Moths in Technicolor

Two moths—one a Ruby Tiger Moth and the other an owlet, the Golden Borer Moth; one common and cosmopolitan and the other in peril due to shrinking habitat; both sporting rich, saturated colors (and they both have neat genus names).

Crawling Water Beetle (Family Haliplidae)

Crawling Water Beetles live in ponds and lake edges and can be found scrambling through the water column or feeding in mats of aquatic plants, especially algae. Where there is a current, look for them in crevices between rocks.

Luna Moth (Family Saturniidae)

The Giant Silk Moths are magic. Some have spectacular markings, and they can be huge, with wingspreads close to six inches. The Luna Moth has a wingspread of about four-and-a-half inches. The lime-green wings are somewhat transparent—you can just see an eyespot on the lower right wing through the upper wing.

Bug Mysteries

The BugLady takes lots of pictures as she moseys around—flowers, landscapes, a surprising number of people, and, of course, all manner of bugs. Bug pictures may stall in the BugLady’s X–Files, awaiting identification—some for a long time. Here is a selection from the X–Files. In some cases the BugLady knows part of the story; in others, even less.

A Tale of Two Planarians

Planarians are labeled the only free-living (non-parasitic) flatworms. Most planarians are scavengers and carnivores (and cannibals). OK—maybe not bugs, except for BOTW purposes…

A Duskywing and a Cloudywing (Family Hesperiidae)

Duskywing and a Cloudywing Butterflies are sun-loving, chunky, hairy, small-sized, large-headed, often brown/brown-and-orange butterflies that are sometimes mistaken for moths. Like other butterflies, their antennae have club-shaped tips, but in most skippers the clubs have a tiny hook on the end.

Ephemeral Pond Critters

The BugLady has been hanging out at her local ephemeral pond again, looking at small things in the water. She loves the cycles of ephemeral ponds and the critters they contain. Ephemeral ponds are (most years) just that—ephemeral. These are here-today-and-gone-tomorrow ponds, gather-ye-rosebuds-while-ye-may wetlands.

Organ Pipe Mud Dauber (Family Crabronidae)

The Organ Pipe/Pipe Organ Mud Dauber are smallish wasps with a patent-leather black, purplish wings, and white “ankles” on their back legs. They are not aggressive—males have no stingers, and you really have to man-handle a female to get her to sting. There are about 30 species in the genus across North America (more elsewhere), but the OPMD is found mostly in the eastern U.S.

Variegated Meadowhawk (Family Libellulidae)

The Variegated Meadowhawk has a medium size body, patterned abdomen, tinted veins on the leading edge of all four wings, stigmas (pigment dots at the wing tips) that shade from pale to dark to pale, and yellow spots on the sides of the thorax. Adult meadowhawks may be found hunting away from water or hanging around the lake shores and ponds where they will lay their eggs in late summer.

Black Fly (Family Simuliidae)

Black flies are tiny and dark, with clear wings, many-segmented antennae, and big eyes. Their larvae like lots of oxygen and are not tolerant of warmer waters or pollution. Adult BFs live for about three weeks, laying 150 to 500 eggs either individually on the water’s surface or in clumps. Like other biting flies, males are blameless nectar feeders. Females may also consume nectar, but they need that all-important blood meal in order to reproduce.