Official ID thread

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This guy is hanging about, literally, upsidedown above one of the front windows. Tricky to get a decent shot, he appears to have some supper too. Any ideas on the species? I thought some kind of orb weaver but it's much darker and they tend to hang about more on trees or bushes [at least in my garden]

Cheers:

spidey.jpg
 
Cagey75 said:
This guy is hanging about, literally, upsidedown above one of the front windows. Tricky to get a decent shot, he appears to have some supper too. Any ideas on the species? I thought some kind of orb weaver but it's much darker and they tend to hang about more on trees or bushes [at least in my garden]

Cheers:

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It's a false widow spider. Steatoda nobilis.
 
Can anyone identify this guy for me, please? I've done some Googling and thought it might be a Labyrinth Spider but not 100%


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michael23 said:
I keep looking at this and wondering if it is a garden cross spider, but not fully marked?
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You are correct, I asked around and was given this answer

What you have there is a Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus). You can recognise it by the diamond-shaped abdomen (hence the scientific name), the banded legs, and also those white dots on the dorsal area. The colour of this species varies a lot which can lead to some confusion.
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AndyG123 said:
Could anyone tell me what these are on the legs of a bluebottle I photographed. Really creeped me out when I originally seen it!

Bluebottle with unknown bug on leg 2 by Andrew Gray, on Flickr
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Itrs not a bluebottle (Calliphoridae), it is a Muscid - probably something like Morellia. These breed in dung (cattle, horse, etc.) and often carry phoretic mites like this (phoresy: an association between two organisms in which one (e.g. a mite) travels on the body of another, without being a parasite). The mites are not harming the fly, they are just hitching a lift. They also live in dung, but are not very good at getting from one cow pat to another so they use insects to carry them. For example, you will often find that dung beetles are absolutely plastered with them on their undersides.
 
Ps, lovely shot btw.
 
Anyone know what is happening here

I shot this the other day I did not know what it was at the time. I know it is a caterpillar of some sort or a sawfly larvae but is pupating or has been parasitised.

Unknown by Alf Branch, on Flickr
 
Managed to get out for about 30 mins before the rain I got drenched as fairly new to macro and I have No idea what these three are called.
The spider was very quick always moving the other two some type of Fly's?
The one with green background very docile IMG_9828 mkii.jpgIMG_9832 mkii.jpgIMG_9836 mkii.jpg
 
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the ghost said:
the other two some type of Fly's
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I would second Derek on the second shot being a St Marks Fly and as for the spider... Bit surprised the St Marks are still out as I was shooting them nearly a month ago and they don't live very long in their adult state. the third shot is probably a dance or dagger fly.
 
cheers guys
it not been very warm up Tyneside area maybe we are behind as of the cold we have had the spider was only a couple of millimetres (body) but always moving
thanks again larger pictures can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/54887916@N00/ if it helps
 
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When I spotted this I thought it was a butterfly egg but is not but what is going here

Unknown by Alf Branch, on Flickr
 
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Box Brownie said:
@alfbranch


Reminded me of something else involving a parasitic wasp, so googled and found this

https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/blogs/ladybird-challenge

And here but not UK
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/02/wasp-virus-turns-ladybugs-zombie-babysitters
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I found this one before coming back here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13860891

It apears that may be a parasitic wasp (Dinocampus coccinellae or similair) cocoon being gaurded by the ladybird that is still allive
 
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