To diversify my wildlife ID efforts away from LLM-infected enshittifying iNaturalist, I've made an account on BugGuide and uploaded my first bug ID request, for a nomad bee:
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/2516237
BugGuide feels more like the old web and hopefully won't lose its mind chasing AI money from Google.
Original iNaturalist observation, which is stuck at "Needs ID":
Creature Identification help, please
Can the bug knowledgable fedi-friends identify this for me please? INaturalist has clearly failed utterly here, as it obviously isn't a Ladybird/bug.
Spotted a Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) eating an ant in my garden. These metallic green beetles are efficient predators—larvae wait in burrows to ambush prey, while adults chase down insects on the move. Harmless to humans, and great for natural pest control.
#Entomology #InsectID #NativeInsects #Cicindela #TigerBeetle #FieldBiology
Looks like it's the Dielis pilipes, Hairy-footed Scoliid Wasp!
These bees live in the ground, maybe sorta solitary but in communities? Lots of holes in the dry sandy silt ground where they live. The fly around in patterns around the nests. I thought maybe some sort of cuckoo bee but I'm not sure. They're big, about 25mm long. Some kind of bee, wasp, hornet. More pics in the reply.
#insects #InsectID #BugID #bee #wasp #hornet #NativePollinators #Pollinators
Bonus bug of the day, but I need your help to fully identify this one 🤷♂️
This small fly is definitely from the Gymnosoma genus in the Tachnidae family, but the markings have me confused 😬
Rotundatum should have spots on its yellow abdomen, giving it the name "ladybird fly".
Nudifrons should be black along the thorax to the head.
Dolycoridis might be close, but the abdomen stripe isn't right.
Any ideas? 🤨
#Insect 🪳
#InsectID 🪰
#Photography 📷
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
Some kind of June beetle? It was on European plum blossom. I went back to collect it later but it was gone.
Unidentified black bee with pollen on the clove currants. North Central Washington State.
#NativeBees #NativePollinators #pollinators #bees #bee #insectID #CloveCurrant #FlowerWithBee #BloomScrollingWithBee #April14
Any clue as to what little creature might be inside this round coccoon? It's on a branch of an elderflower.
Nelson
Ellie Kennard
Hunter Lindsay
Tom
Mark McCaughrean
Bec
Possumantha