A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Family Coreidae
A Squash Bug, a.k.a. "Leaf-footed Bug," spotted along the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park. Special thanks to "Small Wonders" for confirming my tentative identification! Related Resource: Small Wonders http://www.projectnoah.org/users/Small%2...
Huntley Meadows Park, a 1,425 acre wetland area in Fairfax County, Virginia USA. Related Resource: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/huntl...
Copyright © 2013 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com
I certainly know about the mass of Coreidae in US, however and nevertheless there are some which were "easy" or easier to determine, like yours. The size of a family is not an argument for me not to try to ID a bug, the more difficult it might be, the more challenging it would be for me, at least to a certain amount of time spent and degree of desperation. And I must also admit that there is not only a level of knowledge, but also a level of confidence. In your case confidence in my suggestion and at the end in any suggestion here on Project Noah and in my case confidence in my skills and mostly (!) in my own eyes. There is only one possibility to proof: upload it to bugguide or whatsthatbug. And it is always mandatory to verify a suggestion, from whoever it might come!
I am pretty sure that yours is Acanthocephala terminalis, I would bet half of my ranch on it. The other half you can keep, when I loose...
A quick Google search turned up the following quote: "Coreidae is a large family of predominantly herbivorous insects that belong in the hemipteran suborder Heteroptera. There are more than 1,800 species in over 250 genera." Species-level ID is above my pay grade, although I appreciate bayucca's efforts.
Some amusement is always good...
I hope our Project Noah friends do not have the same feelings about our rangers:
http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Big+Bro...
I hope our Coreidae do not have the same feelings about our macro photographers:
http://image2-cdn.n24.de/image/445702/1/...
I hope you will not have the same feelings about New Year:
http://www.threedonia.com/wp-content/upl...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, your family and our Project Noah family!
Timely comic for your amusement, bayucca! 28 Nov 2013 http://www.dilbert.com/
Too funny, bayucca! You know, if there weren't so many subversive spotters in Switzerland then it wouldn't be necessary for the NSA to spy on a "neutral" nation. ;-)
When the NSA can spy in Switzerland, then bayucca can ID in US, easy, isn't it ;-)..., just kidding as usual...
You need good eyes, enough time and some hints or characteristics, like the color of the antennae tips, spots or no spots, markings, thickness and color of the legs (femur and tibia), shape etc... Just use your eyes and compare. OK, it is not always easy and Coreidae are really a tricky group. The question would be another: what would bayucca do without bugguide??
Thanks for the species ID suggestion, "bayucca!" There are SO MANY members of the Family Coreidae I can only respond by saying, "If you say so." BTW, how is it a spotter in Switzerland is able to ID an insect in the USA?
Coreidae, Coreinae, Acanthocephala sp. and most probably Acanthocephala terminalis. Please, verify!
http://bugguide.net/node/view/286583/bgp...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/16391/bgpa...