Simon's Bug corner

The Common Backswimmer (Anisops)


*stops weaving a cocoon*

Oh hello everypony!! I'm back! and I have an EXTRA cool bug for you guys now!!! Called the common back swimmer! you can probably guess that this is an insect that lives in water, which is what makes it cool! The back swimmer is part of the insect family of Notonectidae, it is mostly medium sized at about 11mm, it is common as suggested in the name, and is the largest of the family. I found this Back swimmer swimming happily about in the pool, I was always fascinated by them! They dive under the water in search for food, and swim about by extending their lower back legs and using them as paddles, but the most interesting thing about them is the way they breathe. The underside of their body is shaped in such a way, that they are able to hold air bubbles init, and in that way they are able to breath and stay under the water for a good few minutes!

Another interesting thing, is that these guys are not afraid of fish as we would think, quite the opposite, they PREY on fish, as well as tadpoles, and what's more, if there is no food in a pond, then at night they simply climb out and fly away. So here we have an insect that thrives where other insects drown, and it can still fly around and travel great distances! I'd call this thing the Chuck Norris bug if I could. This specimen has pretty milky blue wings, and red eyes, a great colour combination too! And as I noticed while trying to take pictures of it, they can leap and jump far distances too to get away. (I'm starting to really consider calling this guy the Chuck Norris bug)

Now for the pictures of him!



He's quite an amazing insect!





Don't worry, he's not dead (I thought he was, but then he hopped around after I was done with the pictures) Here you can see the back legs outstretched, these are the legs he swims with!

I hope you enjoyed today's blog entry!! I certainly enjoyed examining this bug! If you have any questions, leave em in the comments, requests? just ask me and I'll try to find the Droids insect you're looking for!

As for me, Simon out!

*scurries in with an egg sac*

Hello Everypony, I'm back with another insect for you! This one was requested by Lyon. Yes Lyon, I do have ants for you! :3

This ant goes by the scientific name of Streblognathus aethiopicus and the specimens I found, had lesser developed characteristics of this species but still had them, they are matt black, with a shiny abdomen, so I suspect that these are variants of the species. Seeing as it has no common name, I will just call it "This ant"

Okay, a few interesting facts, This ant is the largest worker ant in the region I live in, (measuring in at 17 mm-20 mm) and this species is predatory, feeding on insects and other things if they cannot get their mandibles on the former. Their colonies are very small, often only going up to a couple dozen, and they don't have trails either, they simply go where they please, and find food, and find their way back.

Another interesting thing about these ants is that they don't have a queen, one of the workers, simply mates, and handles all the egg laying. They have quite powerful mandibles too, they are a reddish brown colour. What makes these ants unique is little spikes on the back part of the thorax unfortunately, the ones on these guys are too small for the camera to see clearly.

These ants are all over my garden, I find them eating and collecting a sort of fungus off of my lemon tree, I think there may be insects and parasites on the fungus that they are getting. I got two specimens, a worker and a soldier, here are a few pictures. unfortunately they would not keep still, so I had to put them under this glass.



This one as you can see is a soldier



Here's one of both of them, you can see the mandibles clearly here



And finally here is a side view of the Soldier, the way it is build makes it looks quite powerful and formidable.

Whelp, I hope you enjoyed this Blog post, especially you Lyon :3

If you have any questions or requests feel free to leave them in the comments and I will satisfy them as best I can!

As for me I have to get this egg to the new nest! Simon out!! *scurries away*

The Antestia Bug (Antestiopsis Orbitalis)

*Lowers self down from web*

Greetings Everypony!! It's me again!! With yet another insect for you!

Today's entry is on the Antestia Bug! This guy is a type of shield bug, part of the family Pentatomidae. He's fairly small, around 1cm, and comes in a variety of different colours, there literally is no typical colour for the Antestia bug, some are green, others are black and Yellow, and because of this, they are very easily confused with other species of Pentatomidae. But the reason I was able to identify him as what he is, is because every Anestia bug, despite all the different colourations, has 2 distinct characteristics. Three white stripes on the head and three orange dots on the prothorax and scutellum (Upper and lower areas of the thorax)

To make it easier, I'll use a diagram, I've marked in orange where the Dots are found, and in white, where the stripes are. These marks are common in all Antestia bugs, sometimes less distinct, but always there. The rest of the colouration can differ immensely.



These bugs are pests to coffee plants, and are a huge problem in East Africa, at the coffee plantations, because they ruin the taste of the coffee, giving it a taste of...get this...potato! This is believed to be caused by the bacteria that feed off injuries and wounds that the insect has. It also feeds off of new shoots, which can stunt the plant's growth. It feeds off of a variety of different plants. Deciduous fruit trees, proteas, citrus fruits, apples, pines, willows and wattles.

Funnily enough, it lays its eggs in a neat cluster shaped like that of a round jar with a closed lid! This is quite an interesting insect, despite it being a pest. This specimen has absolutely beautiful colouration, bright yellow, white and black! I also notice, it looks like it is wearing a mask on it's back.

Now for the pictures so you can see why I'm so interested in this guy.



Unfortunately, you cannot see the three white stripes on the head, as they are not that distinct, but you can quite clearly see the three orange dots.



See what I mean about the mask on it's back though?



Overall, a beautiful insect!

I hope you found this blog post interesting! I really REALLY enjoy posting them! if you have any questions, or, even requests! You can post them in the comments, and I'll do my best to satisfy them.

As for me! Simon Out! *climbs back into his web*

Hello wonderful people who read my blogs! ^^

Today, I've been a very very busy little worker bee, I've spent the past 3 hours taking photos of the different insects in my garden. There are sooo many out today! In fact, I have enough photos to make another 3 blog posts!

I've been on the hunt for wasps this time, you have NO IDEA how hard they are to catch, not to mention get photos of. My gosh, they kept me on the run the entire time, but with patience I finally got not one, but 3 wasp species! and I'll mash them all up into one blog post! Okay! Lets begin!

The Wasp (Order: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita)

Ok let's begin with my first wasp, The Mud Dauber (Sceliphron spirifex) This is fairly large wasp species, he belongs to the family Sphecidae, they measure in at about 2-3cm, these guy have long yellow and black banded legs that hang down loosely while they fly, this is the typical manner that all wasps fly in. Their wings are also fairly thin and long. The mud Dauber, also called the Mud Wasp makes a large mud nest, The nest has many many little cells that the wasp puts food in for it's babies. The food consists mainly of Spiders that the wasp has hunted down, killed and placed into the cell. The cells once filled with food are then sealed off with more mud. This is where the eggs are laid, the babies then hatch and feed on the food their mother has provided for them. These nests can be found anywhere from bridges to buildings, to trees.

This wasp has a long spindly thin body as you will see here in the photo.



Unfortunately there was no other way to get a photo of this wasp, it kept on eluding me and forced me to capture it.

Okay! Next wasp!

These next two are part of the same family of Paper wasps (Vespidae) this is good because now I'll be able to show you the small differences that different species have in a family.

This one's scientific name is Polistes Fastidiotus, He is the smaller of the wasps, measuring at about 1-2cm. Now the reason these guys are called paper wasps, is because of the nests they make. Small little nests made out of a paper like substance, shaped like an umbrella and separated into small hexagonal cells. They usually hang down from roofs of buildings. These wasps are considered very useful to gardeners because they eat pests that destroy plants.

This guy has a striped body and black wings, as you can see here. A smooth oblong abdomen and redish body.




Ok, now for the comparing, my favourite part!

This next paper wasps' scientific name is Ropalidia. The main difference this wasp has with Polistes is that he has a swollen first segment of his abdomen, and is typically a plain brown colour. He also has a slightly rounder bigger body than the slender Polistes. Another difference is the nests they make. These nests are elongated, same building technique though, paper substance and divided into cells. Only, Polistes makes a round nest and Ropalidia makes an oval nest.



Wasps, as we know can sting, but unlike bees, they can sting multiple times. Paper wasps, and wasps in general, are nothing to be afraid of, they only attack if they are in danger, or their nest is in danger (i.e someone throws a rock at it) you can see in the second picture I gave, the one of Polistes fastidiotus, you can see that the wasp is pretty comfortable with having me there, it made no effort to fly away. And even with the third picture of Ropalidia, I had captured it and let it go on my window, it let me take pictures of it without attacking me, and then flew out.

Don't get me wrong though, you should still be cautious, is a group of wasps are provoked, they can easily kill you, One single sting, will only do serious harm to someone who is allergic. But Groups of wasps can be dangerous.

Now onto something, slightly scary and disturbing. What makes a wasp sting hurt so much?

I'll go through it step by step.

Step 1: The venom is injected into our blood stream.

Step 2: Peptides and enzymes eat away at the cell membrane of different cells, if the membrane of a neuron (Nerve Cell) is breached, the neuron sends a signal to the brain. This is the pain that we experience, it's basically a warning signal to tell us something is wrong.

Step 3: Now you'd think that the pain wouldn't last long, because the venom would be instantly diluted into the blood, BUT, substances in the venom, like norepinephrine, actually slow and even stop the flow of blood, allowing the venom to cause pain for a good few minutes, until the blood finally manages to take the diluted venom away.

Step 4: While the enzymes are eating at the cells, hyaluronidase and Mass cell degranulating peptide pave a path through the joints of each cell by melting through them, allowing the enzymes to attack other cells in the area. This causes the swelling and redness that we get at each sting site.

Scary when you look at it from a different perspective huh? One one hand, a sting is a sting, people will go, "meh, it just hurts a bit and swells up, nothing too serious."

But on the other hand...yeah...mass murder of body cells.

I hope you found today's blog post interesting!! I'll have many many more to come, I just need to do a little research to find out what the heck some of the insects I just photographed are. XP

As for me! Simon out!! *buzzes away*

The king Cricket
Family: Anostostomatidae
Species: Nasidius

So today's blog entry is on something quite uncommon in the suburbs, the king cricket. Something almost vile looking.

Google doesn't know much about these, and My insect book doesn't know too much either, but I'll give you all the basics.

This fellow is part of the largest species of cricket in the world, measuring in at almost 3 centimetres (the largest insect in the world is the Giant Weta, weighing in at a staggering 71 grams, it is part of the King cricket family). The King Cricket family (Anostostomatidae) has quite a few members in it. I identified this one as Nasidius (of which there are 10 species). Very similar to the Park Town prawn. This guy is actually carnivorous. He feeds on other insects, snails and rarely if there is nothing else around, leaves and fruit. They are normally nocturnal and hide in burrows. But this particular one was forced out onto high ground because of the rain we just had. They walk around extremely clumsily due to their large size.

There is only one small difference to Nasidius, and the Parktown prawn (Libanasidius vittatus) is the development of their Mandibles. The Parktown prawn develops his in the front, and Nasidius develops his at the back. Onto the jaws now. These things are bloody powerful. They can deliver a very painful, non toxic bite if they are provoked. Put a match in front of an angered king cricket and he'll snap through it like it were nothing. It also ejects a foul (And I mean HORRENDOUSLY foul) Smelling faeces when disturbed.

This cricket makes its calls by rubbing it's spiny legs against its abdomen.

Now for pictures!



This is exactly where I found him, on top of this small bush.



This guy was just over 3cm long



Those jaws are quite formidable!



Look how bloody fat he is!

I hope you enjoyed this blog post! As for me, Simon out!

The Triangulate Cobweb Spider (Steatoda triangulosa)

Ahaa! Finally A spider for me to talk about! And what a spider it is! The Triangulate Cobweb spider, Part of the family of Theridiidae Also known as Comb footed spiders, button spiders, or bud spiders. This was quite a debate inducing specimen for my dad and I when we were trying to identify it. These guys are all over my garden, and for years I have confused them with The brown widow, but today I decided to confirm whether it was really a widow or not, by catching one and examining it, after determining it was not a widow, I then went on a grueling research on the web to determine what kind of Comb footed spider it was. This was harder than it looked, but finally I found something.

All right here we go! The Triangulate cobweb spider is part of the family of Combfooted spiders as I have already said. It is part of the genus "Steatoda" which are commonly known as "False Widows" hence, people constantly get the Steatoda genus confused with the Latrodectus genus or, "True widow" Because they look so much alike. I even made that mistake until I examined this pretty specimen and found no hourglass underneath. Yep, all widows in the Latrodectus genus have a red or orange hourglass shape under their abdomen, which makes them so easy to identify, yet so easy to confuse. Because the often hide in corners, people do not see the underbelly of these spiders, and furthermore do not want to look any closer, and pass them off as widows and kill them.

Ok back onto the original spider I'm posting about. This spider is found pretty much all around the world, all Comb footed spiders are. The way to identify them is that they are often a brownish colour, and have distinct purple, red, or even yellow zigzags going up the back of their abdomens. because of this, white triangle shapes are formed in between the zigzags. They can also have a small white dot on the back where the hourglass would be on a Widow. These spiders make tangly cobwebs under windowsills, in cupboards etc. Not much is known about this spiders venom, some false widow species are known to give similar bites to their widow counterparts, only a lot less potent. But let me tell you now, we DO know for sure that these guys cannot kill a man. Their venom is not powerful enough and no deaths have been recorded due to these spiders ever.

This may be where you guys would disagree, but you are better off leaving the spider in our house than taking it out. Here's the reason. The False widow genus EAT the True widow Genus. Meaning, if you have a few of these in your house, chances are very slim that you will have a true widow in your house, which are more dangerous. These spiders also prey on other insects people would consider pests, stink bugs, moths, ants. Basically anything that enters their web. This spider has very poor eyesight, they rely on the vibrations in their web to tell if there is a predator or prey approaching. Meaning they will often hide away. before you even get a chance to see one, also reducing the chances of an encounter with one.

Now for the pictures!!



This one is a female as you can see. The male is only around one mm long, where the female can grow from 3mm to 6mm



You can clearly see the white triangles on the back, which is how I made my conclusion.



And finally, the side view. This is pretty much the shape of all spiders in the Comb footed spider family, give or take. Huge abdomen, long curled legs and a small head.

I hope this blog post was interesting and that you are less scared of spiders now

As for me, Simon out!

The Millipede (Called a "Shongololo" in South Africa)

Despite numerous hours of Searching the web, I could not identify this particular species of Millipede. Surprisingly Google is useless, my searches came up with nothing but the Giant African Millipede, and it is not found in my area. So I guess I'll have to give as much info as I know off the top of my head. This particular millipede, can grow up to between 10CM and 20CM in size as adults.

Millipedes, are in fact one of my favourite bugs. Besides Spiders, I love spiders. Anyway. Millipedes are Arthropods (invertebrates with a segmented body and joined limbs) Specifically they belong to the Diplopoda Family. They are scavengers, feeding on bits of plants, decomposing organic matter and such. Millipedes are nocturnal and feed at night. The reason I love them so much is the relaxed feel they have about them, they take their time and potter around your garden at their own pace. They have grinding mouth parts to consume their food, and can be shy, when scared they curl up into a tight ball and can spray a defensive liquid that smells bad, and burns if it gets into your eyes or mouth. They use tiny antenna to feel around for food, as they are blind.

Millipedes also, obviously have many, many legs, another amazing thing about them is that they are able to move perfectly smoothly with them, doing a sort of wavey, perfectly timed, movement with them to move around. Most millipedes are black in colour, this particular kind is very common in South Africa, literally, you see them everywhere. But you do get various others in different colours and sizes.

So, I found this guy at 11:15 PM strolling down my hallway. I couldn't get a decent picture because he didn't want to keep still. This guy measured in at 15cm.



Quite a cute little guy isn't he?



Look at all those legs!



You can clearly see his face and antenna here.

Spoiler: And this next one is just me being a stupid show off.

Like my moustache?

So, I hope you enjoyed this blog post! Until Next time! Simon Out!

The Twig Wilter (Carlisis wahlbergi)

So today my Blog entry will be on a common pest known in South Africa and Australia as Twig wilters

These insects are fairly large in size (about 2-3 cm in length) and accumulate in very large numbers on specific plants in gardens (Up to 9000 have been found on one Gardenia) They feed on over 200 types of plants and there are thousands of variations of this family. They have sucking and piercing mouth parts to pierce the branch of a tree and inject enzymes that wilt the tip of a branch, they then feed on the digested matter.

Because of their large numbers it can make it very hard to control them. Not only that, but they release a foul smelling odour when disturbed, this fluid can be sprayed up to 15 centimetres away. It also stains your skin, turning it a dark brown and makes it smell of that odour for up to a week.

This specific Twig Wilter is Carlisis wahlbergi, the usual colouration is tan with dark brown stripes, but like all insect families, there are different colours, This one is a dark brown, going on black. It was among many found on my Gardenia. (The gardenia is one of the few that isn't damaged by these Twig wilters, it just doesn't flower. Normally you'd want to remove them immediately when you see them. But on the Gardenia, they are fine.)



Under the wings this guy had a bright red colouration.



This is an immature specimen of the same insect (looks very different doesn't it? He'll grow wings soon). Note the pretty patterns and colours on this baby, don't be fooled though, these things are quite foul.



And this last picture is of the stains that the defensive chemicals these insects spray can give you. (I wasn't too badly stained this time, the stains can get a lot darker than that)


I hope you found this blog post interesting, until next time, Simon out!

Hey everypony! I finally came up with a use for my blog. I shall now take pictures of insects I encounter and write a blog entry on them, I don't know how much interest it will gather but it'll give me something to do!

My First entry!

The Mulberry Hawk Moth (Pseudoclanis postica)

This hawk moth sits with a wingspan of about 72 Millimetres (2.8 Inches) And is found Very commonly around Southern Africa. The larvae feed on the leaves of Mulberry, Stink wood, mistletoe and Pigeon Berry. There are various colourations of this moth, the most common being a golden brown colour, like that of a dried leaf.

But I was lucky enough to find this beauty in green!



Notice the distinct colouration of this moth, and it's leafy appearance. It flies around rather clumsily, due to it's large size. I have only seen two Mulberry moths this colour before including this one, so this was a real treat!

So, until next time! Simon, out!

Guys, after weeks of thinking and planning, I may have found the solution to all our problems...

I don't know how I didn't reach this solution sooner, it works out perfectly


It's simple

Spoiler: Solution

We kill the Batman

So I finally had enough money today to go out to the shops and buy myself a starter kit for paint-ball. Up to now I've always used the rental markers, which have been okay, but at least now I have a gun I can upgrade and use for myself!

I'm testing it out tomorrow, it looks great and so far fires great as well. It's a Spyder Aggressor value pack, I just upgraded the mask to an anti-fog mask and bought myself a bag of 500 tournament grade paintballs. I'm set



Anyone here interested in paint-ball? If so, what do you think? Did I get an okay gun for starters? I've read up many reviews on it, and it looks like the one for me.

I don't know f you'll read this.

But in reply to your blog post, I'd just like to say, you will never ever ever be trouble for us, nor will you ever bother us. You'll always be welcome here no matter what. It's your choice, but I'm open to talk if you want to and I know others are as well. whether you choose to go or stay, I wish you Godspeed with your problems and I sincerely hope that the rough patch you are going through blows over.

If you do come back, We'll be waiting here with open arms, you are special to us, and we would like to see you come back, but like I said it's your choice!

Hello Everypony!

I've been sending out private messages this morning to all my contacts to say thank you, but I soon found out I am not very good at it. Given the fact that I mixed up Darkshine's one with Snow's, and then tried to resend Darkshine's Private message only to send it to myself....yeah, I think I'm just going to write a blog post, that way I can include everyone in one huge thank you.

So here it is, a big thank you
Thank you!
What? You didn't think I'd do this without throwing in a bad pun?

Anyway, thank you to all of my friends on Everypony! It's been a really great year for me, ever since I joined last December, it's been one huge roller coaster after the next. We've been through a lot together, you've all helped mould me into the person I am now! Every single one of you has influenced me in some way.

Okay...this is getting annoying, every time I try to make a new line it always brings the font size up to seven....well I guess it's the price I have to pay for puns.

I really do not know what more to say to you all, there's so much I could say, but it could never truly express how grateful I am to have met this site.

To al-*sigh* To all of you a huge thank you from me! I may not be the best at writing but I can assure you, I love each and every one of you. Thanks for a great year!!

Love Simon

Hey there Everypony, it's me again, I'm just here to let off some steam...

I've got some real idiots in my school.

You won't believe the things that happened when the teachers are out. For starters there were guys spraying deodorant on the floor, then lightning it. Leaving marks on the floor, And no only this but people have been eating and smoking Marijuana at school during break times, they are doing that because the prefects are writing exams now...

So when they come into class they are high, and have deodorant and fire... so when the teachers look away, out come porn magazines, cans of spray and matches...

I was getting No work done so I decided to do something about it...The whole fire thing sorted itself out, the vice principal came in and suspended them, but there were still people getting high in class...so I decided to go to the principal today and tell him, so he went and did some discussing with teachers, at the end of the day he took the students away...

Everyone knows it was me now, and as a result...

"your're such a snitch"

Soo now only my friends are supporting me. I cannot believe the fact that people don't care about the fact that I cared about them enough to tell a teacher so they could get help. All they care about is ruining their own lives...I have lost all faith in my fellow schoolmates...

Hi everypony, It's me! It's been a while hasn't it! I've been extremely busy lately.


That's not why I'm here though...


I'm here to ask something...Some of you who know me will know I absolutely fail at at love >.<


I've had two different crushes in my past, both of whom have have either had a boyfriend of left the country.


I'm not sure if it is simply the fact that my body is changing, of it if is because of the fact that I cannot make up my mind, But honestly I don't know what's going on ,I'm so confused...


Recently I have developed a crush for 2 other girls that go to my church, both are really nice people Awesome to be around. I'm trying to understand why I went from having a crush from one, for like a month to then having a crush the other...I even at one point had a crush on my cousin, again a really awesome person...I really don't know what's going on wth me, can someone please explain???


I really cannot figure this out, for starters, if I am going from having a crush on one then the other, is it really love, of merely a certain mood or stage that my body goes through? Also, am I even old enough to be considering love or Girfriends? I'm 15 years old... One moment I desire someone to be there for meto give and recieve affection from, and the next moment I'm just an emotional wreck trying to get my daily tasks done and not carng about anything else...




Whats more is we are all friends, I kinda feel bad if I were to start dating one, because then I'd be reminded that I had a crush on the other earlier and I just wouldn't feel right...Whats more is that when I'm around them I feel very awkward, mostly because they would normally talk to their other friends because I am an awkward person socially, and then that leads me to thinking to myself that it likely will not work because they probably don't lik me in the way that I like them. I'd never get a Girlfriend and then poof I'd just give up...


I'm not sure if that I just said makes any sense at all because it was an even bigger task to try put the current state of my mind in words...


I'm gonna try sum up what I am trying to say and ask.




I'm 15 years old.
I am constantly developing crushes and I don't know why.
These crushes don't last very long due to doubts springing up in my mind


I want to know:


Does anyonw know what could be causing this? Stress? a need for a social life? A need for a relationship with someone of the opposite sex?
Am I even old enough to be considering things like this?
Is there advice that could be given?
Is this emotion that I am feeling real, or is it just a phase of Puberty?


I honestly don't expect everyone to have an answer, I probably confused you just as much as I currently am...


But I'd appreciate any opinions, or advice just to put my mind at ease.