I recently saw a cute butterfly out in the parking lot where i work. I promptly put my finger in front of it and let it crawl on, which is something i do pretty regularly if the bug in question is okay with it. One of my colleagues was surprised by this and i got to show him how to do it too. This is something I’ve done a lot over the years that’s showed up in a lot of my observations. I decided to make a new Project to compile all my finger-posting, and hopefully others can join and do the same and we can all offer up our fingers to our six-legged overlords. If yall have any finger-bugging experiences to share, tell me all about it them!! :)
Does it have to be a finger. Sometimes the bug walks on down my finger into my palm before I get to take the photograph. I have quite a few to add to the project!
Edit: I am only going to add observations where the bug is on one (or more) of my fingers. Palms won’t count!
Edit2: I see you have restricted bugs to insects. Can non-insect ‘bugs’ (spiders, millipedes, basically most terrestrial invertebrates) also be included?’
Edit 3: 46 observations added. Mostly my fingers. Sometimes my photo of a bug on someone else’s finger.
There are some bugs I’d like to give the finger, but they’re mostly mosquitoes and horseflies. I’m sure that’s not what you meant.
I’ll add my observations of more benign insects on friendlier fingers to the project, though.
Can you elaborate on how you do this? When I see butterflies they are usually in motion and if they are resting they fly away when I approach.
10/10 Rage bait title
Because I am an amateur at this whole iNat thing I have a pretty strict NO touch (not just bugs but everything) policy. I don’t know enough to be certain which ones bite or sting or are venomous. I do know even the fuzziest cuties can hurt you. To date the only exception to my do not touch policy is to save turtles crossing roads that would likely be run over otherwise. I also saved one bull snake. By the time I was brave enough to pick up the bull snake I had seen many and knew it wasn’t venomous. So two points here. First I have no photos to share with this project. Second, for those who do touch how do you know you won’t get hurt? Part two of the second point-or do you just take your chances?
Ditto! Living in Florida and apparently having an irresistible blood type I have had more than my share of bug bites. Mosquitos, ants, unknowns and ticks all get the finger from me.
Hmm 
. How many venomous butterflies, moths or dragonflies have you encountered? (Note that no one is suggesting you eat the insects, which may well be poisonous - but that’s a different matter entirely).
I would have thought that no matter where you are in the world, there’s always quite a lot of fairly reliable common knowledge available about which organisms are safe to handle, and that everybody learns that at an early age. Surely you don’t need to be an experienced naturalist to know that, for example, bees and wasps can sting? Or that certain scorpions and spiders can be lethally venomous? I happen to live in a country where’s there’s only one venomous snake, but I knew about that long before I started taking a serious interest in nature.
It’s certainly true that there are also some less commonly encountered organisms that common sense won’t forewarn you against. For example: don’t ever carelessly handle a water boatman! But generally speaking, a little common sense (and your natural instincts) should take you a long way. If in doubt, just leave it out.
I often do this with moth trap observations. In that case, because the moths are usually very docile, I put my finger in front of them and gently push into their heads, and they climb on. The kids also pick up bugs by letting them climb onto a finger. Unfortunately, this is how the youngest discovered not to pick up wasps…
My personal practice is to handle wildlife, including insects, as little as possible. I just prefer to watch them at their work.
Unknown plants I do not touch, as some here here have (not visible to my old eyes) stinging spiky things on their leaves, or sap that is irritant, or just an unpleasant smell that lingers on the skin.
But in my old garden, this lovely plant, that appeared like all out of nowhere, became overgrown and when I would brush past it, I would be rewarded with the scent of cloves. Thereafter, I often touched a leaf to get the smell on my fingers. (By then I knew what it was and that it was safe to touch.)
Maybe not as adults, but some Lepidoptera larvae are dangerous:
https://imb.uq.edu.au/article/2024/06/electric-caterpillar-sparks-new-venom-discoveries
Do all project submissions need to be from iNat observations? I have a handful (fingerful?) of insects on my finger that I never made an observation of, like my profile pic, because they weren’t native. I could add them as captive, cultivated, causal grade. Would I need to add them to iNat first or can I just add them to the project marked as captive?
How fun! I tend to crop in my photos, but I’ll see what I can add that still shows the insect is on a finger.
Just to be clear, a species not being native does not mean it should be marked as captive, a free-living non-native organism is still wild. Of course if the organisms you are talking about are actually being held in captivity they should be marked as such
Ah, yes, good point, and I agree with you. I could have done a better job of wording my question. I called them non-native because I ordered captive-bred nymphs and slings from a vendor in another state, had them shipped to me, and now they live in my living room.
Projects on iNaturalist (not forum threads) are collections of observations. If there is no observation there is nothing that can be added to the project.
Other non-finger hand parts are acceptable! :)
I guess they just like me. Some fly away but a lot of them don’t especially if it’s night-time and they’re near a light source. If you gently touch one of their front legs, they’ll usually either fly away or crawl onto it. :)