Top Photo: Tobacco hornworm on tomato plant. The tobacco hornworm, or Carolina sphinx, and tomato hornworm, or five-spotted hawk moth, both use nightshade as a food plant including tomato and tobacco plants. And, they’re both subjected to attack by a tiny parasitoid wasp called a braconid wasp. With the help of her ovipositor, the minuscule wasp lays eggs just under the skin of the caterpillar. The eggs hatch and the larvae begin eating the caterpillar from within. When the timeRead more
Posts tagged: #Monarch
Pearly-Eyes, Beetles and Others
Top Photo: Northern pearly-eye. There are three butterflies in our region known as pearly-eyes, northern pearly-eye, southern pearly-eye, and creole pearly-eye. Though they all are reported from this area, the one that I come in contact most often is northern pearly-eye. They’re all medium sized butterflies and very similar in appearance. The northern pearly-eye, as does the others, has a row of eye-spots on the forewing. Northern and southern pearly-eyes have four eye-spots. Creole pearly-eye has five. In Northern pearly-eyeRead more
What’s Happening in the Wild
Above, during a downpour, northern rough-winged swallows take a break from swirling, diving and capturing airborne insects over the wetlands. If, while visiting the museum you park at the parking deck, stop and have a look at the flowers blooming along the path leading to the deck, you may see some interesting insects, including several species of butterfly. Over the past week I’ve been seeing dogbane beetles on their namesake plant along the path of the outdoor loop through ExploreRead more
TACO Week
No, TACO Week doesn’t mean we here at the museum will be making, serving, or eating tacos, although you can eat tacos that week if you desire. TACO Week is short for Take A Child Outdoors Week. You should already be doing that, taking your kids out of doors, as often as you can. But, this is just a reminder, an excuse, in case it slipped your mind. This year, TACO Week is from 24 thru 30 September. Though we’reRead more
August Has Gone By
August is over and we’re sliding into fall. Here’s a small sampling of sights I witnessed this past month above and beyond what I’ve previously posted. At the top and below are pictures of Bembix wasps. The various, rather gentle, non-aggressive wasp species in the Bembix genus burrow into sand to house and feed their young. They feed the larvae flies. They’re often called sand wasps. The picture above is of a Bembix wasp standing at the entrance to itsRead more
A Butterfly, a Flycatcher, and an Intro to Trig
By all accounts this has been a slow year for Monarchs. I’ve seen five flying over the Museum’s airspace this fall on their way south to Mexico. The numbers of Monarchs seen here are never great, but five is particularly disapointing. It may be wishful thinking to say that the weather has not been conducive to a good Monarch flight here in the Piedmont. I hope that’s all it is. While photogrpahing the Monarch above, two phoebes were calling fromRead more
Viceroy
The butterfly in the above image is a Viceroy. It’s sometimes confused with a Monarch butterfly because of its coloration, orange background with black and white markings. Some key differences in the two are that Viceroys are smaller than Monarchs, have a more rapid wing beat, and the Viceroy has a transverse bar across its rear wings which the Monarch lacks. The host food of Monarchs is milkweed. Viceroys prefer willows, so your chances of seeing a Viceroy are increasedRead more
Pictures from ETW and CTW
These images were acquired in Explore the Wild (ETW) or Catch the Wind (CTW) between 8 & 15 September. Arachnid Some insects. Herps. Stay tuned! Read more
Two Ladies and a Monarch
About a week and a half ago there were several Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies in the flower garden out in front of the Butterfly House. Painted Ladies don’t breed in this area so it was a bit unusual to see them. The butterflies were pointed out to me by Richard Stickney (Butterfly House Conservatory), but I had seen them the day before at the close of the day. However, I had passed them off as American Ladies (Vanessa virginiensis),Read more
Just passing through
Some butterflies and dragonflies move north or south with the seasons. Here’s several that I saw today (10/21/11) in an aster patch in Catch the Wind. Have a nice flight. Read more