Reports from the Field

Bug o’the Week – Redspotted Antmimic Spider

Howdy, BugFans,

In mid-summer, BugFan Dave shared these dynamite pictures of a pretty spiffy little spider that the BugLady has never seen – the (unhyphenated) Redspotted antmimic spider (Castianeira descripta). Thanks, Dave!

Antmimic spiders used to be in the “catchall” Sac spider family Clubionidae, but now they’re found in the family Corinnidae, the Corinnid sac spiders. Antmimic spiders don’t spin trap webs – they pursue their prey on foot – but they do use silk to encase their eggs and to spin retreats in sheltered places. They tend to be drab, fast-moving spiders.

12.17.25

Bug o’the Week – Goldenrod Watch redux

Howdy, BugFans,

It’s the start of December – and of meteorological winter – and it’s cold out, and the BugLady is still wondering what, exactly, happened to August.  Here’s a little slice of August, from 15 years ago.

The BugLady’s advice for the day is: Find yourselves a big clump of goldenrod and start looking.  Bring your camera.  Bring a lawn chair. Each critter has its own story, and it is in understanding the small stories that we start to get a handle on the big picture. 

12.03.25

Bug o’the Week – The Pennants Redux

Howdy, BugFans,

Here’s a rerun from 2010, with a few new words and pictures.

The BugLady would like to state up front that this episode is about “pennants” (as in “small flags”), not about “penance,” which is between BugFans and their deities.

After the awesome Slaty Skimmer, some of the BugLady’s (many) favorite dragonflies are the Calico and the Halloween Pennants. The Pennants are the stuff that tattoos are made of (someday). The internet agrees; it’s light on Pennant information and heavy on Pennant pictures, but they are eye candy!

11.26.25

Bug o’the Week – Dewdrop Spider

Greetings, BugFans,

In honor of Halloween, we’re ending the month with a spider. A very cool little spider with a big story.

The Dewdrop spider Argyrodes elevatus (Argyrodes means “silver-like), in the Cobweb/Comb-footed/Tangle-web spider family Theridiidae, doesn’t live around here, though other genera of Dewdrop spiders do. Theridiids are found in North America, indoors and out, in an almost infinite variety of habitats, from border to border and from sea to shining sea (and around the world). Thanks, as always, to BugFan Tom for sharing his pictures.

10.29.25

Bug o’the Week – Buck Moth Update

Howdy, BugFans,

The original Buck moth episode was written in 2010, so the BugLady decided to check on the present status of the moths.  New words, new pictures. 

One of the BugLady’s favorite moths is the Buck moth, whose story here in Wisconsin is a complex one.  Buck moths are members of the usually-summertime, usually-nocturnal silk moth family Saturniidae, home of the Cecropia and Luna moths, but Buck moths are active on warm afternoons in mid-fall.  They are handsome moths with a 2” to 2 ½” wingspan (females are a bit larger than males; males have feathery antennae and red/orange segments at the rear).  There are 23 species in the genus, and some are spectacular, indeed.

10.22.25

Bug o’the Week – Autumn Adventures

Howdy, BugFans,

The BugLady spends the spring and summer combing natural areas for bugs and flowers and other stuff to photograph, but in fall, she sits on a 10-foot-tall tower, counting migrating raptors. As a result, her meanderings have mostly been confined to Forest Beach Migratory Preserve since September 1st. As the poet Stephen Vincent Benét once wrote (not about insects, but it could have been), “This is the last, this is the last, Hurry, hurry, this is the last,..” With some recent chilly nights and cool days, the Bug Season is winding down, poised for the first frost, but tree crickets and grasshoppers still sing on the prairie, and the late season flies, bees, butterflies, and dragonflies are afoot. Here are some September and early October bugs.

10.15.25

Bug o’the Week – Spined Micrathena Spider

Howdy, BugFans,

Back in 2020, the BugLady wrote about a Southern spider called the Spinybacked orbweaver.  We have spiny spiders here in God’s Country, too – this summer, BugFan Danielle sent a picture of a northern spinyback species.

10.09.25

Bug o’the Week – Say’s Trig

Howdy, BugFans,

The BugLady has always wanted to see a trig, because – what an interesting name for an insect (a name, it turns out, that’s a shortened version of its family, Trigonidiidae). Trigs, members of the grasshopper/cricket/katydid order Orthoptera, are also called Sword-tailed crickets and Winged bush crickets. They’re crickets, but they’re not in the same family as the common, black field crickets of fall (family Gryllidae). The BugLady still wants to see a trig – these pictures were taken by BugFan Dave, who’s finding some very cool things as he rehabilitates his property with native plantings (and he’s having fun and photographing the heck out of it, too!). Thanks, Dave!

09.24.25

Bug o’the Week – Squash Lady Beetle

Howdy, BugFans,

Typically, when insects like flies, bees and wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths, and a few others – insects with Complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa/resting-changing stage, adult) – mature, they not only take on a new form, but they also adopt a new menu and a new place to live. One constant in the BugLady’s firmament has been that, as the exception that proves the rule, adult lady beetles eat aphids, and immature/larval lady beetles eat aphids, too.

Vegetarian lady beetles??? Thanks to BugFan Tom, in the Deep South, for providing both the education and the pictures.

09.17.25

Bug o’the Week – Summer Sights – and Sounds

Howdy, BugFans,

The BugLady took to the trails this summer as much as her shiny, new knee and the oppressive heat and humidity allowed (her preferred maximum temperature is 72 degrees. The gods didn’t cooperate). Here are some of the bugs she found.

09.10.25

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