Any other hobby entomologists here?

[TOMTE]

Had a black swallowtail caterpillar named Frederick.....online it said max of 2 weeks it will take for it to emerge into a butterfly.....Waited almost 2 and a half months....Was meaning to throw it out because I thought he didn't make it...Turns out, he emerged I'm amazed.
But I think Frederick is actually a Fredericka.

Hmm... Do you know the exact species? Maybe the conditions were off, or the particular species you had takes longer. I'm glad it ended up emerging!

I had a wild caught Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) that pupated at the top of the critter keeper I kept it in, and I had no prior experience with that genus before and I had no idea what it was other than some type of caterpillar, so at first I thought it had like, dried up and died

But I kept it because I realized it was attached to the lid by some silk and it looked like it was thinly encased in something. I wish I got pics of it in this stage.

I was surprised a couple weeks later when I woke up to a butterfly in the critter keeper, and released it after getting a couple pictures.

Here's the BugGuide ID page with a few pictures

 

[TOMTE]

I don't keep bugs, I did have some isopods and millipedes once. I am an aspiring botanist so bug interest comes naturally and I do like uploading observations of them too! Do you observe them in habitat too, iNaturalist is a great app for it and I'm on there too!

I love to observe them in the wild first and formost! When I catch something to observe more closely for a while I try to replicate their habitat as much as possible

Someone else mentioned iNat to me yesterday, I really need to check it out! I have heard of it and used it to narrow down IDs before but that's it

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Good morning!

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Couple of snaps from yesterday!

 

[TOMTE]

Ohh man, busy busy busy lately. I haven't forgotten about this thread though! But I don't have any new bug pics to share

My chickens were trying to catch a super fast skipper the other day, but they couldn't quite keep up with it. I tried to get a picture but it was too fast

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Kid almost stepped on this dude! He's in a critter container with dirt and leaves now!

Imperial Moth

 

[PimsGarden]

Saddleback caterpillar, don't ever touch one!!!! The pain can last hours or days, hooray!!!!

 

[Smokerbill]

A yellow woolybear caterpillar, I think. It was crawling on my leg after I visited the garden.



https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Spilosoma-virginica

 

[PimsGarden]

Y'all use iNaturalist right? It's free and it's an app or desktop resource you can upload anything living and it will help you ID it based on look and location. It's great for aspiring biologists all the way up to serious scientific work. I highly suggest all of y'all use it and upload your finds, you never know when it could be useful for the scientific community!

 

[StinkyAcres]

Y'all use iNaturalist right? It's free and it's an app or desktop resource you can upload anything living and it will help you ID it based on look and location. It's great for aspiring biologists all the way up to serious scientific work. I highly suggest all of y'all use it and upload your finds, you never know when it could be useful for the scientific community!

Yep, I've used iNat for 7 years now.