\n\n\n\n
American Rubyspot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"American](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/am-rubyspot25-3rz-300x214.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne of the lovely River damsels.\u00a0Males are beautiful<\/a>, but this female is pretty spectacular in her own right. (The BugLady wishes she knew how she got that halo effect\u2014probably a random sparkle off the Milwaukee River beyond\u2014she’d employ it in more pictures.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Ambush](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/ambush-bug25-4rz-300x214.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAmbush Bug <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Seasoned BugFans can attest to the BugLady\u2019s fascination with Ambush bugs, which lay in wait on flowers until lunch arrives.\u00a0When she took this shot, the Ambush bug reminded her of another fascinating insect, the Orchid Mantis<\/a>. Read here for a deeper Orchid Mantis dive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Dogbane](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/beetle-dogbane25-2rz-300x214.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDogbane Leaf Beetles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
They are spectacular green beetles<\/a> \u2013 except when they aren\u2019t.\u00a0The beetle\u2019s color and incandescence are the result of the play of light on exceedingly small, tilted plates that overlay its pigment layer. As you walk around it, the light bouncing off both the pigment and the plates causes the colors to change with your angle (and sometimes bring up Christmas colors).\u00a0Life is physics. Check the\u00a0bugguide.net\u00a0image gallery for more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Oblong](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/katydid-obl-winged-slb25-3rz-300x214.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOblong-Winged Katydid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A splendid katydid, splendidly in tune with its surroundings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nBee Fly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Bee](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/fly-bee25-1rz-300x201.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis Bee fly deposits her eggs in the egg tunnels of solitary wasps that live in sandy\/bare areas, though \u201cdeposit\u201d doesn\u2019t quite describe the process.\u00a0She hovers above the tunnel of a wasp like this one<\/a>\u00a0and lobs an egg down into the opening.\u00a0But, there\u2019s a secret sauce.\u00a0She dips her rear end into the sand in order to take up some sand grains which she will store in a special receptacle. As an egg emerges, it gets a gritty coating that may help camouflage it and may also make it heavier so that her\u201d throw\u201d will be more accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"bumble](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/bee-bumble25-3brz-300x300.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBumble Bee<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The BugLady has pictures of a number of insects nectaring on the spiny center of Purple coneflower (Echinacea sp<\/em>.), and it always looks like an iffy proposition.\u00a0The name \u201cEchinacea<\/em>\u201d comes from the Greek word for hedgehog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Crab](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/spider-crab25-1rz-300x300.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCrab Spider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Crab spiders like orchids. This one is on a Small Yellow Lady\u2019s Slipper!\u00a0They don\u2019t spin trap webs, and orchids give them a nice platform on which to wait for pollinators, though some might have a long wait because not all orchids are pollinated by insects.\u00a0The BugLady has a color slide of a Bog candle orchid with a white crab spider fitting neatly onto a horizontal flower.\u00a0Just as there is an orchid-mimic mantis, there\u2019s an Orchid mimic crab spider<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Tufted](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/moth-tufted-bird-dropping25-1rz-300x300.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nTufted Bird Lime\/Bird-Dropping Moths<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Tufted Bird Lime\/Bird-Dropping Moths look marbled to the BugLady.\u00a0Jim Sogarrd, author of\u00a0Moths and Caterpillars of the North Woods<\/em>, tells a story about attempting to collect a bird-dropping moth from the side of a building, only to discover that it actually was a bird dropping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Robber](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/fly-robber25-1rz-300x214.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRobber Fly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Robber flies are carnivorous flies that come in quite a variety of sizes and shapes<\/a>.\u00a0Larger species, like this green-eyed beauty<\/a>, can gather bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and even cicadas for lunch.\u00a0Others are great bumble bee mimics<\/a>, and still others, like this small fly sitting on a daisy fleabane, capture mosquitoes and gnats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Hackberry](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/hackberry-emperor25-1rz-300x214.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHackberry Emperor Butterflies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Some kinds of caterpillars feed on a variety of plants, but Hackberry Emperor caterpillars eat only one thing and so can live only where Hackberry trees grow\u2014no hackberry, no Emperor<\/a>.\u00a0This one was posing under the roof overhang of the Barn, at Riveredge.\u00a0Adults rarely feed on flowers, preferring tree sap, rotting fruit, carrion, and dung, and they collect minerals from damp\/muddy soil with their proboscis. Their top side is handsome, too<\/a>. They\u2019re not pollinators. When they do visit flowers, they don\u2019t touch down with their feet, and they avoid putting their antennae on the flower. They only extend their proboscis into the flower, and so do not pick up nor spread pollen. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Jumping](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/spider-jumping25-2-300x214.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nJumping Spider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Even people who don\u2019t like spiders like Jumping spiders, and some keep them as pets. This one looks like the Bold jumper,\u00a0Phidippus audax<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Blue](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2026\/01\/b-dasher25-3a-300x214.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBlue Dasher<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When the BugLady was a kid, Angie the Christmas Tree Angel (BugFans who are old enough can hum a few bars here) used to smile benignly from the top of the tree.\u00a0That was before the BugLady knew about dragonflies.\u00a0This guy makes an excellent substitute for Angie or for the Partridge in the Pear Tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMay your days be merry and bright,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n\n\nbee<\/a>, <\/span>Beetles<\/a>, <\/span>Caterpillars<\/a>, <\/span>Dasher<\/a>, <\/span>Dragonflies<\/a>, <\/span>Fly<\/a>, <\/span>Moths<\/a>, <\/span>spider<\/a>, <\/span>Spiders<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Howdy, BugFans, It\u2019s that time of year again\u2014time to put our feet up, sip adult beverages by the light of the tree, hum \u201cThe Twelve\u00a0Bugs\u00a0Days of Christmas,\u201d and dream of spring. (The days are getting longer, you know.) Here are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19040,"featured_media":16744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[467,30,158,979,11,515,79,545,31],"class_list":["post-16743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-bee","tag-beetles","tag-caterpillars","tag-dasher","tag-dragonflies","tag-fly","tag-moths","tag-spider","tag-spiders"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne of the lovely River damsels.\u00a0Males are beautiful<\/a>, but this female is pretty spectacular in her own right. (The BugLady wishes she knew how she got that halo effect\u2014probably a random sparkle off the Milwaukee River beyond\u2014she’d employ it in more pictures.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seasoned BugFans can attest to the BugLady\u2019s fascination with Ambush bugs, which lay in wait on flowers until lunch arrives.\u00a0When she took this shot, the Ambush bug reminded her of another fascinating insect, the Orchid Mantis<\/a>. Read here for a deeper Orchid Mantis dive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are spectacular green beetles<\/a> \u2013 except when they aren\u2019t.\u00a0The beetle\u2019s color and incandescence are the result of the play of light on exceedingly small, tilted plates that overlay its pigment layer. As you walk around it, the light bouncing off both the pigment and the plates causes the colors to change with your angle (and sometimes bring up Christmas colors).\u00a0Life is physics. Check the\u00a0bugguide.net\u00a0image gallery for more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n A splendid katydid, splendidly in tune with its surroundings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Bee fly deposits her eggs in the egg tunnels of solitary wasps that live in sandy\/bare areas, though \u201cdeposit\u201d doesn\u2019t quite describe the process.\u00a0She hovers above the tunnel of a wasp like this one<\/a>\u00a0and lobs an egg down into the opening.\u00a0But, there\u2019s a secret sauce.\u00a0She dips her rear end into the sand in order to take up some sand grains which she will store in a special receptacle. As an egg emerges, it gets a gritty coating that may help camouflage it and may also make it heavier so that her\u201d throw\u201d will be more accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady has pictures of a number of insects nectaring on the spiny center of Purple coneflower (Echinacea sp<\/em>.), and it always looks like an iffy proposition.\u00a0The name \u201cEchinacea<\/em>\u201d comes from the Greek word for hedgehog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crab spiders like orchids. This one is on a Small Yellow Lady\u2019s Slipper!\u00a0They don\u2019t spin trap webs, and orchids give them a nice platform on which to wait for pollinators, though some might have a long wait because not all orchids are pollinated by insects.\u00a0The BugLady has a color slide of a Bog candle orchid with a white crab spider fitting neatly onto a horizontal flower.\u00a0Just as there is an orchid-mimic mantis, there\u2019s an Orchid mimic crab spider<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tufted Bird Lime\/Bird-Dropping Moths look marbled to the BugLady.\u00a0Jim Sogarrd, author of\u00a0Moths and Caterpillars of the North Woods<\/em>, tells a story about attempting to collect a bird-dropping moth from the side of a building, only to discover that it actually was a bird dropping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robber flies are carnivorous flies that come in quite a variety of sizes and shapes<\/a>.\u00a0Larger species, like this green-eyed beauty<\/a>, can gather bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and even cicadas for lunch.\u00a0Others are great bumble bee mimics<\/a>, and still others, like this small fly sitting on a daisy fleabane, capture mosquitoes and gnats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some kinds of caterpillars feed on a variety of plants, but Hackberry Emperor caterpillars eat only one thing and so can live only where Hackberry trees grow\u2014no hackberry, no Emperor<\/a>.\u00a0This one was posing under the roof overhang of the Barn, at Riveredge.\u00a0Adults rarely feed on flowers, preferring tree sap, rotting fruit, carrion, and dung, and they collect minerals from damp\/muddy soil with their proboscis. Their top side is handsome, too<\/a>. They\u2019re not pollinators. When they do visit flowers, they don\u2019t touch down with their feet, and they avoid putting their antennae on the flower. They only extend their proboscis into the flower, and so do not pick up nor spread pollen. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even people who don\u2019t like spiders like Jumping spiders, and some keep them as pets. This one looks like the Bold jumper,\u00a0Phidippus audax<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the BugLady was a kid, Angie the Christmas Tree Angel (BugFans who are old enough can hum a few bars here) used to smile benignly from the top of the tree.\u00a0That was before the BugLady knew about dragonflies.\u00a0This guy makes an excellent substitute for Angie or for the Partridge in the Pear Tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May your days be merry and bright,<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n Howdy, BugFans, It\u2019s that time of year again\u2014time to put our feet up, sip adult beverages by the light of the tree, hum \u201cThe Twelve\u00a0Bugs\u00a0Days of Christmas,\u201d and dream of spring. (The days are getting longer, you know.) Here are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19040,"featured_media":16744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[467,30,158,979,11,515,79,545,31],"class_list":["post-16743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-bee","tag-beetles","tag-caterpillars","tag-dasher","tag-dragonflies","tag-fly","tag-moths","tag-spider","tag-spiders"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAmbush Bug <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDogbane Leaf Beetles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOblong-Winged Katydid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nBee Fly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBumble Bee<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCrab Spider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nTufted Bird Lime\/Bird-Dropping Moths<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRobber Fly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHackberry Emperor Butterflies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nJumping Spider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBlue Dasher<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n