Reports from the Field

Bug o’the Week – Wetland Homage V – Water Strider by Kate Redmond

Howdy, BugFans,

Rounding out American Wetlands Month, the BugLady would like to give a shout-out to our hard-working, home-grown Wisconsin Wetlands Association. The WWA reminds us that 75% of Wisconsin wetlands are on private lands, and that effective wetland protection involves educating both landowners and policy-makers.

WATER STRIDER REVISITED (2012)

Anyone who has watched Water striders in action has been wowed by the four-point shadow that marks their path over shallow waters.

05.31.23

Bug o’the Week – Wetland Homage IV – Water Scorpions by Kate Redmond

Howdy, BugFans,

If wetlands are the transitional spongy/submerged/semi-submerged/sometimes-submerged areas between high ground and deep water, what might some wetlands look like? Swamps are wet woodlands, while marshes are wet areas with standing water whose vegetation is mostly non-woody. Peatlands like bogs, which have no sources of water other than precipitation and run-off, so water stalls there and becomes acidic; and fens, which are fed by springs and are often alkaline. And then there are sedge or wet meadows, scrub/shrub thickets, and more.

WATER SCORPION (2008)

05.24.23

Bug o’the Week – Wetland Homage III – Water Fleas by Kate Redmond

Howdy, BugFans,

We’re celebrating American Wetlands Month with up close and personal views into the lives of some of its citizens, as seen in some slightly refurbished, vintage BOTWs.

DAPHNIA (2012)

Back into the water we go and into the realm of another NETI – not the pot, the “Not-Exactly-True-Insects.” Daphnia are at the lower limit of what the BugLady can accomplish with her 50mm macro lens (though she does have a recognizable shot of a Cyclops……), and Daphnia, aka water fleas, are yet another example of great stories coming in small packages.

05.17.23

Bug o’the Week – Wetland Homage II – Water Treader by Kate Redmond

Greetings, BugFans,

The celebration of American Wetlands Month continues.

We’ve all seen the list of wetland benefits – wetlands recharge groundwater, protect us from floods by trapping water and releasing it slowly, improve water quality by absorbing pollutants and sediments (they’ve been called “the kidneys of a watershed”), protect shorelines from erosion, and provide recreation and beauty. And they’re amazingly productive, biologically – they provide homes and habitats for many plants and animals (for 75% of Wisconsin wildlife species, says the Wisconsin Wetlands Association), and according to the Defenders of Wildlife organization, “More than one-third of our country’s threatened and endangered species live exclusively in wetlands, and almost half of these imperiled species use wetlands at some point in their lives.” They are considered as productive as coral reefs and rainforests, and they feed us and multitudes of other animal species (“biological supermarkets,” said one report).

Without further ado — WATER TREADERS (2014)

05.10.23

Bug o’the Week – Wetland Homage I – Water Sow Bug by Kate Redmond

Howdy, BugFans,

May is American Wetlands Month.  So, all month, BOTW will celebrate by posting slightly-massaged (a few new words and pictures), encore episodes about a selection of awesome critters the BugLady has encountered in area wetlands, plus some wetland information.

This story about Water Sow bugs was first posted in 2009.

05.04.23

Bug o’the Week – Variegated Meadowhawk Redux by Kate Redmond

Salutations, BugFans,

Variegated Meadowhawks started appearing in the state from the south and southwest in mid-April this year. Their appearances were brief – they have places to go – but they leave eggs behind in our ponds. Their offspring will emerge in late summer to decorate our landscapes briefly before they leave, too.

The BugLady massaged this episode from 2012 – some new words and new pictures.

04.26.23

Bug o’the Week – Birch Catkin Bug by Kate Redmond

Greetings, BugFans

BIRCH CATKIN BUGS (Kleidocerys resedae) are in the suborder Heteroptera and in the Seed Bug family Lygaeidae – “Seed bugs” because most family members (like Milkweed bugs) feed on seeds, puncturing them with piercing mouthparts. Due to the chemicals they pick up from the plants they eat, many Lygaeids don’t taste so good, and some (like Milkweed bugs) are clad in bright colors to advertise that fact. Most Lygaeid species also have stink glands, and so the term “stink bug” may be applied pretty loosely, but the Hemipterans that are officially called Stink bugs belong to the Stink bug family Pentatomidae. Birch catkin bugs have an odor that some people call strong and unpleasant, but that blogger Larry Hodgson, the Laidback Gardener, described as “intense, with a hint of wintergreen.”

04.19.23

Bug o’the Week – And Now for Something a Little Different – Eastern Skunk Cabbage
by Kate Redmond

Greetings, BugFans

The BugLady visited one of her favorite wetlands the other day, looking for spring. It’s early days for flowering plants around here (and for insects, other than flies), but our two earliest wildflowers – pussy willows and skunk cabbage – are happily doing their thing. It will be a little while before the flowering plants in the wetlands start to bloom, but mosses and liverworts are putting on a show ahead of that, and soon the fern fiddleheads, lichens, liverworts, and horsetails/Equisetum will join the chorus. Nothing beats the smell of a wetland!

Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) (Symplocarpus foetidus means “clustered fruit that is fetid,” and isn’t that awesome!) is a member of the Arum family, Araceae (culinary cabbages aren’t). There are more than 3700 Arum species worldwide, mostly tropical, and the members of the family that grow in and around our area wetlands – skunk cabbage, Jack-in-the-pulpit, and wild calla (plus arrow arum in a few parts of the state) – are some of our oddest-looking wildflowers.

04.12.23

Bug o’the Week – Speed-dating the Spiders – Black Widows
by Kate Redmond

Howdy, BugFans,

The first thing you should know about Black widows is that they need better PR. Widow spiders are so-named because the female (allegedly) eats the male after mating. It’s called “sexual cannibalism,” and the protein meal is supposed to boost the chances of successful egg-laying. But, this is a behavior that was first observed in the lab, where the male had few escape options, and it’s suspected that it happens far less frequently in the wild.

04.05.23

Bug o’the Week – Cruiser Dragonflies
by Kate Redmond

Greetings, BugFans,

The Cruiser dragonflies, aka River Emeralds or River Cruisers, are not shrinking violets – they are powerful dragonflies that have a reputation among dragonfly fans as the most difficult of the dragonflies to net (maybe because they’re highly maneuverable and they can hit flight speeds of up to 40 mph). Older books include them in the Emerald family Corduliidae, but they are now listed in the family Macromiidae, a small family with 9 species in two genera in North America, and about 120 species worldwide.

Look for Cruisers around shallow, sunny rivers, streams, bays, channels, and lakes with good water quality. They’re found from coast to coast except in the Rockies and Northern Great Plains.

03.29.23

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