by Kate Redmond
Gone Fishin’
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.
Traditionally, the BugLady goes on sabbatical for the month of June, but she’s going to sneak away a bit early this year. Why? There’s an old riddle,
“Why did the glaciers retreat?”
“To get more rocks.”
The BugLady needs more pictures.
Lest your inbox grow cobwebs, she will post a tasteful rerun each Tuesday until she gets back.
FROM THE FILE:
BEE X23 (on bergamot)23-1 – a busy little bald bee.
BEETLE MILKWEED ANNULATUS HL22-2 – Not our common Red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetropthalmus). There are two species here that are adorned with those lovely double rings on the antennal segments – T. femoratus (which has red on its legs, unless it doesn’t), and T. annulatus, sometimes called the Ringed milkweed beetle. The BugLady would happily call this T. annulatus based on appearance and habitat (dry, sandy areas), but it was sitting on Common milkweed, which is not listed as one of annulatus’s food plants. Is the BugLady overthinking this? Probably.
TULE BLUET DAMSELFLY21-2 – with a bunch of water mite nymphs on its abdomen. The BugLady knows who this is, but she’s written biographies of a number of other bluets, and the details of their life histories don’t vary a lot. Besides, she promised that she would not march methodically through the species lists of Wisconsin dragonflies and damselflies.
So many wasps!!!
BRACONID15-22 – someday the BugLady is going to write a Braconid Wasps 101 episode (they’re a big and important family) but first she needs to figure out which of her wasp pictures are braconids, because they can look similar to Ichneumon wasps (an even bigger family). This one seems to be ovipositing in the flower.
WASP ICHNEUMON Latholestes17-10 – maybe a braconid.
X WASP17-1 – also maybe a braconid
WASP ICHNEUMON RNC22-1 – a large and handsome Ichneumon.
WASP MISTLETOE SLB24-3 – this Ichneumon (probably) was exploring the flowers of Eastern dwarf mistletoe.
WASP FBMP OOF24-2 – an odd little wasp that joined the BugLady on the Hawk Tower on a cool day in mid-November.
X MOTH20-7 – this handsome, largish moth looks like it should be in the genus Haploa but…..
FLY DEER RNC23-2 – looks like a deer fly, but cinnamon- colored?
PLANTHOPPER NYMPH13-1 – isn’t this a little cutie!
SPIDER WAUB24-1 – what a lovely, almost translucent spider!
X LONGHORNED BEETLE HL15-2 – enjoying the wild geranium one spring day.
WEEVIL EP12-1 – Isn’t this a great little weevil? The BugLady scooped it from the surface of an ephemeral pond, but she doubt’s that it’s an aquatic species – more likely it was sitting on a leaf and got dislodged.
See you in July,
Kate Redmond, The BugLady
Bug of the Week archives:
http://uwm.edu/field-station/category/bug-of-the-week/