Flower Fly (Ocyptamus fuscipennis)

About the only information I could find on this little Syrphid fly was that it is a beneficial insect. It's larvae are aphid predators. Females lay their eggs in aphid colonies. A BugGuide image shows a female ovipositing on an aphid.

BugGuide: Species Ocyptamus fuscipennis
BugGuide: Genus Ocyptamus

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Flower Fly (Ocyptamus fuscipennis)

Chickweed Geometer Moth - Male (Haematopis grataria)

The plumose (featherlike) antennae indicates this is a male. Females have filiform (threadlike) antennae. (Photo taken on 8/22/09.)


Species information from BugGuide:

Range: Found throughout the United States and a large part of central Canada.

Habitat: Fields, meadows, lawns, gardens; adults often fly during the day.

Season: Peak flight time is August but adults may be seen from May through October.

Food: Larvae feed on chickweed, smartweed/knotweed, clover, and other low plants.

Wingspan: 20-25 mm.

Identification: Adult: forewing dull yellow with two pink bands crossing outer half of wing, and pink discal spot in median area.

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Chickweed Geometer Moth - Male (Haematopis grataria)

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

A worn and faded female Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) symbolizes the end of butterfly season is near. She is nectaring on a variety of Blazing Star. (There are many varieties of this colorful fall wildflower. I haven't gotten them all sorted out yet.) The two beetles beneath her are Goldenrod Soldier Beetles (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus), a species of leatherwing beetle that is probably the most commonly seen soldier beetle in eastern/central North America during late summer and fall.


Species information on the Great Spangles Fritillary from Nearctica:

Wing span: 2 1/2 - 4 inches (6.3 - 10.1 cm).

Identification: Large. Upperside of male tan to orange with black scales on forewing veins; female tawny, darker than male. Underside of hindwing with wide pale submarginal band and large silver spots.

Life history: Males patrol open areas for females. Eggs are laid in late summer on or near host violets. Newly-hatched caterpillars do not feed, but overwinter until spring, when they eat young violet leaves.

Flight: One brood from mid-June to mid-September.

Caterpillar hosts: Various violet species (Viola).

Adult food: Nectar from many species of flowers including milkweeds, thistles, ironweed, dogbane, mountain laurel, verbena, vetch, bergamot, red clover, joe-pye weed, and purple coneflower.

Habitat: Open, moist places including fields, valleys, pastures, right-of-ways, meadows, open woodland, prairies.

Range: Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south to central California, New Mexico, central Arkansas, and northern Georgia.

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Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)