The Pennants Redux
Howdy, BugFans, Here’s a rerun from 2010, with a few new words and pictures. The BugLady would like to state up front that this episode is about “pennants” (as in “small flags”), not about “penance,” which is between BugFans and …
Bug of the Week
Long-tailed Dance Fly Revisited
Greetings, BugFans, This is a revision of a story from 2009 about one of the BugLady’s favorite little (less than ½”) flies, the Long-tailed dance fly (some new words and pictures). It appears in moist, dappled shade in the month of …
Dewdrop Spider
Greetings, BugFans, In honor of Halloween, we’re ending the month with a spider. A very cool little spider with a big story. The Dewdrop spider Argyrodes elevatus (Argyrodes means “silver-like), in the Cobweb/Comb-footed/Tangle-web spider family Theridiidae, doesn’t live around here, though other genera of …
Buck Moth Update
Note: All links are to an external site. Howdy, BugFans, The original Buck moth episode was written in 2010, so the BugLady decided to check on the present status of the moths. New words, new pictures. One of the BugLady’s favorite …
Autumn Adventures
Note: All links are to an external site. Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady spends the spring and summer combing natural areas for bugs and flowers and other stuff to photograph, but in fall, she sits on a 10-foot-tall tower, counting migrating …
Spined Micrathena Spider
Howdy, BugFans, Back in 2020, the BugLady wrote about a Southern spider called the Spinybacked orbweaver Spinybacked Orbweaver– A Spider for Snowbirds – Field Station. We have spiny spiders here in God’s Country, too – this summer, BugFan Danielle sent a …
Alder Gall Buprestid
Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady has mentioned before that she has several “nemesis bugs” – insects whose photographs are inevitably out of focus. Fireflies, for some reason, are one of those groups. So, when she saw this small (1/3”) beetle on a leaf …
Say’s Trig
Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady has always wanted to see a trig, because – what an interesting name for an insect (a name, it turns out, that’s a shortened version of its family, Trigonidiidae). Trigs, members of the grasshopper/cricket/katydid order Orthoptera, are …
Squash Lady Beetle
Howdy, BugFans, Typically, when insects like flies, bees and wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths, and a few others – insects with Complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa/resting-changing stage, adult) – mature, they not only take on a new form, but they …
Summer Sights – and Sounds
Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady took to the trails this summer as much as her shiny, new knee and the oppressive heat and humidity allowed (her preferred maximum temperature is 72 degrees. The gods didn’t cooperate). Here are some of the bugs she …