It’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere!

Yes, it’s spring! At least you can feel it in the north part of the Northern Hemisphere. This means the insects are showing again. Caterpillars, butterflies, ants, and even praying mantises start to show again.

If you find a caterpillar of butterfly that you would like to know the species of, please e-mail me. I’ll see what I can do. Nice pictures will be featured on the home page of this website.

Ants as pets

Always wondered if your own ant nest would be fun? I just added a new page to this website describing how to take care of an ant colony and how to build your own formicarium (ant nest).

You can also read all about ants, like their genetic system and how they work so well together.

Here is the link: Keeping Ants as Pets

Please let me know what you think, you can contact me through the contact form.

Atlas Moth caresheet added

Today I added the caresheet for the Atlas Moth Attacus atlas. This is one of the largest moths in the world and they are a popular butterfly to keep as a pet. The life cycle is fascinating while the keeping and caring for this species is not hard at all. The caterpillars eat many kinds of leaves and are easily kept at room temperature. And of course best of all: both the caterpillar and the moth are simply stunning! Their beautiful color and weird shapes make them look amazing.

To read more about this species, check out the caresheet HERE!

A recently eclosed Atlas Moth female

Reader’s question: What is THIS?

I got a question from Marianne Brouwer from the Netherlands: “I took a picture of this enormous bug in the Andes mountians in Equador. It was around 12 cm long. Do you know what it is?”

Amazonian Giant Lacewing

Amazonian Giant Lacewing

It took some research, but this monstrosity is an Amazonian Giant Lacewing. As the name suggests, it is a species in the family of lacewings (Chrysopidae), order Neuroptera. It occurs all over the Amazonian rain forest and feeds of bugs and their eggs.

Readers Question: What is THIS?

The mystery bug: elephant hawk moth

Today I got an e-mail from Daryl, asking if I could identify a bug that he found in central Scotland. He thinks it could be an exotic bug, because of its bright pink appearance. Sure, I’d like to see it! So on the right of this page you find the picture. A quick search in my entomology book gives the answer to the identity of this mystery guest: This beautiful pink and yellow moth is an Elephant hawk moth (Deilephila elpenor). It is native to Europe, Britain, Ireland and it range extends all the way to India and Japan.

Thank you Daryl, for sending me the picture and allowing me to post it on this website. If anyone else has a picture of a bug they would like the name of, please send me a message via the contact form.