Top Photo: Locust borer on goldenrod. Each year as goldenrod puts forth flowers, I expect to see locust borers actively feeding on nectar from the bright yellow florets. The beetles are rather well camouflaged among the flowers and not always easy to find. In late summer through fall, the adult beetles lay eggs in cracks of black locust bark. The hatching larvae burrow into the inner bark to overwinter. The warm temperatures of spring bring about renewed larval activity, andRead more
Posts filed in: Fall
Another Stinkhorn, 4 Butterflies, 2 Wasps, Young Anoles, a Groundhog, and a Blooming Redbud
Top Photo: Devil’s stinkhorn. The spreading of mulch is a common chore here at the museum. What with new plants going in, exhibits being installed or altered and multiple other projects going on, mulch is a common sight. Following the mulch, sometimes months later, comes fungus. Various mushrooms rise up out of the decaying organic material in the mulch. Pictured, we have what looks like devil’s stinkhorn (Phallus rubicundus) which is not a North American species. It’s similar to nativeRead more
Caterpillars Galore, a Mushroom, and a Broken Heart
Top Photo: Virginia tiger moth caterpillar. For those who appreciate lepidopteran larvae, last week was caterpillar paradise. Collectively, we rangers found several Virginia tiger moth caterpillars (above and below), a dozen banded sphinx moth caterpillars, a couple of smartweed or smeared dagger moth caterpillars, a southern flannel moth caterpillar and a camouflaged looper. And, thanks to Landscape Tech Jenn we got to see a couple of cauliflower mushrooms. Virginia tiger moth (Spilosoma virginica), also known as yellow bear caterpillar, canRead more
Some Insects To Keep An Eye Out For
Top Photo: European hornet inspects bark of tree where hive is located. While you’re walking along the paths of our outdoor loop through the Dinosaur Trail, Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind keep an eye out for large yellow, black and brown wasps, European hornets. The wasps are large and intimidating but are considered non-aggressive. I agree. They’re social wasps. Here at the museum, all of the nests, or hives, of these vespids that I’ve seen were in aRead more
Turtles and Persimmons
Top Photo: Persimmon ripening on tree. It’s well known among catfish aficionados that persimmons will catch a bucketful of the opportunistic, gill breathing, bony fish. In the fall, if there’s a persimmon tree next to the pond there’s probably a catfish hovering nearby. I was surprised to learn this past week that besides catfish, aquatic turtles seek out persimmons. Not surprised so much by what they were eating (the persimmons) but by the length in which they’d go to doRead more
Soldierflies
Top Photo: Soldier fly larvae feeding in our wetland. I’m not sure of the species level identification but the larvae in the photos above and below seem to belong to the genus Stratiomys. They’re a genus of soldier fly which apparently lays eggs in the water. The adults are bee or wasp mimics and feed on nectar and pollen. The larvae that hatch from the eggs deposited by the adults eat detritus on the bottom of a shallow, muddy pondRead more
Early Fall Things To Discover
Top Photo: Yellowjacket picking over annual cicada. The yellowjacket in the images above and below is scavenging protein from a dead cicada on the path. Yellowjacket larvae back in the hive are fed protein in the form of whole insects or chunks of meat harvested from caterpillars and other larger animals, even from a picnicker’s ham sandwich. The yellowjackets take the meat back to the hive and feed it directly to larvae in cells within the hive after it’s beenRead more
Katydids
Top Photo: Angle-wing katydid (Microcentrum retinerve). Katydids belong to a group of insects known as Orthoptera which references the straight or parallel-sided aspect of their wings (ortho = straight, ptera = wing). This group includes grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids. You can usually distinguish katydids from the others by their longer antennae, though some types of crickets do indeed have long, thin sensory appendages. There are many kinds of katydids. The two mentioned here are an angle-wing katydid and aRead more
Banded Sphinx
Top Photo: Banded sphinx moth caterpillar preparing to chew on wingleaf primrose-willow in wetlands. Last September, I photographed a banded sphinx moth (Eumorpha fasciatus) caterpillar on an end-of-the-season wingleaf primrose-willow (Ludwigia decurrens) in the wetlands. There were only a hand-full of those plants in the wetlands at the time. This year, there are many. The larvae may be green-themed, red, black, or multi-colored. The genus name Eumorpha means “well formed” or “good shape” and the species name fasciatus refers toRead more