Isn't this guy amazing? He reminds me of a robot with this cool
mechanical looking cog-like thing on his back. He's called a wheel bug
for obvious reasons, and even walks in slow jerky motions like a robot.
This one is huge. His body is 2 1/4 inches long.
The bite of a wheel bug is painful and may take months to heal,
sometimes leaving a small scar, so caution is advised when handling
them. Why do I always find these things out, AFTER I've been
playing around with them?
It possesses two scent sacs, red-orange in colour, that can be fired
from its anus, usually in reaction to being disturbed. Oh, great. I was
messing with a vicious insect that, not only could have bitten me, but
fired foul smelling stuff from its butt. Next time, I'll steer clear. He is
really cool, though, don't you think?
Have a listen to the great Hank Mobley playing Hello Young Lovers.
I've been singing this all morning, changing the lyrics to "bug lovers".
It works. Have a wonderful weekend, bloggy friends. ~x
Holy Gamoley! You play with these creatures!! I'm afraid your friend would send me squealing for the exits!!
ReplyDeleteLovely photo of your daughter!!!
hi willow - what a cool bug!!! i've never seen or heard of one before - i thought it was a toy at first but as i read on i realized that you're lucky this guy was in a playful mood and just looking for a little fun. great tune as well . . . . great hot saturday morning music to groove along to!!! mmmm hmmmm... have a wickedgood day willow, steven
ReplyDeleteWhat a contrast...your beautiful talented daughter's photo near that creepy bug! I read the newspaper clipping....Wow, she is on her way to a wonderful career!
ReplyDeleteAs for the bug...yikes, be careful, stinking up the manor?!
even if I hadn't known his secret weapon, I doubt I would have found him anything but "yikes!" - gorgeous pic of your daughter :)
ReplyDeleteThat is a cool bug (from a distance). Okay what exactly are you sending me in the mail?
ReplyDeleteLOL!
i didnt realize she was your daughter. she is both beautiful and talented, like her mom. wow. The bug is wild. great close up.
ReplyDelete"Hello Bug Lovers" is extremely funny. Wonder what the "gears" are in favor of....
ReplyDeleteLiza, oh, I knew you were going to ask me. I was out and about yesterday and couldn't decide on anything. :P Are you bookish?
ReplyDeleteHoly Macro-bug! This is an intriguing creature. I don't mind looking at bug pictures, but to take one myself? Ummmm I'd rather go hear your beautiful, "perky" daughter sing! How proud you must be! Kudos!
ReplyDeleteI am assuming that by "playing" you mean standing at a respectful distance and photographing with a zoom lens.
ReplyDeleteWow. That's one wicked looking armored insect.
Cass
I'd never sleep if we had things like this around. Stuff of nightmares and you played around with it! Streuth!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNo. Bugs can cause real harm. I followed the link on Elspeth's photo and was rewarded with more information on her bio. You are a lucky, proud mamma. She is beautiful, talented and a chip off the old shoulder, I guess. Are you going down to Jersey to hear her?
ReplyDeleteIf you had turned it over you would have found a windup key.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful bug! Glad to find someone else is intrigued by these marvels of creation.
ReplyDeleteHey ! Merci from this bug lover. Insects are amazing ... now I'm off to find more about this wheel bug.b xo from les Gang
ReplyDeleteI love bugs. they are so cool, so varied, so colorful, so integral to the functioning of nature. I have a collection of bugs. My grandkids bring them to me. I have three different wasps on my window sill. I'll have to take pics and post them.
ReplyDeleteMy boss has started a dead bug collection in our office. We have a stink bug & one of the seven year cicadas from the other year. And I thought it was a boy thing (shuddering)!
ReplyDeleteI have a little bug out here that's much much smaller but wears a little suit of armor the same color with a ridge up it's back. I'm always finding them on my screen door. I'm now imagining your bug, en masse, walking along slowing all in one direction while these little bugs run along to the side and keep up the rear formation. A small invasion of armor suited bugs. Really, it's not machines we need to worry about. It's the armor plated bugs already here. If they ever decided to work together we're doomed! Doomed I say! Doomed! Walk carefully but carry a big boot.
ReplyDeleteI've seen these before. When I was a kid I thought they looked like the dinosaurs. Great picture!
ReplyDeleteI heard the song in my head the second I saw your blog title. You're so funny, Willow.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you know Rebecca from Pocahantas County blog. She is a bug expert - she used to work for the Smithsonian so she knows everything about bugs.
The one here? SCARY! Two inches long?? I would never have gotten close to it. Don't tell Rebecca but I hate bugs as much as I hate clowns. Shhhhh. Mums the word.
Cool! Never seen one of these before. A skunk bug-LOL! And great music selection( GAH! earworm alert! )But it's a good one :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting critter!
ReplyDeleteA very beautiful and talented daughter, you are blessed.
He's a bit of a camera-Poseur !(interesting how i instinctively think "He".)I think I will stick to my fleas & bedbugs..........!
ReplyDeleteReya, no, I don't know Rebecca, but we have something in common! Gotta go find her...
ReplyDeleteI am not a friend of bugs. I really have a fear of stinging insects, don't like crawly things with multiple legs and detest ants, fruitflies, etc. However, I do think Praying Mantises(?) are cool and this bug you've posted is pretty neat as well.
ReplyDeleteKat
oh, dear, now, i'm not a "bug-lover" at all but this one has a bit more character than most - and what a superb shot!!!
ReplyDeleteand, while i've said it before [i think], your daughter is just breathtaking! beautiful i'm sure like her mom!
Hello Young Lovers is awesome! It seems to me it was a popular song about the same time as West Side Story, which is also very popular again. This version is very nice. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMs. Kincaid looks lovely in her picture and is playing to rave reviews, how beautiful! =D
The bug looks like it was built with a Mechano Building set. Please keep them on your side of the border. Maybe we should go for a bug meme.
Hmmmm! an interesting bug!
ReplyDeleteTreat with caution
My bug story:
I thought 'chiggers' were some sort of southern joke/myth
so, when I went to stay in Arkansas, I started helping weed the garden at the writers' colony.........(without bug repellant)
and they bit me
and made holes in my stomach
and took more than a month to go away
Hmmmm, never am a bug lover...but I can appreciate God's art work that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice write up about Elspeth's performance tomorrow. It would be lovely to be there.
ReplyDeleteWatch out for those bugs Willow!
I love Robobug! Funny, I find all beetles endearing, but spiders significantly terrifying. I can't work out why an additional 2 legs make such a difference, but they do, they do.
ReplyDeleteAmazing photo. And yes, I am, too, fascinated by bugs. I'm doing my final walk around bloggy land before I shoot off to Spain with my family. Have a nice weekend, you too.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
What an amazing creature. Thank goodness they have not made it to this side of the pond (yet)
ReplyDeleteI am a bug lover too, but toss them out when they get inside the house! The other day as I was trying to rescue a hornet, the poor guy got confused and ended up stinging me as I was trying to get him out the window! Ticked me off but I still rescued him!
ReplyDeleteI love this Hank Mobley! Very cool. Thank you for sharing :D
i know a few....biting and smelling...oh never mind...smiles. have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteaw. that bug is mondo cool! All bugs are cool, except spiders on the ceiling...yuck...and flies...and mosquitoes...ok, not all bugs are cool.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm....I have run into these bugs on our farm. I really had no idea that they inflicted a painful bite.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Liza would like the bug? Make sure you poke air holes in the box before shipping...kinda like we did in the lids of jars for bugs when we were kids!
ReplyDeleteI'm a bug lover, I guess...as long as they aren't crawling on me! ha!
Hi Willow, I wouldn't like to find that in the bath. Spiders are okay though because they eat the insects that bite me. Recently I befriended a little ginger spider that lived in the kitchen and I would leave newly swatted flies in its web - it seems to have disappeared now though and I feel quite sad not to see it.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture of your Wheel Bug - over here we call them Shield Bugs (order: Hemiptera but we don't get them that size (not in England anyway!).
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely blog you have :-)
Without reading your comments, it is a "Wheelbug" and don't let it bite you and it will. I got photos of them here and mostly they hang out on cone flowers.
ReplyDeleteSee her here with her clutch of eggs.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/210361#293177
To answer your question about quitting Pick a Peck of Pixels...
On the Coon blog I left the following answer:
No, not closing down, Pick a Peck of Pixels. I still have high hopes.
This blog is just one of those things I am doing while trying to discover what I want to do. Already, I have decided this one is going nowhere unless or until I can make it include the other beasts in my backyard and with a name like "Coon," I might be investigated for racism. It is really named "raccoon" as in the URL, so I can change that to raccoon, but then I still got the rabbits and chipmunks as other beasts in my backyard. So this one may not fly.
I had a little lad in my class once who made stuff like that from old tins he'd cut up. You and he would have got on famously. Good post.
ReplyDeleteWillow,
ReplyDeleteYou know what "they" say: Experience is the best teacher.
rel
Here Junior Pup and I have a collection of bugs that have died a natural death and we keep them in an old tin box. Very morbid. Yet interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy last acquisition was something that looked like a goliath beetle. I thought they were from South America.
yes, yes, I am a bug lover - could have gone into the study of bugs (entomology) and happily observed the rascals making cocoons, eating up the tomatoes - and inheriting the earth. Love the bug! Reminds me of a tale I should put on my blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd your daughter looks so like you - lovely, lovely, beautiful!!
great Nature post!
ReplyDeletegreat photographs!
and jazz, too?
i'm dizzy with yumminess!
peace~
Chuck
This is great! Kinda scary looking, I think!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I do love the new version of the old song!
We just returned from Galveston, renewed. Will share a post later. Today I went "green" with an old post. Those really work sometimes!
Take care and have a great week, Willow!
Love this bug, though his size would have put me off messing with him, even without knowing about his skunk like tendencies.
ReplyDeleteHello Willow,
ReplyDeleteYou certainly like to live dangerously at the Manor! Maybe you ought to take the pics after reading up on the creatures in future!
Hope your daughter's concert goes well today.
Re our paintings, yes we do have a lot and, fortunately, plenty of wall space, although we have never been one wall, one painting folks!!
I have seen these bugs around my property and to me they always looked rather otherwordly and as if they'd rather be let alone...and so I did just that!
ReplyDeleteThank God! cuz steenky butt secretions and painful bites aren't my cup of tea.
But "Hello Young Lovers" is...and I just adore The King And I. Growing up, I had a crush on that movie.
and this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdyqmN5cnRQ
Peace - Rene
He looks just like the sort of bug who would squirt orange stuff out his rear and have a painful bite.
ReplyDeleteLOL--I don't know if I've seen that before! Sounds kind of scary! I'll keep those things in mind if I run into this guy!
ReplyDeleteGreat Blug! Sometimes it is best not to know too much in advance, your fear ould have triggered it to squirt and bite had you known there was something to fear.
ReplyDeleteInstead you could enjoy its oddity and share it with us.
That is a fascinating insect!
ReplyDelete