Three Surprising Beetles
The BugLady has photographed three beetles this summer that she’s never seen before (well, four, if you count that really out-of-focus long-horned beetle).
Bug of the Week
Cup Plant Cosmos
The BugLady spent some very warm days among the Cup plants, those jumbo prairie plants whose opposite leaves join around the stem resulting in a small reservoir that often holds rain water or dew. The undersurface of the tender top leaves of many Cup plants were wall-to-wall with (insert creepy adjective here) red aphids—a cast of thousands—and there were some very cool supporting actors.
Yucca Moth (Family Prodoxidae)
The Yucca Moth family is a primitive one that is found worldwide, though not all Prodoxids are involved with yuccas. As a group, they are smallish and nondescript. The number of species associated with yucca is up in the air because, as Holland went on to predict, “ No doubt there are other species of Yucca which will be ultimately discovered to have species of Pronuba which are adapted in their organs to the work of pollination according to their peculiar requirements ”
Recent Bug Adventures
The BugLady has been out with her camera, walking non-aerobically and peering into plants. The “peering” has resulted in some interesting (if blurred) sightings (her macro lens is getting a bit cranky). Amazing things have been happening on milkweed, probably spurred by a banner crop of aphids on the leaves.
Waterlily Leaf Beetle (Family Chrysomelidae)
Waterlily Leaf Beetles can be found in weedy ponds and lakes and very slow streams all over North America. The adults are leggy, up to a half-inch long, often metallic, with antennae about half as long as their body; they are jumpy and can move fast, and they’re a little camera shy.
Sedge Sprite (Family Coenagrionidae)
Sedge Sprites are found across southern Canada and the northern half of the U.S. Although they are more common in the eastern part of their range, Mead calls them, surprisingly, “perhaps the most abundant damselfly in the north woods.” Midges are probably a big part of their diet, and the aquatic naiads feed on any small critters they can catch.
An Album of Crab Spiders (Family Thomisidae)
The Album of Crab Spiders celebrates these beautiful creatures at work and at play.The name of the game is camouflage. Crab spiders practice sexual dimorphism, with males considerably smaller and leaner than females.
Goldenrod Leaf Miner (Family Chrysomelidae)
The Goldenrod Leaf Miner is listed as “common” over most of the U.S. and into southern Canada (the BugLady has apparently been overlooking it all this time). The GLM is a small, rugged-looking beetle with pitted thorax and elytra and flashy red-orange racing stripes. They are found on goldenrods, often nestled in the dense vegetation of the goldenrod bunch galls at the top of the stem.
Chalk-fronted Corporal Dragonfly (Family Libellulidae)
Chalk-fronted Corporals are dragonflies whose range includes the northern half of the U.S. and southern Canada. They typically emerge in huge numbers in early May. On cool, spring days, hundreds of CfCs may congregate on/over warm road surfaces. CfCs like swampy, marshy, boggy wetlands with plenty of decaying plant material in it and they can abide somewhat acid water.
Deer Tick (Family Ixodidae)
Deer Ticks lead a complex, three-stage, two-year life. All three stages are mobile and all three require a blood meal that may take three to five days to complete. Adult DTs are fairly impervious to frosts and can even be found on winter days that are above freezing. In spring, Mom has a big meal (adult males rarely feed), mates, drops to the ground, and lays thousands of eggs.