Howdy, BugFans,
This episode is a Golden Oldie, first/last posted in 2008. Despite her feelings of ambivalence about ants, the BugLady continues to photograph and write about them. For this rerun, the BugLady added a bunch of random pictures of ants being ants.
06.05.25
Howdy, BugFans,
The BugLady was out in a wetland today, stalking the wily Pink Lady’s Slipper (aka the Moccasin flower), a large and lovely native orchid. After she got home, she discovered a male Wood/Dog tick on her person (dark, with pale streaks), so it seemed like an auspicious time to rerun the episode about the Deer tick.
05.28.25
Greetings, BugFans,
Here’s a rare glimpse into the BugLady’s “BOTW Future” file, which is packed with pictures of identified insects that she hopes have a good story to tell, with semi-identified insects, and with (mostly) her “X-Files” – the Unidentified. (The file probably reflects the state of the BugLady’s brain.) It’s what she sees as she selects the bug of the week.
05.21.25
Greetings, BugFans,
Long-time BugFans know that the BugLady is infatuated with the lovely, sedentary Flower Crab spiders (family Thomisidae) that she photographs throughout the summer, and she recently posted a BOTW about the chunkier Ground crab spiders (also Thomisidae).
Running crab spiders, in a separate family (Philodromidae) have been mentioned briefly throughout the years – here’s their story.
05.14.25
Greetings, BugFans,
This week’s episode is a rerun from the very early days of BOTW.
The BugLady loves it when the research she is doing makes a sharp turn toward History.
Galls are mentioned by (very) early observers. People have been pondering the mysteries of galls for a long time, although not all of the hypotheses have been righteous ones. For example, because they were considered “supernatural growths,” galls were used to foretell the future. In the Middle Ages, their contents were examined (much tidier than chicken entrails). Spiders signaled pestilence; maggots meant either famine or a plague among cattle; flies – war; and ants – a bountiful harvest.
05.12.25
Howdy, BugFans,
The BugLady has been curious about the status of Zebra and Quagga mussels since she posted an episode about them in 2016 (“A Tale of Two Mussels – the One-Two Punch”). Here’s the original post (slightly tweaked and clarified), with a summary of her recent search of the literature at the end. Put your feet up and grab a beverage.
04.30.25
Greetings, BugFans,
Leaf miners have been mentioned in these pages before – even the Aspen leaf miner (Phyllocnistis populiella) has appeared briefly. When she did a little more research, the BugLady was ecstatic to discover that Aspen leaf miners have an association with EFNs, one of the coolest things she’s ever found out about in her 16 years of writing BOTW (more about that in a sec). Here’s its story.
04.23.25
Howdy, BugFans,
This episode was originally adapted from the Spring, 2010 issue of the BogHaunter, the newsletter of the Friends of the Cedarburg Bog, written by the BugLady wearing a different hat. It’s further revised from a BOTW of seven years ago – new words and new pictures.
Woodcocks are wonderful birds with a great story. They were a big part of the BugLady’s childhood – their return to our brushy fields was celebrated each year and it was (and still is) a race to see who would hear the first one (thanks, Mom, thanks, Dad).
04.16.25
Howdy, BugFans,
This is a Good-News-Bad News-Stay-Tuned kind of story.
But first, a little background. Besides being large and lovely, Monarch butterflies, of course, catch our fancy because of the death-defying migrations they undertake twice a year. Migrations – fueled by flowers – that carry some of them 3,000 miles from central Mexica into Canada.
04.14.25
Howdy, BugFans,
Life is busy – here’s a not-so-Golden Oldie, from the BugLady’s favorites list.
First of all, it’s a stunning butterfly. Second, unlike many of BOTW’s featured bugs, there was an abundance of information about this species, some of which sent the BugLady traipsing happily down a few rabbit holes.
04.07.25