"Arach" is Back!

One of the things I look forward to each autumn is the annual Flickr event known as "Arachtober". It is a Flickr group which slumbers between November and the following September, but remains a tradition among arachnophiles and macro photographers. There are always mesmerizing images posted from all corners of the globe.

Marbled Orbweaver, Kansas

Arachtober manages to recruit several new participants each year through word of mouth, blogs, and sheer curiosity. Not only spiders, but scorpions, ticks, mites, harvestmen, and all other arachnids are eligible for inclusion. Don't forget the artistry of spider webs, too, whether dew-adorned or dry.

Apache Jumping Spider male, Colorado

The only hard and fast rule of Arachtober is that the images you post to the group must not have appeared on your own Flickr photostream previously. Allowed quantity of images per day varies at the discretion of the group administrator.

Banded Garden Spider female, Colorado

Overall, interest in spiders seems to be increasing among the general public, and arachnids are achieving a much higher profile than ever before. This is great news, for there is still a great deal of work to be done to combat myth, superstition, misinformation, and fear.

Wolf spider, Alopecosa sp., Colorado

Please consider contributing to "Arachtober" on Flickr, or find another way to dedicate some time to sharing your spider observations, questions, or images. There are many groups on Facebook devoted to spiders and their identification, for example; and presumably, the same applies to Instagram. There is much you can contribute to our collective knowledge by doing so. Thank you.

From My Inbox

Once the general public gets wind of your expertise in entomology, you are invariably inundated with requests for identifications of specimens, images, even fuzzy recollections that are then related to you. The digital age has made entomologists and naturalists much more accessible, and I believe that is a very good thing. Exterminators have always been accessible. It is also a good thing for those of us answering inquiries because it often presents a challenge, or a window to species from faraway lands, or in some cases represents a new or potentially invasive species.

Semanotus amethystinus (Amethyst Cedar Borer) from "Sara S." in Portland, Oregon via What'sThatBug.com

One of my regular "clients" is the webmaster for What's That Bug?, a very popular website that receives submissions from all over the globe. Daniel Marlos, who runs the site, started it on a relative lark as an example of pop culture. He quickly found he was filling a huge void, but had little knowledge of entomology himself. Over the years that has changed dramatically, and Daniel can now identify most common critters. He is better at identifying Australian insects and arachnids than I am. Still, he gets stumped every once in awhile, and will e-mail me for help.

Much of the time, I am clueless, too, but I enjoy the investigative work of coming up with an answer if I can. Take this submission from "Sweetpea" in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for example. I did not recognize this longhorned beetle and thought it might be something exotic that found its way there in the fashion of the notorious Asian Longhorned Beetle. A quick search of Bugguide.net proved it was actually the native "Linden Borer," Saperda vestita. I learned something in the process of helping.

Here's another example. My response to Daniel is under the images.

"Daniel:

We were both wrong! You thought it was a clerid or a tenebrionid. I thought for certain it was a spider beetle (Anobiidae: Ptininae or Ptinidae). Turns out it is a longhorn! Here:

Bugguide.net

Crazy. I knew it looked familiar, but it took looking in an old, dusty copy of Essig’s Insects and Mites of Western North America to find a figure that matched.

Would love to share these images on Bugguide and maybe in a blog post. Thanks.

Eric"

Sometimes I even get forwarded e-mails as the chain of included experts expands even longer. One of my friends in Arizona sent me the image below that depicts an ovipositing female bee fly at the Gilbert Water Ranch near Phoenix, Arizona.

© Laurie Nessel

I am increasingly impressed and delighted by how observant and curious many people are about the invertebrate world.

Occasionally, friends will simply share images they think I would enjoy, like this male Anise Swallowtail photographed by David M. Elwonger on the summit of Signal Butte in the Pike National Forest here in Colorado. I had not been aware that the species occurred east of the Rockies prior to his e-mail to me.

© David M. Elwonger

Please, keep the proverbial cards and letters coming, there is no such thing as a stupid question or unimportant observation. At the very least, if it is important to you, then it is important to me, too.

Identification Expectations

Several factors have conspired to create a perfect storm of unrealistic expectations when it comes to insect identification these days. The digital age has meant that entomologists are more accessible to the general public than ever before; that it is possible to capture a stunning image with a smartphone; and that social media has accelerated the broadcast of incorrect information. Naturalists who are branching out from the pursuit of vertebrates seem stunned to learn that not every insect or spider can be identified to species from visuals alone. Here are the top reasons why you may fail to achieve a species-level identification from myself, or any other entomologist or arachnologist online.

You have not supplied an image. Few insects are so distinctive that a verbal or written description alone is sufficient to make an identification. The Wheel Bug, Arilus cristatus is one exception that comes to mind.

Wheel Bug adult

The image is of exceedingly poor quality. Many insects and spiders are simply too small, and/or move too fast to allow you to capture a clear image. That is not your fault, you are doing the best you can. However, standing across the room and taking a picture of the spider on the opposite wall is your choice, and the image results won’t be pretty. I often kid people that they must have used Google Earth for the image in order to maintain a safe distance.

You did not furnish location information. The geographic location where the arthropod was spotted can be of paramount importance in eliminating some “suspects” and narrowing the possibilities of what the creature could be. The more precise the location the better, as even a state or province may not be of much help.

Your insect is in an immature stage. Many immature stages such as eggs, larvae (caterpillars, grubs, maggots, etc.), nymphs, and pupae simply cannot be identified much beyond a family-level of classification. In many cases, we simply don’t know what a species looks like in its youth, unless it is something of economic importance. Try rearing the insect to adulthood if possible, documenting the different stages. You could easily make important discoveries this way.

Yeah, I got nothin'

You don’t know the host plant (for an herbivorous insect). Many insects are best identified by association with a particular plant, but perhaps you found your specimen on a fencepost, or it landed on a plant that it does not feed on. These are circumstances over which you obviously have no control, but it may mean you won’t get a specific ID this time around.

Overestimating size. Insects and spiders are very good at creating the illusion that they are much larger than they appear. People prone to arachnophobia or entomophobia then inflate the size even more until you have the bug equivalent of a fish story. When in doubt, don’t even bother mentioning size.

Many species look alike. You would be amazed how many insects, even from different families, can look essentially identical. Add to that the amazing degrees of mimicry whereby harmless insects resemble stinging insects, and it becomes a real challenge for the novice to achieve an identification even to an “order” level of classification.

Bumble Bee

Not bumble bee (robber fly)

Visuals alone may be insufficient. This problem arose for myself last week when I sought the identification of a jewel beetle in the family Buprestidae. Turns out there are several species in the genus Agrilus that feed on oak, and are slate gray with a metallic head and thorax. Who knew?

Cryptic species. It is not just the digital age that has revolutionized our expectations for identification. The age of molecular biology, with DNA analysis, has revealed that what we once thought was a single species may in fact be several species, all of which are visually identical, but are vastly different at the genetic level. Consequently, “species groups” have entered our vocabulary.

Photuris sp. fireflies are best identified by the flash patterns they blink at night

Taxonomy changes frequently. Entomologists are constantly revising the classification of insects, from species-level to order level as they gain new insights into phylogenetic relationships. Did you know, for example, that cockroaches and termites are now in the same order? It’s true! Not because they can both be pests, but because we now know they are more closely related than previously thought. So, the identification you get today may not stand up to the test of time.

Proliferation of field guides. More field guides is never a bad thing, but people accustomed to bird, mammal, and reptile guides that include every species for a given geographical area has created an unrealistic expectation of the same when it comes to invertebrates. It would take an encyclopedia of several volumes to cover every species in a single order (or even family in some cases).

Limited expertise of the expert being consulted. Most entomologists are specialists on a single order, or even family or genus, of insects. Consequently, when confronted with something unfamiliar, they are not easily able to offer a definitive answer. I can count on one hand the number of entomologists with an impressive ability to identify almost anything (and I am not one of them). Please bear that in mind when making your identification request.

Considering everything that can go wrong, it is a minor miracle that most folks who submit requests for identification end up being satisfied with the results. We aim to please, and are happy to make your day by solving whatever was, um, “bugging” you.