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 …

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 …

Stirrings of Summer

Greetings, BugFans Here are some of the bugs that the BugLady found in June, which was, overall, a hot and wet month (7.97” of rain at the BugLady’s cottage). Lizzard Beetle – the BugLady doesn’t know why these striking beetles …

Slices of Spring

Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady and her camera have been out scouring the uplands and wetlands for insects that will sit still long enough to have their portrait made. Many of today’s bugs have starred in their own BOTWs over the years, …

Closed for June 4 – A Potpourri of Invertebrates

Howdy, BugFans, June is waning, and pretty soon the BugLady will have to stop eating chocolates and watching soaps and get up off the couch and start writing. Actually, with a way warmer and wetter June than normal (more than 7” …

Closed for June 3 – More Pollinators

Howdy, BugFans, A pollinator is an animal (not all pollinators are insects) that visits flowers and carries their pollen to other flowers.  Bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, and wasps are all practitioners to some degree. Hummingbirds pollinate a few flowers (like …

Closed for June I – Invasive species

Note: Most links leave to external sites. Greetings BugFans, YAY, it’s June! That means that the BugLady is out on the trails, walking slowly, looking at everything and photographing half of it. A probably-tasteful BOTW will be delivered to your …

Wetlands Month IV – Water Scavenger Beetle Revised

Note: Most links leave to external sites. Salutations, BugFans, We’re wrapping up National Wetlands Week with a beetle that you don’t even need a magnifying glass to see! This is a revision of an episode that first aired in the summer …

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.