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Saturday, September 10, 2011

Something's Bugging Us




We've been enjoying the end of summer, tasting fall on the crisp morning air. One thing about these cooler days is that the insects are easier to catch. But of course then the kids want to identify them. What's a mom to do? Well, honestly I call my favorite entomologist, who is also another homeschooling mom. But sometimes she's not available, so sites like What's that Bug, and Insect Identification.org can help a bit.


Here's a beauty we haven't identified.This spider was HUGE, the abdomen longer than 1" and a leg span of ~ 3 inches.

On the underside she had dark stripes going the other way.


I've got tens of pictures of unidentified critters. Any suggestions about how to identify them, websites, real life resources, old fashioned books,... would be much appreciated!

1 comment:

Shawn Walter said...

Sorry, I remember you calling about the spider but I didn't get to your blog entry until now - going back to old posts in my pseudo down time. The beetle is a carrion beetle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphidae . I'm guessing your spider is some kind of garden spider http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/Spiders/Araneidae/Araneidae.htm .