A forum for Tawain's bountiful insects. (Would like to start other ones for animals, birds, reptiles, botany, fish, etc - feel free to kick some off if you have any photos, or add info if you have it.)

black tiger head (hei hu tou fong): body black with yellow/orange and black markings on face, approx 3.5 cm long, builds nest high in trees, aggressive if nest is approached, will attack en masse, able to spit venom, painful sting, potentially fatal if stung enough times or if victim has an allergic reaction.

Asian giant hornet (tu fong):yellow/orange and black striped body, yellow/orange and black face, approx 5 cm long, builds nest on ground, aggressive if nest is approached though tends to attack singularly rather than en masse, not able to spit venom, extremely painful sting, single hornet will sting more than once.

stick insect (Ch:?) size: approx 15cm. I don't know much about them to be honest. Once they find a spot, they don't seem to move much. Really looks like a stick.

This is a good topic. I'm constantly amazed at the variety of insects here. I see news ones if not daily, at least weekly. My problem is that I don't have a digital camera good enough to take worthwhile pictures.

Lately, we've had some fantastic moths taking up residence on our screen door. Absolutely beautiful creatures. And the beetles are fantastic. I just saw a new one this morning, a tiny guy that looked like a grape.

There are three insects that I kill: the 'scorpion', the giant centipedes (especially when they're in the kitchen), and some thing I've yet to identify but that looks like a cross between a huge cockroach and gargantuan cricket. I do also kill the common giant cockroaches in the house, but now we're getting into the mundane.

I don't know if what people call scorpions are actual scorpions, but they do look like them, albeit black. I killed the one below at least three days ago, nights rather as that's when they come out. When it was still among the living, the dogs wouldn't go near it. Three days later, the ants won't even touch it. The ants will devour most any dead insect in minutes.

I think that's the same one i have seen around a few times (though your photography is nearly as bad as mine) - very menacing looking fellow, big goggling eyes, two large pinchers, tends to appear at night, and does look like a scorpion from the front, but doesn't seem to have the scorpion tail. I do know someone who's an entomologist - i will try to find out.

Was told that despite their fiercesome looks, the thing you have photographed is actually quite harmless - capable only of spraying a 'super concentraled-like vinegary substance from their tail', which although can sting a little, is not dangerous. It's an arachnid Vinegaroon, of which Taiwan has several species, the most common being, Typopeltis crucifer. Apparently they are often kept as pets.

Well now I feel bad for squishing all of them. I'll pay, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, I'll pay!

Thanks for the info Mike. I've looked these guys up and indeed they are kept as pets.

A couple links (looks like you may have found one of them):

http://www.spidy.goliathus.com/english/typopeltis-crucifer-id158.html

http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/M-giganteus.html

I've had a rash for a couple of days and was getting a big concerned about it due to the blistered area in the middle. We sent a picture of it to a dermatologist cousin in the US and she came up with what appears to be the cause. Paederus fuscipes Curtis. It doesn't bite, but it's body contains a toxic chemical that causes the injury when the bug is rubbed or squished against the skin.

Links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paederus_dermatitis
  
• Google image search

Cool! I've heard about them before from a local Amis - it's a fairly common thing here supposedly. As i heard, they drop (crawl?) onto you while you are half asleep and you swat it as an instinctive reaction - how did it happen in your case?

I don't know how it happened. Apparently, the skin reaction doesn't occur until 24-36 hours after contact with the offending bug, so it's hard to say when I got it. I may have been carrying wood or something else. I hope it didn't fall on me while sleeping. If so, there are certainly worse places it could have landed.

this is the moth that mimics a hornet so as to give would be predators second thoughts - possibly sesia apiformis

I've seen something flying around the last few nights, something new to me and I'm not sure what it is but it could be this fella. It's the size of a very large beetle, but it flies much more quickly and gracefully. In fact I thought it was a hornet but it didn't fly the same.

I'd say 'get a picture', but i know it's virtually impossible when they're flying.

I found one in our living room the other day and let him go about his way. There may be something to maintaining a little variety in the household critters. I've noticed lizard hatchlings about recently, but they seem to get eaten by the geckos.

I found one in our living room the other day and let him go about his way. There may be something to maintaining a little variety in the household critters. I've noticed lizard hatchlings about recently, but they seem to get eaten by the geckos.

Yeah, those geckoes - people say they eat the insects, which they do, but they convert it into a surprising amount of crap which is not that nice - they kind of need their checks and balances as well. I've got a rat in the roof - i think he does actually keep their numbers down a bit.
Here's a picture of the brown hornet - i don't know if it's harmless, but it's not aggressive and they only nest as a couple - had a couple nesting on my porch since summer. Unlike the tiger heads, they are not particularly good fliers and it's funny watching them clumsily bang into things when they are trying to get back to their nest with a bit of wind about.

That may have been the one I saw in our place last June, but the one I saw was more slender and a little lighter brown. It was quite long too.