Mother Bugger !!!

cantina_patron wrote: Poor Polish bootleg!
(I presume that's a hornet James?)

Sphecius speciosus, often simply referred to as the cicada killer or the cicada hawk, is a large digger wasp species. Cicada killers are large, solitary wasps in the family Crabronidae. The name may be applied to any species of crabronid which preys on cicadas, though in North America it is typically applied to a single species, S. speciosus. However, since there are multiple species of related wasps, it is more appropriate to call it the eastern cicada killer. This species occurs in the eastern and midwest U.S. and southwards into Mexico and Central America including Louisiana. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them. In North America they are sometimes called sand hornets, although they are not hornets, which belong to the family Vespidae. Cicada killers exert a measure of natural control on cicada populations and thus may directly benefit the deciduous trees upon which their cicada prey feed.

- quoted from Wikipedia

Great shots James

I would NOT like a sting off that bad boy

I don't know what your secret is to get them to pose mate, it's like the Dario Argento film Phenomena where they control the insects

Nico wrote:I don't know what your secret is to get them to pose mate.

I think he shares his glaucoma meds with them.

You could have fooled us all then mate
Very cool shots bro, look at the hook things on his legs
I had something similar to him the other year in my greenhouse (maybe a bit smaller) It looked to be a solitary insect, it had bitten off a perfect shape off one of the leaves then dug a hole in the cucumber plant soil and buried the leaf and laid eggs inside it.He made a little tunnel to crawl in and out of I watched him going about his business staying clear as he had a nasty back end on him

That's a creepy freaking spider Andy

Very cool

I believe they are quite rare in the UK Andy, but I certainly wouldn't want to find that bugger crawling across my duvet in the middle of the night.
I'm fine with most spiders (I have dealt with Black Widows accidently imported from the US  & keep a bird eating spider as a pet), but that one & house spiders give me the creeps.

cantina_patron wrote:I believe they are quite rare in the UK Andy, but I certainly wouldn't want to find that bugger crawling across my duvet in the middle of the night.
I'm fine with most spiders (I have dealt with Black Widows accidently imported from the US  & keep a bird eating spider as a pet), but that one & house spiders give me the creeps.

Steve thats the first Cardinal spider I've seen mate (and hopefully the last ) I'm not scared of spiders but I totally know where you are coming from with the common or giant house spiders in the UK, the do look creepy and are fast movers
I don't mind them in the garage as they are only doing what nature intended but they are banned from my house

Nico, that is craaazy looking and I've never seen a photo of that moth in my life. Stunning little creature.

Also, I'm glad you dusted off this thread as I've been meaning to share this for a long while but never had the right lens handy when I had the time to do it. I decided it deserved a video  



The bubble seems to be quite flush with the card so this guy may have been in here since the factory sealed it some forty years ago.

That is one creepy looking moth Andy

Chris - I've heard of bugs encased in amber before but never seen one in a Kenner card back

That's a great close up shot James

Magnificent! And that name!

Wow James, never seen him before mate and what a wingspan

He's a beauty brother

Great pictures everyone.

Here are a few of the bugs we have in our yard at the moment.

My wife found this chrysalis in the back yard, and rescued it from the cat cage.  She thinks its a Pyrrharctia isabella, the isabella tiger moth or woollybear caterpillar.

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She is also raising a few Monarch caterpillars.  There are a couple different sizes.  They grow really fast once the eggs hatch.

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A Japanese Beetle eating my "Ever bearing Raspberry" plants.  They were also eating my wild black raspberry plants as well.

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ourchickenshack wrote:I had no idea your wife was into insects.

If we had more space, she would have more pets, than all my SW figures put together.

Those are a couple great butterflies.