Damsel Bugs are predators that get the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from the USDA and the Cooperative Extension folks because their menus include so many agricultural pests. They consume some beneficial insects along the way, and they also scarf their competition. They catch their prey with raptorial front legs that are thickened and lined with spines. Grasping firmly, they puncture it with the piercing beak and suck out the contents.
Six-Spotted Fishing Spiders are found in wetlands, especially wetlands bordered by lots of vegetation, and they’ve developed multiple ways to get around within their habitats. There are 100-plus members of the genus worldwide, nine of those species in North America—four live in still water; four in streams, and one is found in trees. SSFS can dive underwater, and can easily take a tiny fish and can stay submerged for more than thirty minutes.
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 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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.