Stuart Hine, Identification and Advisory Service Manager at the Natural History Museum in London, often finds himself identifying the bugs that people bring in to the museum. Jars, match boxes, shoe boxes, and even jewelry boxes have transported creatures to his desk.
Hine often doesn’t know what kind of insect or arachnid to expect until he peeks inside. Imagine opening a box and finding this:
Next: In search of the elusive ladybird spider.Here he displays 3 of the mini-beasts that have made it into his department; a formidable stag beetle, an Eastern European long-horned beetle that hitched a ride with a haulage firm, and a predatory tube web spider.
If you’ve found an insect in the UK and need it identified, post your pictures and a description of where you found it to our Identification forums.
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