Common Green Darner rerun

Salutations, BugFans, 2026 The BugLady checked the (highly searchable) website of the Wisconsin Odonata Survey (Wisconsin Odonata Survey) to see if anyone had reported a Common Green Darner yet. They are early migrants from the southeastern part of the country, traveling …

Deer Fly at Last

Howdy, BugFans, Way back in 2008, deer flies appeared briefly (two paragraphs) in a BOTW episode called “A few Flies,” sharing the spotlight with mosquitoes and horse flies. Amazingly, that’s the only time deer flies have appeared in BOTW, and …

Golden Silk Orb Weaver – A Snowbird Special

Howdy BugFans, It’s almost time for Snowbirds to head back north to rejoin us here in God’s Country for the final days/weeks/months of winter. The BugLady read recently that the number of days below freezing in March here in God’s …

Tumbling Flower Beetle

Howdy, BugFans, Way back in 2010, when the BugLady wrote an episode called “Big Beetle – Tiny Beetle,” the tiny beetle was a generic Tumbling flower beetle. There are a whole bunch of (unrelated) beetles that share the common name “flower …

Bugs in the News XVI

Greetings, BugFans, Let’s take some time off from the relentless, 24-hour news cycle and enjoy a few bug stories.  MOSQUITOES – The BugLady always snickers at the obligatory TV news spot in mid-spring in which someone earnestly tries to predict …

Eastern Amberwing Redux

Salutations, BugFans, 2026 – When the BugLady wrote this episode in February of 2013, she kicked it off by griping about the weather – a favorite, February, indoor sport. This year, we’ve had many days of below average, below freezing, and below …

Long-jawed Pedunculate Ground Beetle

Greetings, BugFans, BugFan Dave shared these spectacular pictures of a very cool beetle that he found last summer – a ground beetle in the family Carabidae, a huge family with 40,000+ species. It’s in the subfamily Scaritinae, the “Pedunculate ground …

Bee Moth

Greetings, BugFans, BugFan Danielle sent these shots and wondered if the moth might be a Bee moth (Aphomia sociella) (the Bee moth is not to be mistaken for the amazing little Moth fly, of previous BOTW fame -? – Clogmia albipunctata …

Giant Leopard Moth

Howdy, BugFans, Honorary BugFan Lisa sent the BugLady a picture of her glove posed next to a big, fat caterpillar and asked if it might be a wooly bear. There are a number of species of caterpillars that are called wooly …

Eastern Parson Spider

Howdy, BugFans, One of the BugLady’s inquilines is an Eastern parson spider. An inquiline (from the Latin inquilinus meaning “lodger” or “tenant”) is an animal that lives in the dwelling of another animal. Like the Tree frog that overwintered with the BugLady last …

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.