The 12 Bugs of Christmas

In lieu of the usual bug biography, the BugLady presents The Twelve Bugs of Christmas—a tribute to a dozen insects (a Baker’s Dozen, really) that were photographed this year but not featured in a BOTW. Let the singing commence.

Big Bee Flies (Family Bombyliidae)

Bee Flies are big-eyed, with long legs, and long wings that are often strongly-patterned and are held out to the sides like a “V” when at rest. Because they hover, they’re mistaken for Flower-Hover-Syrphid flies. Like Syrphid flies they are bee mimics. Adults are diurnal, feed blamelessly on pollen and nectar from flowers, but most BF larvae are external parasites/parasitoids on the larvae of ground-nesting insects.

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Family Chrysomelidae)

Members of the leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae (more than 1,700 species north of Mexico) are often named after the plants they specialize on. The Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetles prefer Swamp milkweed, but they’re found on other milkweeds as well. Multiple eggs are laid under milkweed leaves; multiple larvae hatch out and feed together on milkweed leaves for a while before going their separate ways. Adults also feed on milkweed, enjoying both the leaves and the flowers.

Daddy Longlegs Revisited (Family Phalangiidae)

Daddy Longlegs or Harvestman are predators, eating insect eggs, small insects like aphids and springtails and critters as large as snails, earthworms, and other DLLs. A few species scavenge dead or decaying matter. Lacking the venomous fangs of true spiders, the Harvestman hunts for soft-bodied prey which it squeezes with its pincers and then stuffs into its mouth.

Corn Eaters

Adult Dingy Cutworm Moths fly at night throughout summer and fall, resting and nectaring on flowers in the aster/daisy/composite family. DCM eggs are laid by late August on clovers, dock, members of the aster family, and a number of agricultural crops like alfalfa, tobacco, wheat and corn. Picture-Winged Flies, on the other hand, prefer their corn on the cob.

Blister Beetles (Family Meloidae)

Blister Beetles belong in the beetle family Meloidae, a family that contains about 400 species in North America and 3,000 species worldwide. Here in the Eastern side of the country, these mostly diurnal, medium-sized, wide-headed, long-legged, cylindrical beetles are often striped, spotted or drab in color. Their soft elytra (wing covers) are curved around the length of the abdomen but may not extend to its tip.

Marsh Fly (Family Sciomyzidae)

The unassuming adult Marsh Fly is found near the quiet waters of the marshes, ditches, lakes and ponds that its larvae call home, and it may be out-and-about in pretty chilly weather. MFs are considered “indicator species,” whose presence or absence informs us about water quality: they are very pollution-tolerant.

Big Orb Weaving Spiders (Family Araneidae)

Orb Weaver Spiders have been practicing their craft for some 140 million years. With more than 10,000 kinds of Araneids worldwide, they account for about a quarter of spider species. OWs will often tackle prey that is larger than they are if it gets snagged in their web. They first paralyze it with a toxic bite, then wrap it, and later eat it.