I saw an odd looking insect and wondered if someone could help me identify it?
Question:My son found this bug the other day at the library. I had never seen an insect that looked like it. It was maybe 1 or 2 inches long and it was the most brillant blue color, it was a beautiful blue color-it was definitely some sort of insect. It seemed harmless, because I didn't know what it was and didn't want my son near it, so I put a wooden box in front of it (because I don't kill things) and it climbed right up on the box and knocked it off outside. I tried looking it up on the internet but could only find a bettle, ant, and a dragonfly and it was none of these. I'm just really curious what it was because I have never seen an insect look like that before- I couldn't even guess a family it would have been in. Anybody have any ideas?
Answers:
You might want to see if you can find it in a guidebook. Either check the library or local bookstore for an insect field guide. If you can find one specifically for your area you'll, of course, have better luck. They generally have them in bookstores in the "Nature/Outdoor" section though you might find field guides specific to your area in the "Local" section of your bookstore. A couple good ones are the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders or the Peterson First Guide to Insects of North America.
Since there are vast numbers of insects don't be surprised if you can't find it. It could be an unusual species you wouldn't normally come across so they decided to save space in the field guide and not include it. You might also want to see if any local museums have insect exhibits in their natural history section. It'd probably be easier to identify it from an exhibit than from a field guide but, then again, you'll be looking at hundreds, if not thousands, of insects.
One last thing you can try, if all else fails, is checking local universities. Some universities have an entomology department, likely to be a division of the biology department, that might be able to help. Either call the university and see if they have such a department or check it's website. If they don't specifically have an entomology department then you might send a short (very short) email to one of the biology professors. They may have someone on the staff that either deals with insects or just likes them as a hobby and could possibly identify it from your description. If you don't get a reply don't feel too bad, professors are quite busy as it is so it's not surprising if they don't want to help a total stranger ID an insect. That's the main reason I listed this option last; it's quite a long shot that anyone would be willing to help and, if they were, it might be hard to get an ID from just a written description alone.
Good luck!
since you found it at library it could have been a book worm. lol
I think it was the Black Flower Wasp, is this it?:
http://www.csiro.au/resources/ps1va.html...
Good luck!
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