What the h...........?

[Shike]

What kind of bug is this?

[vampyrewolf]

interesting find there

[fret]

Dragonfly.

[yablanowitz]

Hard to tell from that photo, but it looks like a crane fly. The head to thorax ratio looks wrong to me for a dragonfly, as do the antennae.

[Agent Starling]

You'd think the poor thing would've been blessed with a larger wingspan given its long body. Nice find!

Agent Starling

[Domanfp]

It looks like an alien, I think you should go do mankind a favor and crush it.

[Shike]

Hard to tell from that photo, but it looks like a crane fly. The head to thorax ratio looks wrong to me for a dragonfly, as do the antennae.

You the man! I looked up crane flies after your reply and BINGO! Thanks! I will try to get a better pic, she was fairly high up in the tree. She keeps hanging around the tree in front of my place, so we'll see. I have always tried to keep my young son interested in bugs and nature in general since he was able to walk, unfortunately I am not that versed in weird bugs.
Regards

Shike

[julie71425]

it just looks creepy to me... LOL

i don't do that well with bugs. :o

[araneae]

Sorry, but I am near positive it's not a crane fly. Its a hymenopteran- a wasp. Not sure I could tell you any more specifically than that without breaking open the text.

[yablanowitz]

Like I said, it's hard to tell from that photo. It seems to lack the narrow waist charcteristic of most wasps (at least the ones I'm familiar with) and being back-lit I don't think we are seeing the full length of the legs. I'm no entymologist. Usually when people ask me about bugs, their primary concern is the fastest way to kill them.

[Agent Starling]

I will try to get a better pic, she was fairly high up in the tree. She keeps hanging around the tree in front of my place, so we'll see.

I think she likes you... :p :)

[Shenmue728]

It looks like an alien, I think you should go do mankind a favor and crush it.

+1 on that bro. It dont look friendly.

[Shike]

I wanted to pick it up but there is no climbing that tree. I tried using a stick but that rear appendage had a super long needle like protrusion (@2" long) and it was imbedded or stuck in the bark, or so I thought until she just took off :D I don't know if she was anchored there or depositing eggs or what the heck. When I first saw it I thought it was a wood wasp but after seeing it up close I didn't know what. If that rear thing is a stinger I am sure it would hurt like ****. Kinda looks like this though, except mine is more red.
http://www.everythingabout.net/articles ... cts/wasps/
Whatta do ya think? Araneae, me think you unto something here.

Tomorrow............ I might get a good pic or get stung.

[Shike]

I think she likes you... :p :)

Ha! I am sure she does :p Like to sting the **** out of me that is :D

[Piercieve]

http://www.everythingabout.net/articles ... cts/wasps/
Whatta do ya think? Araneae, me think you unto something here.

Thats gotta be it. Too similar to be anything else.

[RIOT]

i know kind it is...




























its a nasty lookin booger

[Doc Pyres]

More specifically, an ichneumon wasp, also know as Ichneumonoidea. The 'super long needle like protrusion' is an ovipositor, which it uses to lay eggs on the larvae of other insects, often other types of wasps, deep inside the wood. Here's the Wiki link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichneumon_wasp

[Shike]

That's it!!! Thank you! I guess I better leave it alone.

[Chivers]

Parasitic wasp of some kind. The ‘sting’ is an ovipositor that she pokes through the bark once she has sensed a beetle grub beneath. She lays the eggs directly into the grubs and they hatch into larvae and feed on the grubs while they are still alive.
Wasps do the same thing to tarantulas, and the poor old spiders live on for months or years, gradually being eaten from the inside out. I know, it happened to a Mexican redknee I once kept – came down in the morning and found poor old spydie just a husk on the floor of his cage and this huge wriggling maggot beside it. A sad end for Boris...

[Shike]

They are baaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!! This time she brought a little frend!