Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady was walking at Riveredge Nature Center one day in mid-June when she spied a small Robber fly perched on a leaf, hanging onto its prey. When she put the picture up on the monitor, she recognized the …
Howdy, BugFans, It’s that time of year again—time to put our feet up, sip adult beverages by the light of the tree, hum “The Twelve Bugs Days of Christmas,” and dream of spring. (The days are getting longer, you know.) Here are …
Note: All links are to an external site. Greetings, BugFans, This striking little moth was mentioned briefly a few years ago among an array of visitors to water hemlock flowers. Here’s the rest of the story. It belongs in the …
Season’s Greetings, BugFans, It’s time to celebrate a dozen (or so) of the beautiful bugs that posed for the BugLady this year (and that have already graced their own episodes). Click on each photo to read more. Great Spangled Fritillary …
(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 …
(Note: All links below are to external websites and leave the UWM website.) Howdy, BugFans, OK – the last of the Water Hemlock series (unless/until the BugLady discovers the ID of a really smashing ichneumon wasp that was also working …
Season’s Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady can tell that the Christmas Season has rolled around because the Dr. Who marathon is about to start, and once again, Paul and Mary are showing us how easy it is to concoct showstopper desserts …
Howdy, BugFans, It’s High Summer, and a lot has been going on out there. Many species have already peaked and disappeared from the scene, assuming, until next year, whatever form they spend the majority of their lives in. Others are …
Black flies are also called turkey gnats and buffalo gnats, and people who live in black fly country have a whole bunch of other names for them that can’t be repeated here. Entomologists call them true flies (order Diptera) in the family Simuliidae. There are more than 1,800 species in the family worldwide (100 in North America; 30 in Wisconsin), and most of them belong in the huge genus Simulium. What do they look like? Their hump-backed thorax and down-tilted head makes buffalo gnat a good nickname. BFs are tiny (5 to 10 mm) and dark, with clear wings, many-segmented antennae, and big eyes (and teeth, just kidding).
Let’s celebrate the (almost bugless) Season with a dozen bugs that were photographed this year. Down through the centuries, various regional versions of the classic Christmas carol have included hares a-running, ducks quacking, badgers baiting, bulls a-roaring, biting cows, bears a-beating, cocks a-crowing, asses racing, starlings, plovers, goldspinks (goldfinches), sides of meat, ponies, deer, stalks of corn, cheese, windmills, and an Arabian Baboon. Never any bugs, though, so it’s up to us.
