The BugLady has been wanting to do an episode about Bess beetles for a long time, but she didn’t have a picture of one (many thanks to BugFans Tom and Joe for sharing). Why Bess beetles? Because they exhibit what’s called “pre-social behavior,” and they vocalize like crazy, and they have lots of names, and then there’s the phoresy. The Insects of Duke University website calls them “one of the most delightful discoveries one can make upon overturning logs.”
Back in the summer of 2009, the BugLady found a spectacular grasshopper in the UWM Field Station prairie. It was a Short-winged Bunchgrass Locust/Grasshopper, also known as the Short-winged Toothpick Grasshopper, and she issued a special Bonus Bug to celebrate it. This is a revision of that post, with some new information.
The summer of 2018 saw an encouraging number of sightings of Rusty-patched bumble bees in southeastern Wisconsin – encouraging because the Rusty-patched bumble bee is on the Federal Endangered Species list, and also because there seem to be a growing number of people who are aware of the bee and are looking for it. We depend on bumble bees for a variety of ecosystem services, and they are considered by some to be a “keystone species”.
Northern Metalmarks are subtly beautiful, with patterns of silver/metal/rust on dark wings. NMs like open/dappled stream edges and meadows near woodlands with shale, limestone or serpentine rock barrens or outcroppings close by. Their historical range is believed to have been much larger. Multiple factors have led to their decline, and it’s mostly a familiar chorus.
Winter is monochromatic and still, and then there are the flash-frozen fingers and feet. It’s a really tough period for wildlife to weather, too, and they emerge from it stressed, hungry, and at their lowest populations of the year. Animals deal with this harsh season in a variety of ways, such as migrating, hibernating, and diapause.
As always, we pause to celebrate (while humming seasonal songs and drinking eggy, adult beverages), the Twelve Bugs of Christmas (plus one) – a baker’s dozen of bugs, many of whom have already starred in their own BOTWs but who posed nicely for the BugLady this year.
The microclimate that forms between the snow and the ground is called the subnivean layer, but the Inuit call that zone the pukak. It’s the winter home of animals like mice, voles, moles, and, yes, red squirrels, plus hardy insects and other invertebrates.
It should come as no surprise to seasoned BugFans to hear that the BugLady and her camera spend a fair amount of time in the warmer months cruising for dragonflies and damselflies. One of her haunts is Forest Beach Migratory Preserve, a reclaimed golf course in Ozaukee County. Fall is an exciting time to be at Forest Beach, because the big guys – the darners and saddlebags – rule.
People respond to insects intellectually, aesthetically, and viscerally. Intellectually, earwigs are fascinating insects; viscerally – Ick!! Earwigs are Stealth Insects, and it creeps the BugLady out when masses of earwigs scramble away as she picks up a flower pot or flips up the cover of the garage-door-opener keypad or opens her mailbox. This week, the BugLady takes a look at Earwigs, and more specifically, the European Earwig.
The BugLady (who loves finding weevils) found this one in Ohio, but it does live here in God’s Country and throughout eastern North America. With about 83,000 species worldwide (3,000 in North America), the very-diverse weevil family, Curculionidae, is one of the largest animal (not just insect – animal!) families. Weevils can be recognized by their cute little snout (rostrum) and their “elbowed” antennae. Plant-chewing mouthparts are located at the end of the snout.