I sat for half an hour in the baking heat (35 degrees C today) trying to get photos of these dragonflies (oo-yama-tombo) as they zoomed past me! I took around 100 photos and the ones below were the best.
Link to information on this species: here
Odonata: Corduliidae
Epophthalmia elegans
= oo-yama-tombo
Location: Pond near Yamada Village in Munakata (google map)
A very strange little bug. It looks like a mini cicada.
Hemiptera: Derbidae
Pamendanga matsumurae
= madara-hanenaga-unka
Location: Back road towards Yamada Village in Munakata (google map)
This large moth looks like a dead leaf. When disturbed it flies a few metres and immediately settles at the base of a tree or among dead leaves. Despite its size (around 70mm wingspan), it is surprisingly difficult to spot. At first I thought that the forewings were damaged, but it’s actually part of the pattern! It’s remarkable how the pattern includes a “shadow” effect, making it look like a ragged edge.(see more pictures here)
Lepidoptera: Noctuidae
Erebus ephesperis
= oo-tomoe-ga
Location: Back road towards Yamada Village in Munakata (google map)
This small moth looked like a bird dropping.
Lepidoptera: Uraniidae
Dysaethria cretacea
= kisuji-shiro-futao
Location: Back road towards Yamada Village in Munakata (google map)
Lepidoptera: Noctuidae
Oruza glaucotorna
= mon-shiro-kuruma-koyaga
Location: Back road towards Yamada Village in Munakata (google map)
On the window of a convenience store.
Coleoptera: Cerambycidae
Allotraeus rufescens
Longhorn Beetle = togehigetobiiro-kamikiri
Location: Convenience store near Genkai Royal Hotel in Munakata (google map)
Extremely hot day for walking today! We didn’t get so far but made some exciting discoveries, chief among which was this beautiful red-striped stick insect (eda-nanafushi). I should point out that only the male of this species has the red stripes.
Phasmatodea: Phasmatidae
Phraortes illepidus
= eda-nanafushi
= stick insect or walking stick
Location: forest area near Ikeda Village in Munakata (aerial photo)
Map: Google map link
There’s no doubt that this is a beautiful beetle, but the damage it does to trees seems to be pretty serious. Before I spotted it, I actually heard it chomping on the tree bark. It was a really dark area of forest and the noise was a bit creepy!
Coleoptera: Cerambycidae
Eupromus ruber
Spotted Scarlet Longhorn Beetle = hoshi-beni-kamikiri
Location: forest area near Ikeda Village in Munakata (aerial photo)
Map: Google map link
I couldn’t find a picture of this longhorn beetle in any of my field guides. However, it seems to be a species of Pterolophia and it is probably P. annulata, which I have found before (here). My difficulty in identification is that the central area of the elytra appears to have lost the dense covering of hairs that give the beetle its pattern (I think).
Coleoptera: Cerambycidae
Pterolophia annulata (??)
Longhorn beetle = wamonsabi-kamikiri (??)
Location: Area of orchards next to Route 3 under Tachibana-yama (Google map)
I almost didn’t take photos of these wasp beetles (tora-kamikiri) because I thought I’d already got plenty of shots of this species. However, I took a couple of photos to test out my new camera and when I looked at them, I realized that this was a different species to before. Lucky!
This is Chlorophorus annularis, and the previous species I found were Chlorophorus quinquefasciatus (here) and Grammographus notabilis (here).
Coleoptera: Cerambycidae
Chlorophorus annularis
Bamboo longhorn beetle (bamboo borer) = take-tora-kamikiri
Location: In sweet chestnut grove next to Munakata Common (Google map)