![\"Lightning](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/07\/beetle-lightning-lucidota24-1.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWoodland Lucy (Lucidota atra<\/em>), aka the Black firefly (atra<\/em>\u00a0means black).\u00a0If a lightning bug doesn\u2019t light, is it still a Lightning bug? Yup.\u00a0Most lightning bugs flash their species-specific light signals at females by night, but some, like the Woodland Lucy, are day flyers (the BugLady starts seeing them in swamps in May, but she usually doesn\u2019t see a light show by their nocturnal relatives until the very end of June).\u00a0It would be a waste of energy to try to produce a light that competes with the sun, so diurnal lightning bugs communicate via pheromones (perfumes).\u00a0But, all fireflies make light at some point in their lives, and always as a larva (and even the adult Woodland Lucy makes a weak light for a brief time after emerging as an adult).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who says \u201clightning bug\u201d and who says \u201cfirefly?\u201d\u00a0Lightning bug is heard most often in the South and Midwest, and firefly belongs to New England and the West (and Southeastern Wisconsin is close to the border of the two).\u00a0Someone did a study and hypothesized that people who live in wildfire country prefer firefly, and people who live in thunderstorm country say lightning beetle. The BugLady likes the alternate theory – that you call them whatever your Grandmother called them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disonycha<\/em> Beetle \u2013 isn\u2019t this a neat beetle! The BugLady photographed another member of the genus years ago when she was photographing visitors to her pussy willow shrub. It\u2019s in the (huge) leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae, many of whose members are pretty specific about the host plants for their larvae. This one is (probably) a member of the confusing Smartweed\u00a0Disonycha<\/em>\u00a0bunch. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grouse Locusts are in the family Tetrigidae (the pygmy grasshoppers), and at a half-inch and less when full grown, pygmy they are!\u00a0The BugLady usually sees them in wetlands, and some are actually known to swim. They feed on tiny diatoms and algae and aquatic vegetation at the water\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Centipede works the boardwalk at Spruce Lake Bog in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ground Beetle Larva \u2013 Ground beetles (family Carabidae) are a bunch of mainly nocturnal, sometimes-sizeable, mostly predaceous beetles.\u00a0Some of the big ones have no-nonsense names like Fiery Searcher and Caterpillar Hunter, and although they are called Ground beetles, they may climb trees to find their prey.\u00a0They\u2019re long-lived, spending a year or two as larvae and then two or three more as adults.\u00a0No \u2013 the BugLady was not inclined to pick this one up.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The White-Striped Black Moth (Trichodezia albovittata<\/em>) is a small (1\u201d wingspan) day-flying moth that\u2019s often mistaken for a butterfly.\u00a0It\u2019s found in wetlands because its caterpillar\u2019s food is Impatiens\/Jewelweed\/Touch-me-not.\u00a0Like other members of the moth family Geometridae, it has tympanal organs (ears) at the base of its abdomen so that it can hear the echolocation calls of bats.\u00a0 Since it\u2019s diurnal, its ears are superfluous, but it\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0hear ultrasound (which suggests to evolutionary biologists that its day-flying habit is a recent one).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chalk-Fronted Corpals are one of our earliest dragonflies \u2013 the BugLady recalls seeing recently-emerged corporals by the hundreds over a dirt road on warm, spring days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daddy Longlegs (aka Harvestmen) are not true spiders, though they do have eight legs.\u00a0The best description that the BugLady has read is that lacking a sharp division between their two body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen), they look like Rice Krispies with legs.\u00a0This one is well-camouflaged on the fertile stalk of a cinnamon fern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady may have to have this engraved on her gravestone (oh wait, she\u2019s being scattered) – Daddy Longlegs Do No Bite People! Also, counter to both urban and rural legend, they are NOT the most venomous animal on earth!!!\u00a0The BugLady does not care what your cousin told you, or the person who claims to be allergic to their bite. They have tiny jaws, and unlike the true spiders, they do not pierce their prey and then pump in chemicals from venom glands (no venom glands) (and they have no stinging apparatus).\u00a0They just sit there and chew off tiny (tiny) pieces. Got it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Beautify Bee Fly (Bombylius pulchellus<\/em>) truly is (pulchellos<\/em>\u00a0means \u201clittle beauty\u201d)!\u00a0This small fly (maybe \u00bc\u201d) was photographed in a wetland in mid-May.\u00a0Bee fly larvae are parasitoids of a variety of insect eggs and larvae \u2013 this one targets the sweat bees, which are among our earliest pollinators (not to worry \u2013 the system is in balance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crane Fly \u2013 there are a number of families of crane flies, plus some near-relatives, and they are often collectively called daddy longlegs (though they\u2019re not spiders) and mosquito hawks and skeeter-eaters (though they don\u2019t catch or eat mosquitoes).\u00a0What they do, is look like giant mosquitoes<\/a> when they land on the other side of your window screen at night, but they\u2019re completely harmless.\u00a0The \u201ccrane\u201d in crane fly reflects their long, long legs – they\u2019re somewhat awkward flyers and even more awkward landers. Like the Daddy longlegs, they\u2019re reputedly extremely venomous (and now it\u2019s time to introduce the third member of our \u201cdaddy longlegs trio,\u201d the cellar spider. Crane flies are thought to be venomous because they look like cellar spiders<\/a>, but, alas, cellar spiders only have very weak venom).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do these things get started, anyway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soldier Fly \u2013 it\u2019s always a little startling to come across a lime-green fly!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Virginia Ctenucha Moth Caterpillar was photographed in April, but the BugLady has found them walking around on mild winter days.\u00a0The cute caterpillar will morph into a stunning moth<\/a>\u00a0that looks butterfly-ish until it lands on a leaf and immediately crawls underneath.\u00a0Despite its name, it\u2019s a moth with more northerly affiliations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The (great) Minnesota Seasons website lists three defense strategies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Red-Spotted Purple Caterpillars are hard to distinguish from those of the very-closely-related Viceroy and White Admiral caterpillars, and their food plants overlap, too.\u00a0The caterpillars overwinter in a leaf that\u2019s still attached to the tree, rolled up and fastened with silk.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Red-spotted Purple? The purple part<\/a>, and the red-spotted part<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hobomok Skippers (once called the Northern Golden Skipper) are an early butterfly, often decorating the wild geraniums that bloom by the bushel in May. One source says that they are strong flyers that take off quickly when startled. Amen!\u00a0They are a butterfly of woodland, wetland and grassland edges, where males perch in the sun and fly out to chase intruders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHobomok\u201d is a nod to an early Wampanoag chief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Crab Spider on White trillium \u2013 as we all know, the BugLady has a thing for crab spiders because of their ability to hide in plain sight.\u00a0 This one was photographed in early May.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go outside \u2013 Look for Bugs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady and her camera have been out scouring the uplands and wetlands for insects that will sit still long enough to have their portrait made.\u00a0Many of today\u2019s bugs have starred in their own BOTWs over the years, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32664,"featured_media":15040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[837,30,828,607,41,158,831,835,752,440,836,829,11,676,80,832,830,843,614,787,473,838,842,839,31,841,834,827],"class_list":["post-15039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-beautiful-bee-fly","tag-beetles","tag-black-fireflies","tag-bugs","tag-butterflies","tag-caterpillars","tag-centipedes","tag-chalk-fronted-corporals","tag-crab-spiders","tag-crane-flies","tag-daddy-longlegs","tag-disonycha-beetles","tag-dragonflies","tag-fireflies","tag-flies","tag-ground-beetle-larva","tag-grouse-locusts","tag-hobomok-skippers","tag-insects","tag-larvaes","tag-lightning-bugs","tag-mosquito-hawks","tag-red-spotted-purple-caterpillars","tag-soldier-flies","tag-spiders","tag-virginia-ctenucha-moth-caterpillar","tag-white-striped-black-moth","tag-woodland-lucy"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n