Horseshoe crabs fit (with spiders, insects, scorpions, real crabs, etc.) under the great Arthropod (“jointed limb”) umbrella, in the Class Merostomata (“legs attached to the mouth”), in the Order Xiphosura (“sword tail”), in the Family Limulidae. There are four remaining horseshoe crab species in the world; three reside along the edges of the Orient, , and the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab. Despite its name, it is not a true crab. It’s not an insect either.
There are more than 4,000 species of Crane Flies worldwide (1,500 in North America). Though many look like a mosquito on steroids, there are crane flies that actually are mosquito-sized (and have been given the nickname “bobbing gnats”). The “crane” part of the name refers to the fly’s long, thin legs. They are most often seen on window screens and sides of buildings.
It’s been a remarkable year for dragonflies in southeastern Wisconsin. They made the print and television news in early August, when green darners, appearing in huge swarms, were hailed as saviors from the flood plain mosquitoes that had just emerged in cosmic numbers. These impressive sights only happen when the ecological “planets” are aligned just right, and they may not recur for years.
Tiger Swallowtails have been split into three species. and the latter three groups of trees are food plants of the Canadian swallowtail, a northern species that was a subspecies of the Eastern Tiger swallowtail until 20 years ago are listed as eating aspens, birches and willows. By comparison, our other two swallowtails have narrower palettes. Their connection to plants in the carrot family has earned Black swallowtails the nickname of “Parsley swallowtail,” and Giant swallowtails are tied to plants in the citrus family.
Just when the BugLady thought that her Front-Porch-Bugs had called it quits (except for the crickets and katydids), she went out one night with the dog and found these two newcomers, the Goldenrod Hooded Owlet and Wolf’s Otiocerus, sitting inches from each other under the porch light.
Ebony Jewelwings and American Rubyspots lay their eggs in the stems of submerged plants or in decaying wood in waters with a moderate current. Males guard but are not in contact with their ladies during egg laying. Other Odonates may hunt far from streams and ponds, but the Broad-winged damselflies tend to be homebodies. Rubyspots seldom gain more than a foot or two in altitude, but the BugLady has seen jewelwings six feet off the ground. They are perchers—sitting on plants or rocks and sallying forth to hunt or to defend their territories.
The Black and Yellow Mud Dauber is a common, native wasp that occurs in meadows and gardens from Canada to the West Indies and which has hitched a ride from North America to Europe and Australia. BYMDs build nests from mud, while other species of sphecids may nest in vegetation or in abandoned cavities. As each cell nears completion, the wasp hunts for and paralyzes invertebrates (spiders, in the case of the BYMD) to provision the nests.
Tiger Swallowtails are big butterflies. Canary-sized butterflies, with wingspreads approaching 5½”. The males are tiger-striped. Some of the females share that yellow and black coloration, and a tiger with an extra dollop of blue on the hind wings is likely to be a female.
The BugLady puts out oranges for the birds—orioles, house finches, catbirds, and several species of woodpeckers eat the pulp. The BugLady guesses that ants, flies and German yellowjackets and raccoons would be the first and most numerous guests at the table, but that some interesting stuff would come to the night-time table.
Today we take to the air with three big dragonflies that belong to a group called the King Skimmers; 12-Spotted Skimmer, Common Whitetail, and Widow Skimmer. Represented by 103 species in North America, the Skimmer family (Libellulidae) contains our most common and conspicuous dragonflies.