Top Photo: Green lacewing egg on leatherleaf viburnum. While standing next to a leatherleaf viburnum near the Sandbox in Gateway Park, I took a close look at the leaves of the shrub, you never know what you’ll find, getting up close to vegetation. To my surprise I spotted two green lacewing eggs. There was one egg on two separate leaves several inches apart. I’ve seen lacewing eggs before, but perhaps only once here at the museum. Most descriptions of lacewingsRead more
Posts tagged: #lichen bug
Golden Afternoon
Top Photo: Common buckeye on goldenrod. Positioning oneself next to a stand of goldenrod on a sunny fall afternoon is a wise choice for a naturalist interested in getting a quick inventory of the local flying insects. The insects are attracted to the yellow flowers for their nectar and accessibility. There are no long tubular flowers requiring a lengthy proboscis to reach the sweet liquid. No hovering necessary either, the flowers are right there on top of the plant. SmallRead more
The Return of the Honey Ants
On Tuesday January 18, I noticed that the sap was flowing from a Carolina Maple in Catch the Wind. The tree is six feet or so off the path between the Vapor Rings and Mist Garden Exhibits. This tree has been the topic of previous posts. Two new sapsucker wells have been drilled into the tree and sap was flowing from the wells, covering the bark below them. There were perhaps two dozen ants crawling up and down the sap.Read more