Insect Walk

I usually don't have expectations or a plan when I walk around our land lab, but when looking for insects, everyday presents a new adventure. So what kind of bug is this? Okay, the mint Wild Basil, Clinopodium vulgare was blooming everywhere and I couldn't resist.

One of the first things I noticed were a lot of these flying around. One of our biggest species, this is the Carolina Grasshopper, Dissosteira carolina. It has an attractive yellow and black color on the hind wing. They range from gray to brown and are often mottled. This allows perfect concealment when hiding on dirt and gravel.

Here's a cluster of young Milkweed Tiger Moth caterpillars. They were feeding on Indian Hemp or Dogbane, which is a Milkweed relative.

I see a pair of orange cartoon eyes watching me. Fake eyes fool predators, and it's a good idea to have them at the opposite end of your head. This is a Gray Hairstreak. This and the Red-banded Hairstreak are very common in the late summer.

Look at the size of those back legs! With a black and orange skinny abdomen, this must be a Thread-waisted Wasp. But wait a minute, what are those two white halters doing on a wasp? It's not a wasp, but a mimic known as Systropus macer, a Thread-waisted Fly. While most of the fly mimics are Syrphid flies, this is a member of the Bee Fly family. Well that makes sense too.

Not only do they have the legs, abdomen and color of a wasp, but they look like one when flying. I have even seen them flick their body up and down like many wasps do. They are parasites on caterpillars, and my favorite group , the Slug Moths, are particularly vulnerable.

Here is a group of insects known as Vanduzea arquata. I call them the Black Locust Treehoppers, because that's their food plant. Treehoppers are True Bugs in the sub-order Homoptera. They feed by piercing their beak into plants and suck out sugary sap.

As I looked at the group closer, I noticed many ants bustling among them. Sure enough, they were herding them and protecting them.

Camponotus ants feed on the excess sugar water excreted from the treehoppers. This is the same behavior ants exhibit when protecting aphids for the same reason. Ants use their antennae to stroke the hoppers to entice them to squirt out more sugar water. Another example of Mutualism. The ants benefit from a quick energy source, and the treehoppers gain protection when the ants are around.

Dig the sunglasses man. With all these insects around, there are surely going to be plenty of predators. Some of the neatest are the Robber Flies. This is an Efferia species, probably aestuans. The females have those long sword-tails.

I am king of the forest! One of the top predators is the common Preying Mantis (or Praying-choose your spelling). I love those old stories about how they are protected by law, and you can be fined or jailed for killing one. None of that is true. Yes they make excellent natural pest controls in gardens, but this guy is the common Chinese Mantid, not even native.

Speaking of wasp mimics, this is a good one. Looking like a Yellow jacket, this fly is Spilomyia longicornis.

There are several flies that look like this. The species is recognized by the yellow V on the thorax, bordered by a yellow edged square, or what look like a pair of calipers.

"Oh no, this guy has a net. He's going to collect me and stick a pin in me. I might as well just walk off the edge of this leaf and fall to my death for all it matters".

"Oh please Mr. Photographer, I pray you won't kill me. There are plenty of others around who look just like me, please?"

"Woohoo!  He just took my picture, asked for an autograph, and left me alone, yippie!!"

Back to Wakeena

Ya it's been awhile since I posted, but I've been traveling around. From looking for nighttime insects at Wakeena Nature Preserve, to exploring prairies, visiting Mill Creek Farm in north-east Ohio, and collecting Mosquito Creek Wildlife Area. I'll be posting photos from each of those places in the next week or so.

We started this with the critter closeup above known as a Camel Cricket. They are related to Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids. Unlike the rest of the order, Camel Crickets do not "chirp", nor do they grow wings like their relatives. The thorax is rounded or humped like a camel. You can find them in wet rotting logs, but usually they only come out at night. Camel Crickets are also called Cave Crickets because they hide in dark places. Besides caves, look for them in root cellars or old buildings. Some consider them a nuisance when they get in your basement, but being scavengers, they present no danger.

You can see in these last two pictures what is special about these animals. They have the longest antennae of any of our local insects. Antennae are used to pick up scents in the air, or essentially they smell with them. People often call them "feelers", and this is the one time that is a correct description. Living in dark areas, and without the ability to fly away, they use these antennae to feel around for any potential predators ahead of them. The antennae are often 3-4 times their body length.

Six of us gathered together that night to photograph, collect, and just learn more about the Arthropod world. Plenty of caterpillars were being found. Last month I posted about slug moths. Here is one of the most commonly seen, the Saddleback Caterpillar. These were very small and in an early instar (life stage). The pink spines around the head will turn dark brown with age. If you get stung, these spines pack quite a wallop.

Though it's a silk moth and not a slug moth, the IO also has a nasty bite to those spines, probably worse than the Saddleback. Easily recognized by the red and white stripe, the green spines alone should warn you not to handle it carelessly. The IO is quite common, and feeds on a large variety of plants.

Another caterpillar found was Macremphytus testaceus. This is not the larva of a butterfly or moth. The adult is a Sawfly, a type of wasp. Most Sawflies feed on conifers, but some can be found on hardwoods like this Dogwood Sawfly.

The way you can tell a sawfly from other caterpillars is by the number of prolegs it has. You can see the three sets of true legs up front, but notice how almost every segment of the abdomen has a set of prolegs. On butterflies and moths, there will always be a break or gap somewhere on the body without them.

S is for Sawfly. Hardwood Sawflies when alarmed take this curved shape for a defensive posture. Conifer Sawflies when disturbed literally spit up balls of pine pitch they store in their cheek pouches, and wave it at the attacker. Believe me, no insect predator wants to be vulnerable glued to sticky tree resin.

So how was the mothing that night? Slim pickings! While Alex found a fair number of newbies, Roger found only one, and I found none. It was only a half moon, but the thunderstorm that passed through earlier may have played a part. I did see this noctuid moth Panthea acronyctoides that I thought was interesting. Usually it is much darker, with the black outweighing the white. To see such a light form was worth a photograph.

Roger set out some rotting fruit bait, but even that didn't work. We were hoping to see the arrival of the Underwing moths, but all that came in was this Locust Underwing, Euparthenos nubilis. He's a fake, and not a true Catacola underwing at all. The Locust has four black stripes on the hindwing, true underwings have only two.

With moths disappointing us, we turned to whatever was in the area. Dolomedes tenebrosus, the Nursery Web Spiders were plentiful on all the buildings. Notice the white strand of silk it keeps itself attached to. These are often called Fishing Spiders.

Crawling along the roof of a building was the largest spider any of us had ever seen. Not being a spider man, I presume this was also the same Dolomedes species. It's the largest spider in Ohio. For perspective, he's on a 2 x 4. They say it reaches 4 inches in length, but I can tell you this thing spread out would cover the palm of your hand. Ha! I didn't know we had Tarantulas in Ohio. They can inflict a painful bite if irritated, but they are not venomous. My concern is, what is their definition of "irritated".

I have mentioned in previous posts that while the big stuff is cool, it's usually the smallest things that attract my attention. During the evening this Hemiptera crawled onto the sheet unnoticed. Later we looked a little closer and found a fly maggot apparently feeding off this bug. It is known that several types of flies will parasitize True Bugs, but the ones I'm familiar with eat from the inside! I put out a request for information on this, and am still awaiting a response. All I know is by the end of the night, this bug was dead.

Various Macro & Micro Moth Families

Had enough of the moths? This should be it for awhile, besides, it's time to start experiencing prairie season. You know if it wasn't for the wings, those legs look an awful lot like a nursery-web spider. This is the Streaked Tussock Moth, Dasychira obliquata. Tussocks belong to the family Lymantriidae. This is the same family as the dreaded Gypsy Moth.

What the..??? Female Gypsy Moths have fully developed wings, but can not fly. This is just to show you that many species of female Tussocks don't fly. Their wings have been reduced to these rudimentary stubs.

Sitting among the caddisflies is this Lasiocampidae family member, the Lappet Moth, Phyllodsema americana. It's related to the Tent Caterpillars most of us have seen on cherry trees in the springtime. Interesting is how they fold their front wings but leave the scalloped edged hind wings stick out.

A small and lesser know family is the Thyatiridae. This is the Glorious Habrosyne, Habrosyne gloriosa. They are closely related to Noctuid moths, and are known for their raised hairs on the back of the thorax. So just how are family relationships determined for the moths? Wing venation. They may look covered by scales, but the undersides show distinct differences in veins. You can see this on top when they are wet, or by scraping off the scales.

Another species in the family is the Tufted Thyatirid, and with a latin name for all time, Pseudothyatira cymatophoroides. Say that three times real fast with a mouthful of saltines.

Similar in spelling, but totally unrelated are the Thyrididae, the Window-Winged Moths. This is the Spotted Thyris, Thyris maculata. Although called Window-winged, the white spots tend to be more translucent rather than transparent. This species is a common day flying moth. Look for it nectaring on a variety of plants.

Also having translucent white marks in their wings are the Apatelodid Moths. This is a small family, with only a couple species in our area. This is Apatelodes torrefacta, the Spotted Apatelodes or Wild Cherry Moth. They have uneven wings like many of the Inchworms, but their bodies are fat, and they often curl them upward.

This moth appears to have pieces missing from its wings, like it had been attacked by a bird or bat. This is the natural look of this family, the Epiplemidae. This pattern resembles a chewed up old leaf.  The front wings and hind wings are held away from each other. Because of the wing margins, they are often mistaken for inchworms. There are only two species in our area, the Gray Scoopwing, and this one, the Brown Scoopwing, Calledapteryx dryopterata.

An interesting family of T-shaped moths are the Pterophoridae. Plume Moths have front wings with a notch in the middle. The hind wings are held covered under the front wings. The hind wings are split several times. When the front and back wings are spread out together, they resemble a feathery plume.  The top species is Megalorrhipida defectalis sitting on the larval food plant in Florida. That name may have changed, and because the family is undergoing a complete revision, I won't even attempt to name the other.

Even stranger looking is our single member of the Alucitidae, the Six-Plume Moth, Alucita hexadactyla. The name comes from the fact that all the wing veins occur separately and are not joined  as in other butterflies and moths. Six veins in the hind wing and six in the front. Each vein is lined with its own scales.

There are many micro moth families, far too many to cover here. I'll just highlight a few more. This is a member of the Yponomeutidae family, the Ermine Moth Atteva punctella. Members of this family are small and tend to roll or fold their wings and appear tube-like. Its food plant is Tree-of-Heaven, and since it was planted so commonly, this moth has become widespread. The other common name is the Ailanthus Webworm. Caterpillars in this family tend to feed en masse rather than individually.

Euclemensia bassettella is a member of the Cosmopterigidae family. These moths have labial palps on the mouth that are large and look like tusks. You can click on the picture for a closer look at them. The hind wings are very narrow and outlined with a fine fringe of hairs, reminding one of a comb or feather.

Also having large upward curved palps are the Gelechiidae. Their hind wings differ than the above family in being broad and ending in a fine point, like a thorn. This is Dichomeris flavocostella. This is a large family, most of which can not be told apart without dissecting the genitalia. Many species are yet to be named. In fact it is said that for every animal named on the planet, there are twice as many sitting in museums waiting to be described. Most of those are moths and beetles.

There are a couple of micro families that sit with their wings down and their legs up, as if they were busy doing push-ups. Gracillarids, the leaf miners, point their antennae backward, and the end of the wings curve up. These guys have wings that end flat down, and keep their antennae pointed forward. This is how you recognize the family Coleophoridae.

Coleophorids common name is Casebearer Moths. The larvae spin a silken tube, and line it with their feces. They stay inside this and mine the surface of the leaf. While some have distinct markings, most look like the moth pictured above. The best way to identify them is by the shape of the case, some are curved and look like an old fashioned pistol. Others are separated by the food plant of the caterpillar. This is Coleophora elaeagnisella, named after the plant family it feeds on, in this case Buffalo-Berry.

Another large family are the Tortricidae, commonly referred to as the Leaf-roller Moths. They are split into two sub-families. Whenever I see what I call a true tortricid, they remind me of Batman or Superman. They're small, skinny bodied moths that look like they are wearing an oversized cape. This is Sparganothis xanthoides.

Like learning any group of plants or animals, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Once again, the broad cape-like wings are evident. This is a light form of Archips purpurana. Notice how the veins in the wings are nearly identical to the leaf veins. What an ideal place to hide.

Whoa there, I, I say whoa boy!  Sometimes when the sheet is full of moths, there's just nowhere else to land. This is most likely Epiblema gibsoni. I say most likely because I like getting these verified for sure. This is a member of the other subfamily, Olethreutinae. Most of them do not have as broad of wings as the other Tortricids.

The genus Olethreutes does have somewhat broad wings. The trouble is they all have this similar pattern. This is Olethreutes lacunana. Todd Gilligan, Don Wright, and Loran Gibson of the Ohio Lepidopterists did a phenomenal treatment of this subfamily. Even so, between you and me, they still all look the same :)

They are called leaf-rollers because they tie together leaves and feed on them from inside, hidden from predators.

Tortricids are not the only moths that roll leaves. I reared some of these, and they turned out to be Dogwood Leafminers.

Leafminers chew along the surface of the leaf, and some are so small, they live inside between the top and bottom layer, feeding on the softest tissues. Not all leaf miners are moths, many turn out to be Diptera, flies.

Since I am impatient when it comes to feeding caterpillars myself, I usually just open the leaf and look for a pupa or cocoon. Since all the work is done, I just wait for them to hatch out.

Other micro moths are known as leaf-tiers. They spin silk onto two portions of the leaf. As the silk hardens, it draws the leaf portions together, giving them a place to hide and feed.

One never knows what you'll see upon opening one of these. Here was (as yet) an unidentified zebra caterpillar. There are roughly 13,000 species of moths and butterflies in North America. When it comes to these micros, we still have no idea what many of the caterpillars look like, let alone what their food plant is. If you ever rear small larvae, take a photograph of them. Chances are we'll recognize the adult, but immature stages can provide information new to science.