Gold-and-brown Rove Beetle (Ontholestes cingulatus)

Gold-and-Brown Rove Beetle (Ontholestes cingulatus)

A relatively large rove beetle found throughout most of North America.  Adults eat maggots, mites, and beetle larvae.  Typically found in woodlands and wherever carrion occurs.  Several have been checking out our compost lately.

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Gold-and-brown Rove Beetle (Ontholestes cingulatus)

Common Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)

Common Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)

Common throughout most of the United States and southern Canada.  (Range Map)  Adults feed on flower nectar and rotting fruit.  I reckon this watermelon rind in our compost qualifies as "rotting fruit".  (BugGuide Species Page)

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Common Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)

Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta)

Stretching To Reach The Best Parts

This is the critter most folks (including me) call a Tomato Hornworm, but according to BugGuide it is actually a Tobacco Hornworm.  The white literal stripes edged with black and the curved, reddish-colored terminal horn are distinctive.  Regardless, it is the larva of a Carolina Sphinx Moth and can often be found munching on members of the Nightshade family throughout most of North and South America.  (We've also found them eating pepper plants in our garden.)


(The University of Florida has an excellent page comparing Tobacco and Tomato Hornworms, including adult moth images.)

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Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta)

White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata)

White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata)

A widespread moth found throughout most of North America, Central America, West Indies, also parts of Eurasia, Africa.  Adults take nectar.  Larvae feed on a wide variety of plants.

Butterflies and Moths of North America
BugGuide

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White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata)

Fowler's Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri)

Fowler's Toad - Anaxyrus fowleri
(Formerly  Bufo fowleri)

Tentatively identified as a Fowler's Toad on Herps of Arkansas.


Description of Anaxyrus fowleri from the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory:

Fowler's toads are sometimes hard to identify because they have few distinctive characteristics. They have as few as one wart and as many as seven in each dorsal spot, and a ground color of light gray or brown, often with traces of yellow. Fowler's toads have a light stripe down the middle, and prominent cranial crests. These toads are known to hybridize with other toad species in some areas, making it difficult to be sure of a toad's species when attempting identification. Offspring may possess traits of both parental species.


Fowler's Toads range throughout most of the eastern United States.  (USGS range map)


This particular toad decided to live in my basement shop.  Mice long ago chewed an entrance hole through the weatherstripping on the basement door's bottom.  Toads, black snakes and copperheads have all also used this entrance.  I suppose they like laying on the basement's cool concrete slab on hot summer's days.  Jo and I have both learned that during the summer, it's best to push the basement door fully open and see what may be laying just inside the door before stepping into the basement.  Jo once had to convert a normal step into a jump mid-stride when a copperhead was visiting.

I moved the toad out of my basement several times.  I was concerned it wouldn't get enough to eat, though I reckon there are enough camel crickets and other insect also living in my basement for the toad to survive because it always returned.  I'm also concerned I might accidentally step on the toad  since it doesn't always remain hidden.  The toad doesn't seem to appreciate that danger.

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Fowler's Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri)