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 …

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 …

Oblique-banded Leafroller Moth

Note: Most links leave to an external site. Greetings, BugFans, The venerable (circa 1903) moth book that the BugLady grew up with – The Moth Book by W. J. Holland – included pictures of a huge number of moth species, all with …

Tobacco Budworm

Note: All links leave to external sites Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady photographed this handsome moth on her back porch rail last summer, and she was temporarily mystified when she identified it as a Tobacco budworm moth, because the nearest tobacco …

And Now for Something Different – Cattails

Note: All links leave to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, This episode was adapted from an article that the BugLady wrote in 2007 for the BogHaunter, the newsletter of the Friends of the Cedarburg Bog.  Wanted: Colonists to settle in wide open spaces. Must …

Bugs in the News XIII

Note: All links leave to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady’s “newspaper clippings” file runneth over, so here are a few articles for you to peruse.  Please note that most come from the excellent Smithsonian daily e-newsletter, which is not …

Caddisfly revisited

Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady is suffering from the February Doldrums in January – this is a massaged version of a BOTW that was originally posted in 2009, with some new words and new pictures. “What’s in a name? A rose by …

Moths – Four Very Short Stories

Note: All links leave to external site. Greetings, BugFans, Everybody likes butterflies (the BugLady would not like to meet the person who dislikes butterflies). But, in the order Lepidoptera, butterflies are just the tip of the iceberg – the heavy …

Saddleback Caterpillar – A Snowbird Special

Note: Most links leave to external sites. Greetings, BugFans, Today’s bug, the extraordinary-looking and aptly-named Saddle-backed caterpillar, is the 5th in our on-going Snowbird Special series about bugs you might see if you decide to tear yourself away from God’s Country …