Reports from the Field

Bug o’the Week – The End of Summer

Howdy, BugFans,

Well, we’re into October. The BugLady is still seeing and hearing lots of bugs as she makes her way to the hawk tower, where she counts migrating raptors from a perch 10 feet off the ground. Most of the goldenrod is done, but tons of syrphid/hover/flower flies, paper wasps, and bumble bees are decorating the asters; tree crickets and katydids are calling from the prairie; and there are still dragonflies and butterflies in the air. And on some of the recent, soft days, thin, horizontal spider silk has been streaming from the vegetation as spiderlings disperse. Here are some bugs from the last half of summer.

10.07.26

Bug o’the Week – Cottonwood Leaf Beetle

Howdy, BugFans,

The BugLady was out taking pictures on the beach when she spied this spiffy Cottonwood leaf beetle, a member of the very large (probably 50,000 species worldwide) leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae). It was actually a few feet away from a cottonwood tree!

Chrysomelids are vegetarians throughout their various life stages, and some species are dedicated to a single plant or group of plants (which they may be named after). On the plus side, this means that some species of Chrysomelids act as biological controls of unwanted plants; on the minus side, there are cereal leaf beetles, mustard beetles, asparagus beetles, Colorado potato beetles, etc.

09.30.26

Bug o’the Week – Pecan Weevil

Howdy, BugFans,

The title of the Oklahoma Extension circular about Pecan weevils, “Pecan Weevil – Wanted DEAD, Not Alive,” says it all.

Weevils!  Those lovely beetles with clubbed, “elbowed” antennae growing from their downcurved rostrum (snout) and chewing mouthparts located at the snout’s tip.  Some have short, blunt snouts and some others have slim, graceful snouts that are as long as their body.  The Curculionidae (the snout beetles or true weevils) are a huge family (77,000 species) within a huge order Coleoptera (beetles) (400,000 species).  The Curculionidae are the largest ANIMAL FAMILY (for now – scientists aren’t finished counting the Ichneumon wasps and the Rove beetles).  Every 4th LIVING THING is a beetle.

09.21.26

Bug o’the Week – Goldenrod Watch – Act III

Howdy, BugFans,

The places where the BugLady walks are yellow now – goldenrods (Solidago sp.) are at their peak on the prairie (so are brown-eyed Susans, sneezeweed, and wild sunflowers). She’s been poking around in the goldenrod, an exercise she recommends, because goldenrods support an amazing community of invertebrates. Many visit to lay eggs and will lay them no place else; some come for nectar and pollen; and some come to eat the insects that come for nectar and pollen.

09.09.26

Bug o’the Week – Bugs in the News XVII

Howdy BugFans,

The BugLady is deep into putting together a newsletter she curates, so here are someone else’s words for a change. If it’s a bit ant-heavy, well, there are a lot of ants.

09.02.26

Bug o’the Week – Monarchs 101 Reprised

Howdy, BugFans,

It has been a quiet summer, Monarch-wise, but (OMG), it’s almost September! The BugLady once read that in September, every time they fly up in the air to search for flowers to nectar on, Monarchs will land a little south of where they took off from. The very definition of “drifting” south.

Anyway, here’s an upgrade (new words and new pictures) of the first of maybe a half dozen BOTWs about Monarch butterflies, written in June of 2008 (about a year into a series that started as a joke in August of 2007).

08.26.26

Bug o’the Week – Chinese Mystery Snail

Howdy, BugFans,

When the BugLady was growing up near Brown Deer, Wisconsin, close to the Milwaukee River, she heard a story of some 1930’s entrepreneurs who imported Roman or Edible snails (Helix pomatia) with an eye toward some home-grown escargot. They housed the snails in cages on an island in the river (what could possibly go wrong?). Savvy BugFans are already writing the ending to this script.

08.19.26

Bug o’the Week – Mid-summer Stories

Howdy, BugFans,

It’s August!!! Or, to put it another way, it’s August – yikes! Halfway(ish) through summer. Here are some of the sights that the BugLady has enjoyed so far. Many of these have already starred in a BOTW of their very own.

08.05.26

Bug o’the Week – Dun Skipper Butterflies

Greetings, BugFans,

Seasoned BugFans know that the BugLady’s relationship with skipper butterflies is fraught. These are small, speedy butterflies, most of which are either orange and brown, or brown and orange. Her interactions with skippers always start with the question, “What is it?” and end with “Are you sure?”

07.29.26

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