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Name the Bug # 30

By Christopher Taylor at 10/26/2010 08:20:00 am
If I'm continuing with the supposed pattern of these challenges, it's time for an easy one:



But because it is relatively simple, I'm going to want at least a genus ID (and preferably some supporting info).

Attribution to follow.

Update: Identity available here. Photo from here.

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous26 October 2010 at 09:55

    The first thing that came to mind was Jerusalem cricket (Stenopelmatus), but on second look I know that's not right.

    ~Kai

    ReplyDelete
  2. Watcher26 October 2010 at 10:50

    I'm pretty sure it's a Rockcrawler- sometimes called Icecrawler- family Grylloblattidae. It looks cricket-ish, but doesn't have a souped-up pair of rear legs. It's got the long-ish, banded abdomen, and you can see the cerci in the shot.

    But I'm struggling with the genus. I'm going to go with Grylloblata, only because the cerci look real short (though maybe that's just the aspect of the shot), and I'm pre-disposed to it, as it lives near me (though somewhat higher).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Christopher Taylor26 October 2010 at 14:01

    The Watcher pointed out why it's not a cricket. Mind you, it's not a grylloblattid, either.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adam Yates26 October 2010 at 14:24

    I'm going to take a wild guess and say its a Lake Tahoe Benthic Stonefly (Capnia lacustra). I've never seen a picture of one but apparently its one of the few wingless plecopterans. This bug does look kind of stonefly-like but without wings, so that's my shot in the dark.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Reprobus26 October 2010 at 16:12

    Hmm trickier than it looks. I don't think it's a stonefly - looks too robust and long-legged, and doesn't have that splayed look (I'm going on the jizz here...?). Basal neopteran, definitely not an earwig, orthopteran or dictyopteran... and not a grylloblattid either? Maybe some kind of primitive phasmid? I'm fresh out of ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Christopher Taylor26 October 2010 at 16:35

    Obviously harder than I expected :-D. I might make things easier by mentioning that this photo was taken in a Javan cave.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Reprobus26 October 2010 at 17:56

    Well I don't know of any cave phasmids so i'm gonna row back and say it's some kind of orthopteran. Blast if I know what sort though. A javan one. You win, Taylor. This time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Adam Yates26 October 2010 at 18:16

    I got it! Its an Arixeniid dermopteran, probably Arexenia esau.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Christopher Taylor26 October 2010 at 19:21

    Adam has it!

    I honestly didn't expect it to take that long for someone to get it. Not because arixeniids are easily recognisable as earwigs, but because I thought someone was bound to know about them already.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Adam Yates26 October 2010 at 20:18

    Actually I did know about them but dismissed them because all the images I had seen of them were of much stouter, heavier legged and more setose individuals. I guess the difference may be due to growth stage.

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  11. Reprobus26 October 2010 at 23:32

    Awesome. Now I know what to look for in Javan caves, besides ricinuleid arachnids. I was so sure it wasn't an earwig too. In fact this morning I looked at a picture purporting to be Arixenia esau... which looked not *a bit* like this! http://tolweb.org/Dermaptera... Grrr.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Christopher Taylor27 October 2010 at 06:14

    Simple mistake - the labels for the photos of Arixenia and Hemimerus have gotten swapped over. The actual photo of Arixenia does look rather different from the one I've shown you but that can be put down to the difference between a live and a pinned specimen.

    ReplyDelete

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