{"id":12153,"date":"2021-02-26T09:33:19","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T15:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/?p=12153"},"modified":"2024-12-26T13:01:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T19:01:12","slug":"bugs-without-bios-xvi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/bugs-without-bios-xvi\/","title":{"rendered":"Bugs Without Bios XVI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greetings, BugFans,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time again to celebrate the bugs that fly under the radar \u2013 bugs that are neither famous nor infamous and that live alongside of us, about whom not much has been written. All three of these species, coincidentally, have their flight periods in the first half of the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Currant<\/a>CURRANT TIP BORER<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This beetle is a poster child for insects that are barely visible online, although unlike many, it has picked up a common name along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Currant tip borer (Psenocerus supernotatus<\/em>) is a not-very-long-horned member of the long-horned beetle family Cerambycidae<\/em>. The long-horned (long-antennaed) beetles are divided, uneasily and depending on whose book you read, into 10 subfamilies, and the Currant tip borer\u2019s subfamily, Lamiinae<\/em>, the Flat-faced Longhorns, includes about 20,000 of the 30,000 species of Cerambycid<\/em> worldwide.  There are 5,000 species in the New World, but only 250 of them occur in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This little beetle (about 1\/3\u201d) can be found in early summer, east of a line from Manitoba to Texas. Its larvae feed within the dead branches of a variety of woody plants, and it\u2019s been found on oak, Virginia creeper, poison ivy, sumac, catalpa, and mulberry as well as currant and gooseberry. Considering its name, the BugLady was expecting to find a bunch of Extension Bulletins telling us how to protect our gooseberries and currants, but she found none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. R. P. Dow, writing in the Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society<\/em> in 1916, recounts how he found some Currant tip borer larvae in sumac pith. First to hatch were two males that, after exploring their surroundings, began to fight by a specific spot on the twig. Two days later, a female emerged from that spot. He wrote, \u201cIt is evident that some sense organ revealed the female to the males not less than 36 hours before her emergence from the unmarked wood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One source writes that the adults look ant-like<\/a> <\/i>. Hmmm \u2013 the BugLady doesn\u2019t see it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sulphur<\/a>SULPHUR-WINGED GRASSHOPPER<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The BugLady automatically surveys butterflies and dragonflies as she walks \u2013 it\u2019s like breathing. From mid-summer on, she sees Clouded Sulphurs over the grasslands (bugguide.net informs the BugLady\u2019s spellcheck that \u201cboth spellings of “sulphur” or “sulfur” are seen frequently. The first prevalent in older works, with the second becoming more common in recent decades\u201d). With black-bordered, lemon-yellow wings, the butterflies are almost unmistakable. (This is a remarkable shot, and not just because it shows the black edges on the upper surface of the wings<\/a> <\/i>. Sulphurs perch with their wings closed, so the black border is seldom photographed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost unmistakable \u2013 the Sulphur-winged grasshopper (Arphia sulphurea<\/em>) always makes her do a double-take https:\/\/bugguide.net\/node\/view\/640715\/bgimage.  Members of the genus Arphia<\/em> are found across North America; they\u2019re in the Short-horned grasshopper family Acrididae<\/em> and in the Band-winged grasshopper subfamily Oedipodinae<\/em>, some of which are pretty fancy<\/a> <\/i>, and https:\/\/bugguide.net\/node\/view\/238831\/bgimage<\/a> <\/i>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the grasshoppers that the BugLady researches have extensive rap sheets due to their fondness for plants that grow in ag-lands and pastures, but she could find no wanted posters for the Sulphur-winged grasshopper, alias the Yellow-winged\/Spring yellow-winged grasshopper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sulphur-winged grasshoppers are found in grasslands, edges, and sometimes in open woodlands east of that Manitoba-to-Texas line, and north just into Canada. They feed primarily on grasses, with a few wildflowers thrown in for good measure, and unlike many grasshoppers, they don\u2019t eat any animal material. Bugguide.net tells us that both males and females \u201ccrepitate\u201d (make snapping\/crackling\/popping sounds with their wings) during courtship displays. Adults can be seen starting in early spring and are gone by mid-summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They overwinter as late-stage nymphs, and they have the best nymphs ever! https:\/\/bugguide.net\/node\/view\/1593959\/bgimage<\/a> <\/i> and https:\/\/bugguide.net\/node\/view\/510468\/bgimage<\/a> <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"White-spotted\/Three-spotted<\/a>WHITE-SPOTTED\/THREE-SPOTTED HORSEFLY<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In early summer, the BugLady spied this impressive male horsefly eyeing her from a lily pad (male, because its huge eyes meet in the middle \u2013 all the better to see you with\u2026..). Horse flies and deer flies are in the family Tabanidae<\/em>. For \u201cHorse fly 101,\u201d visit here<\/a>.  Many species are also called Greenhead flies<\/a> <\/i>(visit the Atlantic coast in summer to get the full Greenhead experience), and many have spectacular, Technicolor eyes that make them the darlings of macro photographers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n