What is the strangest insect you’ve found?

[Arthroverts]

Kind of strange when you think about it, but if you look up members of the genus Phanaeus, Sulcophanaeus, or Coprophanaeus, they're all gorgeous. But they eat crap for a living. Prettiest cleanup crew ever. But it makes you wonder why they're so colorful.

Kinda funny, isn't it. I'd love to keep some of these someday, although I hear they stay underground most of the time. @VolkswagenBug, what was your experience with Phanaeus?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[pannaking22]

Kinda funny, isn't it. I'd love to keep some of these someday, although I hear they stay underground most of the time. @VolkswagenBug, what was your experience with Phanaeus?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

Yeah, the Phanaeus down here really only come out after it rains and spend the rest of the time underground. But there are other dung beetle genera that are much more active. I can see Canthon pretty much anytime.

 

[Arthroverts]

@pannaking22, yeah, it's a shame their so beautiful but hide so much. I have come across some sort of dung beetle species in Arizona though, and they are out pretty regularly (it was during the monsoon season though...). Maybe Canthon?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[pannaking22]

@Arthroverts once the monsoon season starts the gloves come off and everything is active, so there's a wide variety of genera you could have been seeing. I think it's safe to say none were Phanaeus though because the expected species would be P. quadridens and P. amithaon, both of which are green. Were yours decent sized, black, and not super robust?

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

Caterpillars aren't all that unsual, but this one was strange to me, plus I actually have a picture of it, unlike any other strange insect I've seen. It'll probably look so blurry on computer screens
View attachment 327454

Its head kinda makes me think its a sawfly (Symphyta) larvae.

 

[All About Arthropods]

I used to find Phengodes sp. Glowworms at my old house, which I consider very strange and haven't found anywhere else before or since.

 

[PidderPeets]

Not sure how weird it is, but I've only ever seen these Phantom Crane Flies when I lived on the coast. View attachment 327257

That reminded me of something and now I need to change my original answer for strangest insect I've seen. I believe it was last year I saw two very unique looking craneflies whose behavior was extremely bizarre. They were at different locations and different days, but behavior was the same. They would fly in a small zigzag pattern as if they were tied to a string or bouncing between two invisible walls. They were much faster than any other craneflies I've seen before as well.

I only got to see one of them land and rest, but even that was a strange sight:


It's a terrible photo because I didn't want to get close enough to scare it into flying again, but it was resting with only two legs on the table above it, and the other two legs dangling together in a straight line below it. That combined with the black and bright white legs left me totally dumbstruck. I only remembered it because those phantom craneflies were the only thing I was able to find when I searched for craneflies with black and white legs. But obviously this one wasn't even close to those.

Caterpillars aren't all that unsual, but this one was strange to me, plus I actually have a picture of it, unlike any other strange insect I've seen. It'll probably look so blurry on computer screens

ts head kinda makes me think its a sawfly (Symphyta) larvae.

To me it resembles some species of Datana moth caterpillar with some loss of hair

 

[Margot J]

(sorry, the pictures are probably really blurry)

In the summer I like scouring my pond for hemipterids. I have found multiple toe biter naiads and this water scorpion in the genus ranatra-

I have also found a monarch butterfly with a wing that was deformed in the crysallis-

And, on a camping trip, I found this flat-backed millipede-

Sorry, I just couldn't choose!

 

[Bob Lee]

I've found a Extatosoma tiaratum on a black berry bush before.

They are from Australia

And I live in Canada

I saw a couple together too, so I guess we are getting some cool invasive species ...

 

[Arthroverts]

@Bob Lee, any photos? You are absolutely sure it was E. tiaratum?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[Bob Lee]

@Bob Lee, any photos? You are absolutely sure it was E. tiaratum?

No photos, this was a long time ago.

Yes, I am incredibly sure, because I thought it was a dead leaf and almost touched it before realizing it was alive. (I was ripping dead leaves off the blackberry bush)
So I got a real close and good look at it, the duo or trio I saw was about 6cm big, not adults yet. And they looked exactly like E.tiaratum. Plus, they eat blackberry leaves, it matches up perfectly.
Don't know how they got here though, but I will be on the lookout for more this summer, might be able to catch some and raise a colony of it on my own.

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

@PidderPeets

I think that's a Hangingfly (family Bittacidae).

 

[dord]

When I was terrified of arthropods I saw a Pelecinid wasp fly by once. I'll leave my reaction to your imagination...

 

[Jess S]

Not sure how weird it is, but I've only ever seen these Phantom Crane Flies when I lived on the coast. View attachment 327257

Amazing looking creature. Certainly co-ordinated beautifully with the polished stone!

 

[MetalMan2004]

Not too crazy, but found this guy just the other day. So fluffy it makes you want to pet it, but don’t!

Found this lepidopteran View attachment 327434 at food lion, of all places. People swear it's photoshopped. Lmk if you know the species.
Also saw a rosy maple moth, but lost the photo. Here is one off of google. View attachment 327434 View attachment 327435

I found one of these dead a few months ago, but its coloring was just as beautiful.

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

Amazing looking creature. Certainly co-ordinated beautifully with the polished stone!

Appreciated, but that stone actually came out of the river like that! I collected quite a few just like it, they came from D River, the shortest river in the world Very sparkly in the sun.

The craneflies though, it actually took me quite a while to realize they weren't dragonflies. I wasn't quite so into bugs yet then.

 

[Jess S]

Before the war my family used to always go on road trips from Tripoli (where my immediate family lives) to Benghazi (where my extended family lives) during the summer. We would pass by all sorts of desert with white sand, beige sand, dark sand. We would have the Mediterranean within eye-shot on our left as we traveled East. On that side we would occasionally pass by salty swamps covered with hundreds of flamingos, probably eating brine shrimp. The drive is like 11 hours and mum used to always get carsick, so we'd have to stop for a bit in the middle. We were allowed to walk out and stretch our legs during this break. I remember in those five minutes I would find the most bizarro creatures. The first rock I ever flipped yielded a scorpion. I once ran into these lightning fast ants that were totally silver - like I'm talking mercury silver. I wish I'd had more than five minutes to explore. Maybe someday...

Appreciated, but that stone actually came out of the river like that! I collected quite a few just like it, they came from D River, the shortest river in the world Very sparkly in the sun.

The craneflies though, it actually took me quite a while to realize they weren't dragonflies. I wasn't quite so into bugs yet then.

Polished by mother nature herself then!

 

[Dry Desert]

The strangest insect I have seen, whilst in Saudi Arabia I saw a beautiful sky blue bee, probably common in some parts, but I have never seen before. I have a photo somewhere I,ll try and find it.

 

[Aron W]

Definitely got to be the thread legged bug! For the longest time I thought they were harmless stick insects, glad I never got bit picking them up!

 

[jrh3]

I found a lightning bug once that glowed red. Haven’t seen one since in almost 25 years.