I’ve seen some threads here in the past about bucket list travel destinations, dream plant observations and so on, but I think it’s time we start a thread for my fellow insect enthusiasts! What are your dream insect observations?
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I thought this topic would have more activity by now.
Surprisingly, despite hiking frequently, I have yet to see a California Ebony Tarantula, so that’s on my list.
I recently took this Diabolical Ironclad Beetle off my list though, so yay!
Also, can you clarify if by “bug” is it Insects and Arthropods, or just insects?
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I was really hoping to see a harlequin beetle in Costa Rica this March, but they proved elusive. Something to look forward to on another trip!
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I’d love to see the orange bluet close to home, and at home or in Latin America I’d always love to see any rhino, stag, elephant, etc. beetle. Once saw a near-dead Eastern Hercules but that’s it.
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Teddy bear bee. Just look at him. I need to pick him up so bad.
Couple other things I’d love to see… stingless bees, an orchid bee, a tortoise beetle, a Hercules beetle, any treehopper, giant water bug hopefully not while it’s biting me, plump springtails.
The list keeps getting longer and harder to clear though… just today I learned about cloak-and-dagger bees. What gives them the right to such a cool name and look?? While living exclusively in the other hemisphere to me???
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Just insects! Those beetles really are fascinating, congrats on the lifer!
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It may not fully fit with this thread, but i’m really interested in fireflies and managing my yard to encourage them. I successfully did this at a place i lived in the past and would love to do so again, and am working on growing more native plants and leaving lots of decaying wood around for their larvae, never spraying insecticide, etc. However, i have not found a way to document them very well on iNat, it seems like their flash pattern can be diagnostic but i haven’t figured out a good way to capture that. I’d love to figure out which species are here especially as they appear to be struggling to survive in many areas. Anyone here know about fireflies?
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Got 1 this year - live adult oak gall wasps
Fireflies would be nice to find in New Mexico. Sacramento Mountains Checkerspot and Bombus cockerelli before they go extinct in southern New Mexico. Ancylandrena larreae and Neolarra are other bees high on my list. Adult Lasiocampidae and Saturniidae moths for my yard list.
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I want a mantidfly. I linked to the most commonly observed species near me. Several of my bug-obsessed friends have had them at lights, but not me. Woe is me!
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I would like to see an Eighty-eight Butterfly but I will have to travel off the Peninsula as they are not here.
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I am so new to insect photography that my bucket list is pretty general. Any insect I haven’t photographed before is a win. It is an even bigger win if I can figure out what it is.
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Blue Morpho butterfly! I saw it in a book about butterflies as a kid and I’ve been obsessed ever since. Hopefully I’ll find time to travel to see them one day.
Oh boy where to start…
Is it cheating to say an charismatic undescribed species of moth?
Otherwise, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/124201-Endoxyla-cinereus https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165081680 Extatosoma tiaratum https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165226458 Pure Green Sweat Bee
All the treehoppers
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47916-Actias-luna
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51996-Daphnis-nerii
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/199441-Creatonotos-gangis
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/71221-Gryllotalpa
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1468845-Stenocara
http://microsculpture.net/marion-flightless-moth.html No observations on iNaturalist(yet) but it’s a flightless tineidid that lives in bird nests in a remote subantarctic island. Plus its scientific name is pringle eater!
I know it’s not possible but I would die a happy man if I could see a Meganuera hunt or watch the insects at a sauropodfall in the Jurassic
I work at a museum with Lord Howe’s Stick Insect specimens but I haven’t been able to see them.
And finally, my professor from undergrad is describing a new species that is super funky that I wish I could share with you
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personally, I would love to observe all species of bumblebees found in Poland, there are 31 of them; and most of all: Bombus hypnorum, Bombus fragrans, Bombus distinguendus
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I’d love to discover a new or undescribed species too! Why haven’t you gotten to see those stick insects? I would be beelining straight for them if I worked there lol!
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I actually have an entire note on my computer titled “MOTH BUCKETLIST” in all-caps! But I’ll just put down a few of them here in the interest of space:
- Acossus populi would be cool, as it’s fairly large and thus should be conspicuous, but the entire Cossidae family has just one observation in Metro Vancouver on iNat so far
- Apparently Ascalapha odorata is a rare vagrant that has been sighted in the Lower Mainland before
- I’ve only seen one saturniid my entire life (Antheraea polyphemus) and I’d love to see more
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That one looks quite different than the ones I see here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=61503&user_id=itsmelucy&verifiable=any
I have not a lot of butterfly-moth knowledge (grand understatement). Why would it look so different?
Not at home, but I saw a beautiful adult lappet moth last night
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Ascalapha odorata would be a great moth to see here. Thanks for giving me one more to look for.
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Since until relatively recently they were classified as extinct they are protected in the entomology collection while I work as an educator on the floor. Don’t worry though I’m trying my best to get in there
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