The BugLady was checking a young bur oak of her acquaintance recently, and she photographed these scenes. She keeps an eye on this tree because it always hosts a lot of ant activity (whether this says good things about the oak or bad, she doesn’t know). Ants, famously, farm aphids. They protect the aphids from predators like ladybugs and move them to greener pastures. In return, they get to “milk” the aphids by stroking the aphids’ abdomen.
Green Immigrant Leaf Weevils made their way from Europe to New York by 1906. Today they can be found all over the northeastern portion of North America, including Canada. Metallic, green scales overlay a black body, and the color may fade to grayish-green as they age. The Rose Curculio can be found throughout the northern half of the U.S. and southern Canada, coast to coast. As its name suggests, roses are its BFF, but blackberry and raspberry plants will do in a pinch.
The BugLady has been a fan of predators since she was old enough to lisp out the word. She likes the cuts of their collective jibs and their matter-of-fact fierceness. To her, the “eat-ers” are far more interesting than the “eat-ees.”
Great Spangled Fritillaries can be seen over a good chunk of North America. They like open spaces—woody clearings, gardens, wet and dry grasslands, and other open areas as long as there’s a woodland near-by. They are strong flyers and vigilant feeders.
Pennants are smallish dragonflies and there are just eight species in the genus. Most members of the genus are more eastern, but the ranges of the Calico and the Halloween take them southwest into the Great Plains. They are found near/lay their eggs in slow-moving to still waters. Several sources said that the young/naiads of these Pennants are not very competitive, and as such they are more successful in newer waters (burrow pits, ditches, etc). The naiads are great vegetation climbers and not-so-great swimmers.
Scuds are light-averse, preferring starlight over sunlight. Their two pairs of antennae are sensitive to both touch and smell. While many amphipods see through well-developed, functioning, compound eyes, species restricted to caves and underground springs may be eyeless or have only vestigial eyes. They are secretive bottom-dwellers, gracing cool, well-oxygenated springs and pools that have some calcium in the water for their shells.
The young of Slender Spreadwing Damselflies live underwater, and then climb out onto land/vegetation, emerge from their larval exoskeletons, and fly away. They are carnivorous in both stages. They are found near shaded, permanent ponds and slow streams over the eastern half of the U.S. in July, August and September. The male’s abdomen, proportionally longer than female’s, lacks the light-colored tip of some other spreadwings.
The Marsh Treader looks like it maybe like a very new walking stick. Not an aquatic insect in the sense that it lives under water, the MT dwells and feeds on the water’s surface—one of the “pond skaters.” MTs like the quiet waters of marshes, swamps and ponds where they may be seen moving around the edges, hiking across the algae and duckweed mats, or walking on open water, damp sphagnum moss or moist rocks.
Western Thatch Ants build impressive mounds averaging 8” tall, 2 ½’ to 3’ across, and 5’ deep with 17,000 inhabitants (max is 30,000, plus or minus). The ants make chambers in the soil and then they cover the top of the nest with “thatch”—small twigs (up to several inches long) and bits of grass and herb stems. The result is nursery chambers that are climate-controlled (both temperature and humidity). Early (April) broods of eggs and young are located in tunnels a foot or two below ground,.
The Sac Spider uses silk to hold the leaf edges together and to line the enclosure. Medicinal plant researcher James Duke calls this structure “both nursery and coffin.” She deposits her eggs inside, stays to guard her brood, and she dies there before her offspring emerge. They, hungry for protein in their first hours, consume the first bit of meat they come across, which is their mother’s carcass.