetle (family Staphylinidae) associated with fungi, as its name suggests. It preys on small arthropods, particularly fly larvae inhabiting decaying forest litter and fungi.
Today's featured insect is a spider wasp from Ecuador (family Pompilidae). With over 5,000 species worldwide, most are solitary hunters that paralyze spiders to provision their larvae. The adults are important nectar-feeding pollinators.
Today's featured insect is the immaculate antlion (Neleon immaculatus), also known as the spotless antlion. Its larvae build cone-shaped sand traps to capture unsuspecting ants, then inject venom that liquefies their prey's internal tissues.
Today's featured insect from Ecuador is a specimen of Titanacris, a small genus of just seven arboreal species of tropical South American grasshoppers. They are renowned for their large size and strikingly coloured hindwings, which are flashed to startle predators.
Today's featured insect is Mulsantina hudsonica (family Coccinellidae) from Manitoba. It is a beneficial predator in North American forests, where it feeds on aphids and adelgids that can damage spruce, fir, and other coniferous trees.
Today's featured insect is Repsimus aeneus a relatively rare scarab beetle from the eastern coast of Australia. Adults primarily feed on the foliage of eucalyptus and paperbark trees. The larvae spend their lives underground feeding on roots.
Today's featured insect from Australia is the striped sun fly (Tapeigaster nigricornis). Closely associated with fungi, this striking heleomyzid fly is often encountered on or near mushrooms. Adults spend much of their time basking in sunny woodland patches.
Today's featured insect is Leiodes longitarsis, the long-footed round fungus beetle, from Churchill, Manitoba. Described in 1993, this small round beetle feeds on fungi, slime molds, and other molds growing on decaying organic matter and forest debris.
Today's featured insect is Pseudomyrmex gracilis, the slender twig ant. Found from the southern USA to Argentina and Brazil, it nests in hollow twigs and small branches. It delivers a painful sting and aggressively defends its host plant by swarming and stinging intruders.
Today's featured insect is the ornate checkered beetle, Trichodes ornatus (Family Cleridae), from the Yukon. Females lay eggs on flowers and the larvae hitch rides on solitary bees back to their nests where they feed on bee larvae. Adults also prey on bees visiting flowers.
Today's featured insect is Palmia praecedens, a rare clearwing moth (Family Sesiidae) known from only a handful of verified records since its description in 1883. It is associated with oak woodlands in southern Arizona's mountains, with additional records from North Carolina.
Today we feature a Rust Fly (Family Psilidae) from the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Their larvae (maggots) typically burrow into the roots and stems of plants where they feed and develop. Some species are significant pests of root crops such as carrots and parsnips.
Today we feature a pseudoscorpion. These arachnids have venomous scorpion-like pincers but no tail or stinger. Many pseudoscorpions practice phoresy — hitchhiking on larger animals such as beetles, flies, birds, and small mammals to reach new habitats without harming their hosts.
Today’s featured insect is the Northern Carrion Beetle (Thanatophilus lapponicus), found across Canada and northern regions worldwide. This scavenger locates decaying animals by smell while flying and feeds on carrion and fly larvae.
Today’s featured insect specimen from Manitoba is Arhopalus foveicollis, the Pitted Longhorn Beetle (Cerambycidae), described in 1847. Its larvae develop in dead or dying conifers like pine and spruce in boreal forests after wildfires, where they’re usually found in tree stumps.
Today’s featured insect specimen is the spectacular Central American Montane Tiger Beetle (Pseudoxycheila tarsalis) from Costa Rica. It is a flightless predator of small insects and defends itself by releasing foul-smelling chemical irritants.
Today’s featured insect is a Neriid fly (genus Glyphidops) which typically breed in rotting vegetation. Males are highly territorial and are known for dramatic displays and intense fights over access to females, often using their elongated bodies and legs to intimidate rivals.
Today’s featured insect specimen from Costa Rica is a moss-mimic stick insect (genus Trychopeplus). They are well known for their remarkable camouflage that closely resembles epiphytic moss.
