Identify this bug.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

I bet this thread is making Jim's avatar hungry.



Oh, and a quick point of pedantry about the title. The term 'bug' should, strictly speaking, only to be applied to members of the insect order Hemiptera.
Thank you, I'm sure you'll take this on board.

[lordpasternack]

They even have freaky sex.

"Food items such as caterpillars, bugs, and flies are offered to be eaten during copulation. The female is first attracted by a pheromone emitted by one or more vesicles or pouches at the end of the male's abdomen. When the female is near, the vesicles are retracted. The female examines the offering while the male searches for her genitalia with his own. If the gift is rejected, the female flies away. If the gift is accepted, the genitalia of the male couples with that of the female, who lowers herself until she is hanging upside down. She consumes the offering during copulation. The male supports the female by holding her legs or the prey. Field observations show that both sexes mate several times per day. Small or unacceptable offerings result in no or a very short copulation time. Duration depends on the size of the gift. It has been observed that prey 3 to 14 mm long will provide 1 to 17 minutes of copulation in Hylobittacus apicalis. Larger H. apicalis give prey the size of houseflies in return for 20 to 29 minutes of copulation. This results in a maximum sperm transfer, increased oviposition, and a refractory period."

The females are prostitutes.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

...The females are prostitutes.

So are some penguins, I quote now from The Qi Book of Animal Ignorance,

...Female Adélie Penguins build their nests with stones, a rare commodity in Antarctica and one for which they are willing to pay. When their partner's back is turned, they trade 'intimate favours' with other single males in return for bigger, better stones - the only known example of bird prostitution. 'Client' males are sometimes so satisfied with the service that females can come back for more stones without offering sex, merely a little light courtship. One particularly flirtatious female managed to aquire sixty-two rocks in this way...

[The Red Fox]

I'm not exactly sure what this remarkable looking creature is, at first I thought it was a twig until it started moving across the door of the garden shed and I took a closer look at it. Anyone know what it is?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Moved to The Seminary.

[Clinton Huxley]

I saw one in Cornwall...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A species of "stick insect", obviously. We need the Butterfly.

[The Curious Squid]

There's something really creepy about that. Is it some kind of stick insect?

[CJ]

A species of "stick insect", obviously. We need the Butterfly.

No it's a moth. I'll go get details.

[Clinton Huxley]

CJ is right, it's a type of Plume Moth.

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk/moths%20p4.html#ComPlume

[CJ]

CJ is right, it's a type of Plume Moth.

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk/moths%20p4.html#ComPlume

Good call! I'm going to merge this thread with the Identify this Bug one.

[Animavore]

Can you identify this bug?

[lordpasternack]

Can you identify this bug?

Ugh. She looks as though she's wearing an ugly rubber mask or something. I can't understand why anyone would spend so much money on looking so damn ugly.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Can you identify this bug?

Ugh. She looks as though she's wearing an ugly rubber mask or something. I can't understand why anyone would spend so much money on looking so damn ugly.

+1.
Uurrgh.

[Psi Wavefunction]

OWWWW MY EYES!!! I was expecting some cute cockroach or assasin beetle or something, and then this hideous thing pops up in high res... *heads off to eyebleach station*