Body & Soul5 mins ago
Can anybody identify these 2 insects?
6 Answers
For the last 2 summers, as the vine and bindweed outside my back windows have flourished, I've had incursions of 2 insects, which I'm not sure about.
The first is a bright green grasshopper-like creature with metallic red eyes; they're usually about 2-3cm long, not including the very long (again, 2-3cm) antennae. They crawl around mainly on the ceiling, sometimes in short fast bursts, at other times coming to a halt for several hours. I usually wait until they arrive at a point above the bunk bed, when I can reach up and put a small plastic box over them and slide a card above it, so that I can put them outside. (I once had 4 of them in the box at once!). They do behave like grasshoppers, in that they will spring away from you very suddenly, but they are not like the green or brown grasshoppers one usually sees in grass.
The second insect is, I believe, a type of moth, only its very narrow wings are fixed like a biplane, and do not fold when it's at rest. It's about 2-3cm across, brown in colour, and has quite long, stiff, jointed legs. I rescue these too whenever I can - although sadly they often blunder into the spider's web before I can get to them (see previous question re.'Broken snail shells').
Any ideas?
The first is a bright green grasshopper-like creature with metallic red eyes; they're usually about 2-3cm long, not including the very long (again, 2-3cm) antennae. They crawl around mainly on the ceiling, sometimes in short fast bursts, at other times coming to a halt for several hours. I usually wait until they arrive at a point above the bunk bed, when I can reach up and put a small plastic box over them and slide a card above it, so that I can put them outside. (I once had 4 of them in the box at once!). They do behave like grasshoppers, in that they will spring away from you very suddenly, but they are not like the green or brown grasshoppers one usually sees in grass.
The second insect is, I believe, a type of moth, only its very narrow wings are fixed like a biplane, and do not fold when it's at rest. It's about 2-3cm across, brown in colour, and has quite long, stiff, jointed legs. I rescue these too whenever I can - although sadly they often blunder into the spider's web before I can get to them (see previous question re.'Broken snail shells').
Any ideas?
Answers
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No best answer has yet been selected by AndiFlatland. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Yes, the picture of the plume moth is very similar to the ones I get in my room, although as you say, gen2, the one shown is white and fluffy, whereas mine are brown and, er, unfluffy (is that a word? It is now!)
I have to admit to a small but vital error in my description of the green thing, though. Until last weekend, I'd not seen one since last summer, but when one came in on Sunday, I noted that the metallic red eyes were, in fact, my memory playing tricks on me. Calibax, you're right to think that might be a lacewing, and I know what they look like, and it is they that have the scary red eyes (and they come into my flat as well). But the things I was trying to identify are definitely some sort of cricket, and do not have metallic red eyes! Sorry for the confusion.
I have to admit to a small but vital error in my description of the green thing, though. Until last weekend, I'd not seen one since last summer, but when one came in on Sunday, I noted that the metallic red eyes were, in fact, my memory playing tricks on me. Calibax, you're right to think that might be a lacewing, and I know what they look like, and it is they that have the scary red eyes (and they come into my flat as well). But the things I was trying to identify are definitely some sort of cricket, and do not have metallic red eyes! Sorry for the confusion.
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