Cerambycids can be remarkably long-lived—some exist as larvae for a decade and as adults for a few additional years. While their elders feed on flowers, fungi, sap, and leaves, the larvae of many species bore into dead and dying trees—they’re great for decomposition, because their tunnels are doorways for water, bacteria, and fungi.
Everywhere you look, you see adult insects, young insects, and the kinds of activity that will result in them. Here are some sights from the BugLady’s walks in southeastern Wisconsin.
Horsemint tortoise beetles (Physonota unipunctata) are horsemint specialists. That name is a bit deceiving, because there are several species of horsemints (genus Monarda) . The Horsemint tortoise beetle is tied to a mint that isn’t generally called Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa).
Margined Carrion Beetles are found throughout eastern North America into the Great Plains except, says Bugguide.net, in the Deep South. They live in grasslands and, rarely, marshes, but research has shown that they have a preference for deciduous forests. Although a few Silphid family members may be found in trees, the Margined Carrion Beetle stays close to the ground.
Dandelions produce both nectar and pollen and so are appreciated by wildlife, especially early bees and butterflies (100 species of pollinators have been tallied). The BugLady has been dawdling among dandelions to see who else appreciates them. She saw representatives of 8 kinds of hymenopterans (ants/bees/wasps), 4 kinds of flies, 3 of arachnids (spiders and spider relatives), and 1 beetle. Seen, but not photographed, were a few cabbage butterflies.
Lightning Bugs float silently (but brilliantly) over the dark fields and wetlands of June and July, inspiring poets and children of all ages. Also called Fireflies, they are neither flies nor true bugs; they are members of the order Coleoptera and are more correctly called Lightning beetles (LBs). And yes, their ethereal light show is all about sex.
Spring housecleaning—time to tidy up a few more insects whose biographies are short ones.
There are about 410 species of blister beetles in North America north of Mexico and about 4,000 worldwide, and various species have starred in these pages before. Eastern blister beetles are sedately (yet elegantly) colored, but in the Southwest, where the family is most diverse, there are some beautiful species.
‘Tis the Season for conifers to come indoors, so here are two beetles and a primitive wasp whose larvae make their living chewing on assorted evergreens.
Predictably, the Dogbane Leaf Beetle lives and feeds on dogbane (a close relative of milkweed) and on milkweed, too, in edges, open woods, waste spaces, prairies and grasslands over the eastern two-thirds of North America.