Help me identify this insect!

[ShiftKicker]

I have looked in all the local insect identifying sites and tried to narrow down who this attractive creature might be, but am at a loss. It may be it comes from another part of the world though. Is anyone familiar with an insect like this?

It was this big:

|--------------------------------------------------|

(2 1/4" to 2 1/2")

Though you can't see, it had 4 wings which wrap quite tightly around its abdomen when not extended.

Anyone know what this is? It was in my house and the cat brought it downstairs from somewhere to show off to the dogs. It was completely unharmed (likely because it was not tasty to the cat). It is now in the garden somewhere going about its mysterious insect business.

 

[KarenNWendyn]

It’s pretty cool looking. Is it twitching?? Muscle stiffness?? Any entomologists here?
A lucky day for Bugsly

 

[ShiftKicker]

A pal of mine tracked it down: American Salmon Fly

Nothing exotic, but the sign of a healthy local ecosystem.

https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=American-Salmonfly

 

[KarenNWendyn]

Thanks for sharing. Stuff like this is right up my alley, even though I wasn’t familiar with this little critter (I do better with mammals and reptiles) .

 

[ShiftKicker]

Karen, I am usually really good with this stuff too! It's why I assumed it must be "exotic"- because it was completely unfamiliar to me. A terrible and completely wrong assumption and I should know better by now! The person who identified it for me asked very kindly if I knew about caddis fly larvae, and I had to strain to not feel insulted. I deserved it.

Here's the thing- I don't live within the zone of any waterway where this guy could have come from as far as I know. The cat brought it down from upstairs- where we have screens on the windows. I do, however, have several open topped fresh water aquariums. I periodically "seed" my fish tanks with water taken from a lake with a healthy ecosystem. It's helpful to stock them with all the little water critters that keep contained ecosystems balanced and happy. It reduces my need to change their water or even the filters- and I have not had to treat tanks for algae or fungus in the 6 years since I started doing this. I am a bit obsessive about my aquariums. Multiple.

This insect could have come in via egg with a scoop of fine lake sand, and the fish missed the larvae before it hatched. I can't see how, but...I feel a bit guilty now if that's the case, poor thing.

 

[KimT]

Now I'm curious to see pictures of your aquariums. I bet the cat loves watching fish.

 

[ShiftKicker]

Kim, a few choice pictures. Including one of the very rare black and white Ictalurus felidis (sub- species: tuxedoensis)

I have a bajillion more, but not of the cat engaging with the aquariums. He isn't so interested in the fish (he is a successful terrestrial hunter when left to his own devices- not often) as much as really stoked about how warm decent aquarium lamps get.

 

[KarenNWendyn]

“Ictalurus felidis”??
I think someone here is full of Shift :shock:
How about Felis domesticus, subspecies piscenosophilia?

 

[Annabelledingdong]

lol - looks like a cat fish to me
:lol:

 

[ShiftKicker]

Karen, you have to be fully invested in this. A "cat fish" means an aquatic, not terrestrial, designation. Felis (btw...Where were your italics, as is the accepted method of notation? cough) means "cat", not "fish".

If Bowie's going to cosplay, it's with 100% commitment to the role. He's going to make sure he tap dances across the shattered debris of our foolish, and completely rooted in reality and science, taxonomic rules. He's a cat fish swimming in the collective tears of anyone who wishes to adhere to established scientific naming protocol and laughs in the face of their pedantry. He is a cat(fish), after all...

 

[KarenNWendyn]

Like Bowie, I too laugh in the face of pedantry.

Brw, I know about using italics when it comes to using latin names in taxonomy. I just haven’t figured put how to do it on my iPhone (Phonus stupidicus).

 

[ShiftKicker]

Of course you do! I just had to get a dig in, well, because...

Also, I can't do anything via my Android phone either. There are some people on here that wield their smart phones like technological geniuses, but I've been unable to figure it out (due to lack of effort more than ability).

 

[KarenNWendyn]

Keep on digging.....
I’ve always been a fan of taxonomy as well as pseudotaxonomy :wink:

 

[ShiftKicker]

Speaking of pedantry, thank you for not pointing out the screamingly obvious lack of a period in one of my posts. It was an easy one and you are polite.

 

[KarenNWendyn]

Aaack! You’re terrible.