Summer Survey 2019
The BugLady hopes that you’ve been getting out on the trail and drinking in the lushness of the summer. Subjects of this summer’s survey include wasps, aphids, syrphids, and katydids.
Bug of the Week
Tree Crab Spider
The BugLady was checking around the edge of a gravel parking lot near the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust’s Lake Twelve property when she found this beauty She had two immediate reactions: 1) what is it? And 2) it looks like an octopus clinging to a reef!
It’s National Moth Week (soon)
Here (the BugLady looked up the collective noun for moths) is a whisper of moths. Mostly porch moths; mostly under-biographized; mostly, to borrow a term from birders, “LBJs” – Little Brown Jobs. Subjects include White Spring Moths, Bruce Spanworms, and Bronzy Macrochilos.
Majestic Long-horned Beetle
The BugLady is always excited when she finds an insect she’s never seen before. She was moseying along the trail at Riveredge Nature Center at the beginning of July when she saw a flash of orange in the vegetation. A big flash. She craned and fidgeted and crossed her fingers while the beetle crawled around, revealing itself by degrees.
And Now for Something a Little Different – Slime Molds
Slime molds are strange and wonderful life forms that can exist as tiny, single cells, but can also form a mass of cells that acts like an organism – and moves! They may be so small that they live their whole lives under our radar, moving slowly through the soil; or they may aggregate to form bright yellow or white, spongy blobs on the forest floor, or pink spheres on decaying wood, or tiny, brown cattail shapes on branches.
Closed for June – The Dance Fly
The BugLady loves these fancy little flies and their habitat preferences, for the damp and the dappled are similar to hers. Dance flies are abroad in June and are one of the BugLady’s “nemesis bugs.”
Closed for June – Feast or Famine
Continuing with June’s BOTW Lite, we have tales of plenty and of scarcity. In the first, insects are so plentiful that they show up on radar. First ladybugs, and then there’s a mayfly hatch along the Mississippi.
Iris Weevils at Play
As long-time BugFans know, the BugLady gets a kick out of weevils. She found these cute little Iris weevils recently, scampering around on flowers at the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust’s Cedarburg Environmental Study Area site.
Closed for June
Well, the air is warm(er) and the BugLady’s photo files are getting thin, and the trails are beckoning. She will hit the restart button in July, but will post assorted short subjects during June. Please enjoy this story of an African park that is being rejuvenated. The slide show pictures some strange and wonderful creatures, and there’s a great time-lapse video of dung beetles, of recent BOTW fame.
Luna Moth
The BugLady’s favorite insect is the Tiger Swallowtail (Mom likes me best), but in the crowded field for second place, the Luna Moth is pretty close to the top. Luna moths (Actias luna) are in the Giant Silkworm/Royal Moth family Saturnidae (of previous BOTW fame), whose family members have ringed eyespots reminiscent of Saturn.