A whole slew of insects I need identified, if you guys don't mind =)

[danielthelefty]

I know you guys get a lotta threads like this, but I'm a wildlife photographer guy (some of you may remember me as the idiot who played with a wheel bug!), and I'd really like to start connecting names with bugs... to make me look at least somewhat knowledgeable and professional, rather than "This was a really cool bug I found. No clue what it is!"

I'd love to contribute here, but I have a lot to learn about insects and arachnids before I'd even come close to being able to be helpful. I'll start reading!

Okay, well... the first ones aren't insects at all... they're larva of some kind...

This next one is obviously a grasshopper of some kind, and I know it's not a particularly helpful picture in identifying it... the photo lab tech messed up my film, so the grain went crazy. I've since put "NO EDITS" in the instruction box.

This photo's pretty dark (again, due to me correcting photo lab tech's "corrections"), but from what I remember, it had a purple body and bright green eyes, and was about an inch long, maybe an inch and a half if that helps:

This next one was a HUGE dragonfly, about six-to-eight inches long (no joke), brown in color:

I've seen a million of these little guys and still have absolutely no clue what they are. This one was really photogenic, though!

Am I right in assuming this is a green clearwing?

And is this an adult male green clearwing, too?

This next one was a tiny mantid, probably a youngster, as it had no wings, about an inch, maybe an inch and a half in length:

Any help in identifying these insects, or at least pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! And if you have any other fun facts you'd like to share, I'd love to learn more about them

Thanks

 

[Galapoheros]

I don't know what kind of caterpillars those are but they are insects even though they are in larvae form.

Don't know what sp of hopper that is. I see something like those here in Tx.

3rd one's a Robber Fly sp.

The little green fly looks like a sp of "long legged fly".... these pics taken in Texas?

The green dragonfly 'looks' like a Green Clearwing. I don't have a direction on the blue one. Don't know what sp of mantid that is either. I'm sure you'll get some better answers later. Nice pics, thanks!

 

[spydrhunter1]

Number 7 is Dolichopodidae

 

[danielthelefty]

these pics taken in Texas?

North Carolina

And from what I've read, female pondhawks (or green clearwings) are green, whereas males are blue.

 

[danielthelefty]

Number 7 is Dolichopodidae

Thanks

Apparently this post is too short for me to post just my thanks, so here is a lengthy explanation that will elongate it to the point that I can post without worry.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

I'd guess the mantis as a Chinese Mantis, Tenodera aridifolia. Hard to tell for sure without a face shot, but the only other big and green kind of mantis in North America is the European. I saw a fly in Costa Rica that looked identical to the long-legged green fly.

EDIT: The mantis is a male, if you're interested (really long antennae).

 

[danielthelefty]

The mantis is a male, if you're interested (really long antennae).

Thanks, I am interested in learning all I can about this

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Almost all I know about mantids I learned from personal observations of the European Mantis, Mantis religiosa, while growing up in Eastern Oregon. I should be able to answer most questions about that one, and the Chinese mantis is quite similar.