The 12 Bugs of Christmas

With apologies to Olde English Folk Songs everywhere, here is the Second Annual Twelve Bugs of Christmas, featuring a Baker’s Dozen that were photographed this year but that did/will not appear in BOTWs. These pictures are a tribute to the joy of stumbling into the right place at the right time.

American Pelecinid Wasp (Family Pelecinidae)

American Pelecinid Wasps are relatively common from Argentina through Canada, in woodlands, grasslands and gardens, from mid-summer to early fall. Two other species occur exclusively south of the border. Pelecinids have short wings for their length and are slow flyers.

Two More Blister Beetles (Family Meloidae)

Blister Beetles are famous for their choice of weapons. They protect themselves from predators by causing a caustic chemical called cantharidin to seep from their joints when alarmed (reflex bleeding). There are about 2,500 species of them in the world, and about 410 of them are found in North America. Like many insects that have complete metamorphosis, Blister Beetles occupy different habitats and enjoy different diets as larvae than they will as adults.

Four Bluets and a Dancer – and a Forktail (Family Coenagrionidae)

Damselflies—four bluets, a dancer, and a forktail—have in common that, here in Wisconsin at least, the males are described as “unmistakable.” Most of the 17 species of bluets in Wisconsin have a black-and-blue striped thorax and a black-and-blue abdomen. Bluets are informally divided into the “blue bluets” like the Double-striped bluet, whose predominantly blue abdomens are decorated by black stripes/rings, and the “black bluets,” whose black abdomens have blue rings/stripes.

Obscure Grouse Locust (Family Tetrigidae)

Obscure Grouse Locust, adults and nymphs alike, nibble on diatoms and algae that they find at the water’s edge (aquatic vegetation makes up the majority of the food eaten by some riparian Grouse Locust species), on algae that they find growing on dirt, on some molds, and on lichens, mosses, and newly-sprouted grasses.

Lupine Bug (Family Alydidae)

The Lupine Bug is the only Megalotomus in North America, though Eurasia hosts another seven genus members. The species can be found near the edges of woodlands across the continent except in the Deep South. LBs feed on members of the Pea family (including soybeans), with a little sumac thrown in for spice, inserting their proboscis into the developing seeds and sucking out the liquids.

Jumping Bristletails (Family Machilidae)

Bristletails are one seriously ancient critter. Tracks of Jumping Bristletails have been found in Permian rock (290 to 248 mya). There are two JB families worldwide, both families occur in North America, as do about 20 of the 350 to 450 of the world’s JB species. JBs live in a wide variety of conditions, from Arctic to desert, and they especially like leaf litter, bark, rock crevices, and rocky seashores. They are found in the nooks and crannies of the world, where they shelter during the day and perambulate at night.

Green Legged Grasshopper (Family Acrididae)

Green-Legged Grasshopper has a range from “eastern Minnesota through Wisconsin, Michigan, and southern Ontario to Vermont and western Massachusetts, south to northern Georgia and Arkansas, west to eastern Nebraska,” and its range map extends north toward Hudson’s Bay. They feed on a variety of greenery, develop rapidly, and are adults by summer. They are one of a succession of grasshopper species that bluebirds feed to their nestlings.

Reticulated Net-winged Beetle (Family Lycidae)

The BugLady thinks this is a Reticulated Net-winged Beetle (Calopteron reticulatum). If not, it’s a Banded NwB (C. discrepans). There are still some rather large gaps in our knowledge of its natural history and its diet.

Moths Without Bios – in Camo

Moths in the family Geometridae get their name from the Greek words for “earth” and “measurer. There are a lot of Geometrids – more than 35,000 species worldwide, with 1,400 of those in North America. As a group, they are smallish, nocturnal moths that can tolerate some pretty chilly spring or fall weather. Caterpillars feed on leaves of many woody and non-woody plants, and there are more than a few agricultural and forest pests in the family.