Zebra Jumping Spider

Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady was moseying around her cottage, photographing doodlebug digs, when she spotted this very small (maybe ¼”) jumping spider with its prey. It was on a sunny, south-facing wall – right where it was supposed to be! Zebra …

Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp

Howdy, BugFans, A while back, BugFan Laurel shared this picture of a wasp that was photographed by her friend, Joel, who gave the BugLady permission to use it. Thanks, Joel.  This is one large wasp. In an article about it on the …

The Clover Leaf Weevil and Other Tales

Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady has been playing outside, and she had trouble coming in long enough to write these stories. Story #1 – The Clover Leaf Weevil. The BugLady took a few “throw-away shots” of this little (3/8” long) beetle as …

Black Horse Fly Redo

Note: All but one of the links below go to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady has gotten a few reports of these magnificent flies recently, so here’s an episode from 2018, with some new words and thoughts and links …

American Copper Butterfly

Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady found this beautiful little butterfly in the dunes at Kohler-Andrae State Park recently. She doesn’t see coppers often, and she always forgets how small they are — a tad smaller than a Pearl Crescent. Coppers are …

Summer Sights

(Note: Links below are to external sites. Click on thumbnail images to see larger versions.) Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady has been scouring the landscape and aiming her camera at anything that will sit still (and some that won’t). And without going too overboard …

Lined Buprestid Beetle

Howdy, BugFans, BugFan Freda photographed this astonishing beetle while she was on vacation Up North. It’s in the family Buprestidae, the Metallic wood-boring beetles, aka the Jewel beetles. The larvae, which have a flat area behind their heads, contribute another name—the …

Imperial Moth

Greetings, BugFans, Well, the BugLady completely zoned about National Moth Week last week, so we are celebrating it now, tardily. (But hey, every week is Moth Week.) BugFan Mary emailed to say that she found a deceased Imperial Moth, and …

Brush-Legged Wolf Spider

Note: All links below are to external sites. Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady encountered this distinctive wolf spider (family Lycosidae) recently at Spruce Lake Bog, and then discovered some earlier shots of it from Riveredge in her “X-Files.” She figured that …

Rosinweed Moth

Howdy, BugFans, First off, today’s vocabulary word is “microlep” (short for “microlepidoptera”). What’s a microlep? The (somewhat squishy) term applies to moths with a wingspan under 20mm (about ¾”). It’s not a taxonomic or a lifestyle designation – there are microleps …

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.