{"id":10163,"date":"2019-02-19T12:55:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T18:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/?p=10163"},"modified":"2019-06-12T10:45:42","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T15:45:42","slug":"bugs-without-bios-xiii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/bugs-without-bios-xiii\/","title":{"rendered":"Bugs without Bios XIII"},"content":{"rendered":"

Salutations, BugFans,<\/p>\n

Another celebration of (regrettably) anonymous bugs. There are in the neighborhood of 100,000 insect species in North America, but not everyone has a biographer (note to self \u2013 it takes a lot longer to research the unsung species than the notorious ones).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

HERAEUS PLEBEJUS<\/em> (no common name): This pretty, little Dirt-Colored Seed Bug was a \u201clife bug\u201d for the BugLady \u2013 she knew it was in the \u201ctrue bug\u201d bunch, Hemiptera<\/em> (which narrowed it down to 10,200 possibilities in North America) but she eventually stumbled across its identity and looked it up. When the BugLady\u2019s initial searches for species information draw a blank, she will back up to the insect\u2019s genus and then to its family. In this case, she struck out at pretty much every level – even the venerable An Introduction to the Study of Insects<\/em> (Borrer and DeLong) in her home library had no info about Dirt-colored seed bugs.<\/p>\n

So \u2013 it\u2019s in the Dirt-colored Seed Bug family Rhyparochromidae<\/em> (\u201crhyparos\u201d<\/em> means \u201cdirt\u201d and \u201cchromus\u201d<\/em> means \u201ccolored\u201d). Rhyparochromidae<\/em> used to be Rhyparochrominae<\/em>, the largest and most diverse subfamily in the Seed bug family Lygaeidae (the family of the familiar milkweed bug). Rhyparochrominae was elevated to family status about 30 years ago, and there\u2019s been a lot of taxonomic fiddling ever since. Most Rhyparochromids feed on seeds that they find on the ground, but some climb up plants for their supper, and there are a few blood-suckers in the crowd. Some associate with ants, and a bunch of family members (but not today\u2019s star), are able to stridulate (make noise by rubbing one body part against another). Most have swollen-looking front legs<\/a> armed with stiff spines that help them get a grip on seeds. Some Rhyparochromids are economically important (in a negative way).<\/p>\n

Heraeus plebejus<\/em> is the most widespread of the four Heraeus species in North America; bugguide.net<\/a> says that it occurs in \u201ce. NA to AZ (QC-FL to IA-TX-AZ), Mex. \/ W. Indies,\u201d<\/em> and that it\u2019s often found on sumac leaves. Many of the seed bugs are pretty picky about what kind of seeds they eat, but the BugLady couldn\u2019t find out anything about this species\u2019 diet. Insects foraging for seed on the ground probably aren\u2019t choosy. And that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ZENODOSUS SANGUINEUS<\/em> (no common name) is a member of the Checkered beetle family Cleridae<\/em>, which we have met before<\/a>. The Clerids are a group of small, hairy, often-colorful, mostly predaceous beetles, many of whose larvae operate under the cover of tree bark, where they prey on the larvae of a variety of bark and cone-boring insects. Adults feed on adult beetles that they find on flowers and other vegetation (though there are some outlier pollen feeders and scavengers). Some species may prove to be effective biological controls of bark beetles. American Beetles, Volume II tells us that \u201cThe higher classification of the Cleridae has undergone considerable categorical oscillations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Formerly known as Thanoclerus sanguineus<\/em>, this little beetle is found from North Dakota to Arizona to North Carolina to Maritime Canada, under bark, in woody tunnels, and in galls and decaying fungi. It is active but shy, and hides quickly when alarmed. Adults overwinter under bark. Other than that, this beetle\u2019s internet presence is mostly on park and natural area biodiversity lists. Click here for a glamour shot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

EUPATORIUM\/IRONWEED BORER MOTH (Carmenta bassiformis<\/em>): Two groups of moths are called Clear-winged moths. There are a few moths in the Sphinx moth family, including the wonderful Snowberry and Bumblebee clearwings that hover at bergamot and thistle flowers in summer (and lead the BugLady on a merry chase). The other is the Clear-winged moth family Sesiidae, which we have visited before in the form of the squash borer moth<\/a>. Their wings are \u201cclear\u201d due to an absence of scales<\/a>. Many of these odd, little Sesiid moths are more waspy than mothy in appearance; they are bee and wasp mimics, a few even sporting yellow scales where bees would have pollen collecting equipment. Some are agricultural pests and some are quite spectacular, with fancy anal tufts (in one species, the tuft is said to resemble the long, trailing, third set of legs of a wasp in flight).<\/p>\n