Leaf-footed Bug (Leptoglossus clypealis)

Leaf-footed Bug
Leptoglossus clypealis

Identification: The wavy white line across the back strongly suggests this species. The spine extending forwards from the tip of the nose (tylus) confirms species ID.

Range: Based on the range map on BugGuide, Leptoglossus clypealis can be found throughout most of North America. However, it often occurs in large numbers in the Southwest where is is considered a pest species in pistacio and almond orchards because it feeds on the nuts. My limited records indicate L. clypealis is usually seen in the Ozarks during late fall and early winter.

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Leaf-footed Bug (Leptoglossus clypealis)

Large Tolype Moth (Tolype velleda – 7670)

Large Tolype Moth

Tolype velleda – 7670

Range: Nova Scotia to central Florida, west to Texas, north to Ontario.

Life cycle: Only one generation per year. Usually a late summer or fall species.

Food: Larvae feed on leaves of a variety of broadleaf trees and shrubs.

Links:
BugGuide
Moth Photographers Group
BAMONA

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Large Tolype Moth (Tolype velleda – 7670)

Moth (Epipagis huronalis - 5147)

Identification: The antemedial (AM) line of the hindwing is broken and does not extend all the way across the wing.

Range: North Carolina to Florida to Texas.

5148 - Epipagis disparilis which has a heavy and continuous antemedial line on the hind wing.

Links:
BugGuide
MPG
BAMONA

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Moth (Epipagis huronalis - 5147)

Locust Borer Beetle (Megacyllene robiniae)

Identification: Adult beetles are black with yellow stripes across. The third stripe on the elytra is W-shaped.

Habitat: Anywhere Black Locust trees are present - most of the US.

Season: Adults most noticeable in September when Goldenrod comes into bloom.

Food: Larvae feed exclusively on Black Locust tree and its cultivars (Robinia pseudoacacia). Adults feed on pollen, particularly Goldenrod (Solidago).

Life Cycle: Eggs are laid in locust trees in the fall. Newly emerged larvae spend several months in tree trunks, first hibernating through the winter under the bark, then tunneling into trees in spring, eventually making tunnels about 4" long and .25" inch wide. They pupate late July/early August. Adult beetles emerge late August to September.

(From BugGuide)

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Locust Borer Beetle (Megacyllene robiniae)

Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth (Lycomorpha pholus - #8087)

Range: Nova Scotia to North Carolina, west to South Dakota and Texas.

Life History: A day-flier, often seen on flowers such as goldenrod. May take several years to develop, especially in the north. Hairy cocoons are attached to rocks or tree trunks near the former food source.

Flight: July-September.

Caterpillar Hosts: Lichens.

Resource Links:
BugGuide
MPG
BAMONA

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Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth (Lycomorpha pholus - #8087)

Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina)

Female Carolina Mantis just hanging around in the fog and adorned with remnants of spider webbing. (Species details from BugGuide.)

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Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina)

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)

Silver-Spotted Skipper on Purple Coneflower

Both butterfly and the coneflower are past their prime, but still worthy of a few pixels, I think.


According to BugGuide,  Silver-Spotted Skippers range throughout southern Canada and most of the continental United States except the Great Basin and west Texas; northern Mexico.


Caterpillar Hosts: Many woody legumes including black locust (Robinia pseudacacia), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) and false indigo (Amorpha species).


More information and photos are also available from Butterflies and Moths of North America.

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Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)

Io Moth (Automeris io) - Male

A very common moth throughout eastern North America and north to southern Canada.  They range west to southern Arizona and south to Central America, at least as far as Costa Rica.  Larvae feed on a wide variety of host plants -- over 100 recorded plant genera in North America -- , including such diverse plants as azaleas, blackberry, clover, cotton, current, hackberry, hibiscus, mesquite, palms, rear, redbud, roses and willows.  (University of Florida "Featured Creature")

Prominent eye spots on hind wings are distinctive and found on both males and females.  Males are usually yellow while females are a rusty red color.

(Previous post includes photos of female, eggs and caterpillars.) 

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Io Moth (Automeris io) - Male

First Luna Moth of the Season

The first Luna Moth (Actias luna) we've seen this season was on the window screen outside our computer room/office early Friday morning. Based on its large antennae and tails, I'd say this is a male.  Here in the south, Luna moths have enough time to go through three life cycles before the weather turns cold again. Actias luna only live for about a week in this final moth stage of their life.  They do not feed.  In fact, they have incomplete mouth parts and no digestive system.  Their only purpose as adult moths is to find a mate and breed, and for females to lay eggs so their life cycle can continue.  For complete species details, please see BugGuide.

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First Luna Moth of the Season

Banded Hickory Borer (Knulliana cincta cincta)

Banded Hickory Borer (Knulliana cincta cincta)

Longhorned Beetle (Cerambycidae)

Range: Eastern North America to western Texas, south to northern Mexico..

Food: Larvae feed on dead and seasoned branches and limbs of hardwood species, including oak and hickory.

Life Cycle: Eggs are laid in crevices in the bark, or directly into the wood. Larvae feed the first season beneath the bark, then head deeper into the wood.

Identification:   Markings may be absent.  Prominent spines on sides of the pronotum and at the elytra apices. The scutellum is considerably longer than broad.  There are no other NE longhorns of similar size and coloration that have strong spines on the femora, pronotum, and elytral apices.

Last week -- prior to our weather's return to winter-like conditions -- these longhorned beetles were numerous under our porch light.

Join the Macro Monday fun at Lisa's Chaos.

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Banded Hickory Borer (Knulliana cincta cincta)

Longhorned Beetle (Stenosphenus notatus)

Longhorned Beetle
(Stenosphenus notatus)

Identification: Combination of red pronotum with black spot and shiny black elytra with white hairs is distinctive.

Range: Eastern North America, west to Rocky Mountains.

Habitat and Food: Larvae feed in dead limbs of various hickories. Found in decidious forest with these host species.

Remarks: Most wood boring beetles overwinter as larvae. When warmer spring weather arrives, they develop into adult beetles and emerge in the late spring or early summer. S. notatus is different. Adult beetles develop in the fall, but overwinter inside the wood, finally emerging in the very early spring. (Source:  Ted MacRae @ Beetles in the Bush)  This particular beetle had actually not yet emerged. I found it inside a piece of hickory I split for firewood.

Join the Macro Monday fun at Lisa's Chaos. 

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Longhorned Beetle (Stenosphenus notatus)

Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calanus)

Banded Hairstreak Butterfly (Satyrium calanus)

Yes, I'm again trying to prime the pump for Spring, 2011, by posting photos from a past spring.

Range: Maine across southern Canada to North Dakota; south to central Texas and the Gulf States.

Life History: Males perch on low shrubs and tree branches during the day, watching for females. Eggs are laid on twigs of the host during the summer, and hatch the following spring. Caterpillars eat catkins and leaves.

Caterpillar Hosts: Many species of oak (Quercus), walnut (Juglans), and hickory (Carya).

Adult Food: Nectar from flowers -- in this case, an Ox-eyed Daisy.

Habitat: Forest areas and neighboring open edges and fields.

Source:  Butterflies and Moths of North America.

Macro Monday hosted by Lisa's Chaos.

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Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calanus)

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Although our winter is far from over, we've experience a couple of those unseasonably warm days. Friday the temperature made it up to 70°F. I saw several honey bees, especially in our compost. I suppose the bees (like humans) are drawn out of their hive by this warm weather, and are searching for flowers which they will not find. I don't know if our compost contains sugars the bees can actually use, but the bees are especially attracted to the citrus peels it contains.

(Editors Note:  A reader explained these bees are out of their hive on a cleansing flight.   When the weather is cold, bees "huddle together around the queen (and the honey.)  They slowly rotate from the outside to the center so that no one gets too cold.  At the core of this cluster of bees, workers shiver their bodies and raise the temperature of the cluster as high as 95 Fahrenheit, but just outside the cluster, the unheated portion of the hive may drop below freezing."  When the weather warms the bees "make a cleansing flight to eliminate their body wastes. Honey bees never defecate inside their hive. This is one of their behavioral traits that serve to help prevent disease from spreading through the colony. "  Bees also perform a variety of routine maintenance and housekeeping tasks on the hive on warmer days.  Please check out the two sites I've linked above for more information.  Thanks for cluing me in about cleansing flights , Sue!)

The photo above shows three of the characteristics that help identify this insect as a female (worker) honey bee. One of these is a pollen basket.  Female bees (queens and workers) in family Apidae (honey bees, carpenter bees, bumblebees and several lesser known groups) have specialized structures called pollen baskets (corbicula) used for temporarily storing collected pollen so it can be transported back to the nest/colony. The pollen basket is a smooth, concave structure surrounded by long, stiff hairs located on the tibia of the bee's two rear legs. As the bee visits flowers, she accumulates pollen all over her body. She uses her legs to aggregate the pollen and transfer it to her pollen basket. It may look as if a bee simply has hairy legs, but some of those hairs (setae) are actually combs and brushes used for transferring pollen. The pollen is combed, pressed, compacted, and transferred to her pollen basket. Honey and/or nectar is used to moisten the dry pollen so it will stay in place.  In this photo, her pollen baskets are empty because there are no blooming flowers for her to visit.  A photo of a honey bee with a full pollen basket is here.

To participate in Camera Critters and/or find links to other critter photos, please click the logo above.

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Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Cuckoo Bee (Nomada sp.)

"B" is for Bee
(Please pardon my lack of originality)
 

In this case, a cuckoo bee in the genus Nomada.  The cuckoo bee was given its common name because it evolved the same kleptoparasitic practice as the European Cuckoo and North American Brown-headed Cow Bird.  A female cuckoo bee does not provide for her offspring.  Instead, she lays her eggs in another bee's nest.  Her eggs hatch early and the cuckoo's larvae eat the other bee's provisions.  Some cuckoo bees kill the other bee's eggs.  Others leave the eggs for her larvae to eat.  Cuckoo bee larvae often have large mandibles to facilitate eating other bee's eggs.


Cuckoo bees are not seen visiting flowers as often as other bees.  Since she does not need to gather provisions for her own offspring, the female cuckoo bee only nectars often enough to take care of her own energy needs.  She lacks a pollen basket, scopa or other pollen collecting body hair common to most bees.  For this reason, cuckoo bees are often mistaken as wasps.  Likewise, among bees, cuckoo's are poor pollinators.


Instead of nectaring, the female cuckoo spends much of her time flying low over the ground searching for nests of other bees.  Once she locates a nest, the cuckoo waits for the host species female bee to leave, then enters the nest and lays her own eggs.  Most cuckoo bees parasitize nests of just a few bee species (2-5), but some are very specific and only parasitize nests of just one other bee species.


(A preview of coming attractions:  "M" is for moth.  The small moth sharing the strawberry bloom with the cuckoo bee is a Sedge Moth in the family Glyphipterigidae.)

To participate in ABC Wednesday and/or find links to more "B" photos, please click the logo above.

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Cuckoo Bee (Nomada sp.)

Round-headed Apple Tree Borer (Saperda candida)

The round-headed apple tree borer (Saperda candida) takes 2-3 years to complete its life cycle. Adult beetles are 1 inch long and brown, with two white longitudinal stripes on its back. Larvae overwinter in various stages feeding on sapwood and heartwood. Pupation occurs in late spring of the second year, and emergence begins in early summer.  Females lay eggs under bark scales, in crevices, or in tree wounds. After hatching, the larvae feed beneath the bark for a while before entering the wood.  Feed on dead or dying trees and rarely on healthy trees.  Trees become weakened and heavy infestations can kill a tree in one season. Members of the rose family are favorite hosts of the round-headed apple tree borer.  Found mostly in the eastern US and Canada.  (Source:  The Morton Arboretum)

Round-headed Apple Tree Borer Larva

Photo by James Solomon, USDA Forest Service

To participate in Macro Monday and/or see other great macros on a variety of subjects, please click on the logo above.

An Inordinate Fondness is a celebration of beetles—of their indescribable beauty, amazing forms, and astonishing diversity. For a list a past, present and future An Inordinate Fondness blog carnivals, please click on the logo above.

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Round-headed Apple Tree Borer (Saperda candida)

Macro Monday: Tortoise Beetle Larva (Charidotella sp)

Camouflage is an often employed survival tactic in the insect world, but a tortoise beetle larva has one of the more unique approaches to disguise.  It hides under a shield of debris composed of previously shed skins and fecal matter.  To a would be predator, the tortoise beetle larva looks like bird droppings or some other distasteful pile of debris.

The larva has a fork-like structure at the rear end of its abdomen.  These prongs curve back over the insect's body.  When the larva molts, its head emerges from the old skin first.  When the molt is complete, its old skin is left attached to these anal forks.  The insect's excrement is added to these shed skins forming a "fecal shield".  When disturbed, the tortoise beetle larva will often wave this shield at would be predators.

This particular larva is probably a Golden Tortoise Beetle (Charidotella sexpunctata) which ranges throughout most of the United States and Canada.   Both lavae and adults feed on the leaves of various Convolvulaceae (bind weed, morning glory, sweet potato) leaving the leaves riddled with small holes.  It was found on bind weed.

Here is a photo of an adult Golden Tortoise Beetle.

Sources and additional information:
BugGuide 
Garden Friends and Foes 
Bug of the Month
Insect Information: Tortoise beetles

Please click the logo above to participate and/or find more Macro Monday photos.

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Macro Monday: Tortoise Beetle Larva (Charidotella sp)

Bagworm Moth Caterpillar (Family Psychidae)

Larvae (bagworms) construct spindle-shaped bags covered with pieces of twigs, leaves, etc., and remain in them -- enlarging the bags as they grow -- until they pupate (also in the bag). Adult females remain in the bag, emitting pheromones which attract adult males to mate with them.  Males become more typical moths.  (There are 26 species in 13 genera in North America.)

Eggs are laid inside the bag, and when they hatch the larvae crawl away to begin construction of their own individual cases.

Source:  BugGuide



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Bagworm Moth Caterpillar (Family Psychidae)

Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina - male)

Male mantis consuming a moth.

Range: New Jersey south to Florida; west to Utah, Arizona, Texas, and through Mexico to Central America.


Season: Mantids are most commonly seen in late summer and early fall. Most are killed by cold weather in the fall, but can live longer in warmer climates in the southern US.


Food: Butterflies, moths, flies, small wasps and bees, true bugs and caterpillars -- most anything they can catch and consume.


Life Cycle: Eggs overwinter and hatch in early spring. Adults are mature by late summer and usually die by winter.


Remarks: Carolina Mantids are native to North America. They are smaller than their imported Asian cousins. Males have fully developed wings and can fly. Females do not.

Source: BugGuide

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Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina - male)

Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina)

Mothing Mantis

Some photograph moths; others eat them.

A male Carolina Mantis  (Stagmomantis carolina), a native species found throughout most of North and Central America.  Many consider mantids beneficial insects, though they're really indiscriminate predators and will eat just about anything they can catch.
(BugGuide Species Page)

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Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina)

Spangled Skimmer Dragonfly (Libellula cyanea)

Spangled Skimmer Dragonfly (Libellula cyanea)

A bit torn and tattered, but still able to catch insects like this Spotted Cucumber Beetle removed from our garden.


Spangled Skimmers are common in eastern North America as far west as Kansas and Texas.  Males are blue.  Females are brown with yellow stripes.  They prefer well-vegetated ponds and lakes and slow-moving sections of streams.  (BugGuide)

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Spangled Skimmer Dragonfly (Libellula cyanea)