Bug of the Week

Broad-winged Skipper Butterfly

three broad-winged skippers on pink petals

Howdy, BugFans, Last July, the BugLady made a couple of visits to a local wetland where she enjoyed an abundance of Broad-winged Skippers on swamp milkweed. A brief introduction—broad-winged Skippers are in the family Hesperiidae (the Skippers). Most skippers are… Read More

Flies without Bios II

Note: All links leave to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady is always ambivalent about photographing flies, even when they pose nicely. There are a whole heck of a lot of species of Diptera (“two wings”) out there – 17,000… Read More

Coral Hairstreak Butterfly

coral hairstreak butterfly.

Note: All links leave to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, Hairstreaks (and Blues and Coppers and Harvesters) are members of the Gossamer-winged butterfly family Lycaenidae (“Gossamer-winged” being a nod to the iridescent sheen on the wings of many family members). Numbering… Read More

Cyrano Darner Dragonfly

Howdy, BugFans, It’s time for a dragonfly. In fact, it’s past time for a dragonfly. The BugLady has not seen this species yet (BugFan Freda has, and she contributed her pictures. Thanks, Freda) but she’s looking forward to the end… Read More

Bugs in the News

Honeybee pollinating flowers.

Note: All links leave to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, As usual, the BugLady’s “Bugs in the News” folder runneth over, so here’s a collection of articles to chew on. Many come from the wonderful Smithsonian Daily Newsletter, which not only… Read More

Swamp Metalmark Butterfly Redux

Butterfly on leaves.

Note: Most links leave to external sites. Greetings, BugFans, This is a slightly massaged episode that was originally posted in June of 2010. Recently the BugLady was privileged to photograph this lovely butterfly at Riveredge Nature Center, one of its… Read More

A Species on the March – Part 2, the Slender Bluet Damselfly

Note: Most link leaves to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, Back in the summer of 2019, in an episode about Lilypad Forktail damselflies entitled “A Species on the March,” the BugLady wrote, “Lake Twelve is famous because of the presence there… Read More

Horsehair worm Redux

Coiled worm.

Note: Most links leave to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, This is a somewhat rewritten rerun from 2009. New words, no new pictures. It’s a good thing that the common usage of the term “bug” is so inexact, because once again… Read More

Cockroach 101

Smoky Brown Cockroach

Note: All links leave to external sites. Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady has been wanting to write about cockroaches for a long time (she has fond memories of the “X-Files” episode about them). She asked BugFan Tom if he had any… Read More

Carolina Leaf-roller Cricket – a Snowbird Special

Note: All links leave to external sites Howdy, BugFans, A while back, BugFan Tom sent these pictures of a Carolina leaf-roller cricket from the Deep South. Carolina leaf-roller crickets (Camptonotus carolinensis) are in the family Gryllacrididae, the Raspy crickets, a… Read More