Leafcutter Bee<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Leafcutter](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/bee-leaf-cutter-oof24-4rz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Leafcutter Bee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAh, the one that got away. The BugLady saw a lump on a boardwalk in front of her and automatically aimed her camera at it (a long lens is a good substitute for a pair of binoculars). The lump \u2013 a leafcutter bee – flew off after one, out-of-focus shot. The bee had paused while she was cutting and collecting pieces of vegetation to line the tunnel and chambers where she\u2019ll lay her eggs. Here\u2019s one caught in the act.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nJapanese Beetle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Japanese](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/beetle-jap24-2rz-copy-300x214.webp\")
<\/a>Japanese Beetle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nLots of the vegetation that the BugLady sees these days is pockmarked with small holes \u2014 evidence of feeding by Japanese beetles. (Of course, she\u2019s also been seeing conspicuous, beetle m\u00e9nages a trois <\/em>on the tops of those leaves, too.) Japanese beetles made their North American debut in New Jersey in 1916, and their menu now includes more than 350 plant species. But, they are<\/em> a handsome beetle! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWater Striders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Water](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/waterstrider24-1rz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Water Strider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThey create art wherever they go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAppalachian Brown Butterfly (probably)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Brown](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/brown-slb24-2rz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Appalachian Brown Butterfly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe part of the hindwing that has the squiggly line that helps distinguish the Eyed Brown from the Appalachian Brown is gone. Life in the wild isn\u2019t all beer and skittles. The chunks missing from this butterfly\u2019s wings suggest that a bird chased it and that most of the butterfly got away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPowdered Dancer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Powdered](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/dancer-pow24-10brz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Powdered Dancers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn an episode a month ago, the BugLady lamented that the river was so high and fast that Powdered Dancers couldn\u2019t find any aquatic vegetation to oviposit in.\u00a0 A dry spell revealed some weed patches, and the dancers hopped right onboard.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nEastern Pondhawk Dragonfly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Pondhawk](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/e-pondhawk-dancer-and24-1rz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis male Eastern Pondhawk was hugging the cattail stalk, a posture that\u2019s not characteristic of this usually-horizontal species. Turns out that it had captured a Violet\/Variable Dancer damselfly and was holding it closely between its body and the cattail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCrab Spider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Spider](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/spider-crab24-10rz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Crab Spider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat would a summer summary be without one of the BugLady\u2019s favorite spiders, the Crab spider? Where\u2019s Waldo? Bonus points if you know the name of the plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHoney Bee with Aphids<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Honeybee](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/honeybee-aphids24-1rz-copy-300x214.webp\")
<\/a>Honey Bee with Aphids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s not surprising to see yellowjackets browsing among herds of water lily aphids. Adult yellowjackets are (mostly) vegetarians, but they collect, masticate, and regurgitate small insects for their larvae. Honey bees are hard-core vegans, so what\u2019s going on here? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aphids overeat \u2014 they have to. The plant sap they suck in has very low concentrations of sugars and proteins, so they need to process a lot of it in order to get enough calories. Sap comes out of the plant under pressure, which forces the sap through the aphid smartly, and the extra liquids (in the form of a sweet substance called honeydew), exit to the rear of the aphid (or it would explode). Honeydew drops onto the surrounding leaves and attracts other insects that harvest it. The bee is no threat to the aphids, she\u2019s just collecting honeydew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fun Fact<\/strong>: According to Master beekeeper Rusty Burlew, writing in her blog “Honey Bee Suite,” The bees treat the substance like nectar so it is often mixed together with the nectar from flowers. As such, it is not really noticeable in the finished honey. Honey made almost exclusively from honeydew is known as honeydew honey, forest honey, bug honey, flea honey, or tree honey. Sometimes it is named after its primary component, such as pine honey, fir honey, oak honey, etc. It is generally dark, strongly flavored, less acidic, and less sweet than floral honey.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nEastern Amberwing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Eastern](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/e-amberwing24-1rz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Eastern Amberwing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAt barely an inch long, this improbably-colored dragonfly is one of our flashiest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMosquitoes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Mosquito](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/mosquito-larvae24-3rz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Mosquito Larvae<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMosquito Control 101: \u201cGet rid of standing water in your yard!\u201d Check. But, the BugLady has a bird bath (her \u201cvintage\u201d childhood saucer sled) that she washes out and refills at least once a week… or so she thought. She was surprised the other day to see a whole mess of mosquito \u201cwigglers\u201d (larvae) in the water. Worse, they probably were the small-but-mighty Floodwater mosquitoes that can make August miserable because they emerge in Biblical numbers and because they seem to be biting with one end even before the other end has fully landed. They develop at warp speed \u2014 a week from egg to wiggler, and another week from wiggler to adult. Get rid of standing water in your yard. Check. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nScorpionflies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Scorpionfly\"](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/scorpionfly24-1rz-copy-300x214.webp\")
<\/a>Scorpionfly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThese are odd-looking insects from a whole order of odd-looking insects (Mecoptera). This guy is in the Common scorpionfly family Panorpidae and in the genus Panorpa<\/em> \u2014 a corruption of the Greek word for locust<\/em>. The appendage at the end of the male\u2019s abdomen explains its name, but these are harmless insects, fore and aft. One site mentioned they are wary and hard to photograph. Amen! <\/p>\n\n\n\nPanorpa<\/em> uses chewing mouthparts at the tip of its elongated rostrum\/snout to eat dead and dying insects, and it may liberate insects from spider webs (and sometimes the spider, too). It is also said to eat some nectar and rotting fruits. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHe courts by releasing pheromones to attract her, quivering his wings when she comes near, and then offering a gift \u2014 a dead insect, or maybe some gelatinous goo manufactured in his salivary gland. He shares bodily fluids with her as she eats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCarolina Locust<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Carolina](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/locust-car24-1rz-copy-150x150.webp\")
<\/a>Carolina Locust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat a lovely, chunky little nymph! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAutumn Meadowhawk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Autumn](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/meadowhawk-ten24-7rz-copy-300x214.webp\")
<\/a>Autumn Meadowhawk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe dragonfly scene changes after mid-summer, with the early clubtails, emeralds, corporals, whitefaces, and skimmers being replaced by darners, saddlebags, and a handful of meadowhawk species. This newly-minted (teneral) Autumn Meadowhawk has just left its watery nursery on its way to becoming \u2014 for the next six weeks or so \u2014 a creature of the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nKatydid Nymph<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Katydid](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/katydid24-4rz-copy-300x214.webp\")
<\/a>Katydid Nymph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe BugLady was photographing leafcutter bees that were visiting birdsfoot trefoil flowers. (Birdsfoot trefoil is a non-native member of the pea family that was introduced for animal fodder and erosion control and that can become invasive in grasslands. There\u2019s probably some blooming along a road edge near you). She noticed that when the bees approached one particular flower, they reversed course and didn\u2019t land, and when she checked, she found the tiniest katydid nymph she has ever seen. This one will grow up considerably to be a 1\u00bd\u201d to 2\u201d long Fork-tailed bush katydid… or somebody else in the genus Scudderia<\/em><\/a>. How do you find bush katydids? The \u201cListening to Insects\u201d website advises us to \u201cWatch for a leaf that moves on its own, or a leaf with antennae.<\/em>\u201d They are a favorite of Great golden digger wasps, which collect and cache them for their eventual larvae, and another website said \u201cThis is what bird food looks like<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe BugLady found a recording of their call. They don\u2019t say \u201cKaty-did, Katy-didn\u2019t\u201d they say \u201ctsp\u201d or \u201cpffft,\u201d and they don\u2019t say it very loudly. Bush Katydids are busiest at night, when their long, highly sensory antennae help them to find their way around. Although adult females are equipped with a wicked-looking ovipositor, they don\u2019t sting, but they do nip if you handle them wrong. Memorably, it\u2019s said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Go outside, look at bugs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n\n\namberwing<\/a>, <\/span>aphid<\/a>, <\/span>bee<\/a>, <\/span>beetle<\/a>, <\/span>Butterfly<\/a>, <\/span>dancer<\/a>, <\/span>dragonfly<\/a>, <\/span>Flies<\/a>, <\/span>Fly<\/a>, <\/span>katydid<\/a>, <\/span>locust<\/a>, <\/span>meadowhawk<\/a>, <\/span>mosquito<\/a>, <\/span>nymph<\/a>, <\/span>spider<\/a>, <\/span>strider<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Note: Links below are to external sites. Click on thumbnail images to see larger versions.) Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady has been scouring the landscape and aiming her camera at anything that will sit still (and some that won\u2019t). And without going too overboard …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19040,"featured_media":15144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[865,864,467,547,484,863,542,80,515,869,867,868,866,564,545,862],"class_list":["post-15139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-amberwing","tag-aphid","tag-bee","tag-beetle","tag-butterfly","tag-dancer","tag-dragonfly","tag-flies","tag-fly","tag-katydid","tag-locust","tag-meadowhawk","tag-mosquito","tag-nymph","tag-spider","tag-strider"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Leafcutter](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2024\/08\/bee-leaf-cutter-oof24-4rz-copy.webp\")
<\/a>Ah, the one that got away. The BugLady saw a lump on a boardwalk in front of her and automatically aimed her camera at it (a long lens is a good substitute for a pair of binoculars). The lump \u2013 a leafcutter bee – flew off after one, out-of-focus shot. The bee had paused while she was cutting and collecting pieces of vegetation to line the tunnel and chambers where she\u2019ll lay her eggs. Here\u2019s one caught in the act.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lots of the vegetation that the BugLady sees these days is pockmarked with small holes \u2014 evidence of feeding by Japanese beetles. (Of course, she\u2019s also been seeing conspicuous, beetle m\u00e9nages a trois <\/em>on the tops of those leaves, too.) Japanese beetles made their North American debut in New Jersey in 1916, and their menu now includes more than 350 plant species. But, they are<\/em> a handsome beetle! <\/p>\n\n\n\n They create art wherever they go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The part of the hindwing that has the squiggly line that helps distinguish the Eyed Brown from the Appalachian Brown is gone. Life in the wild isn\u2019t all beer and skittles. The chunks missing from this butterfly\u2019s wings suggest that a bird chased it and that most of the butterfly got away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an episode a month ago, the BugLady lamented that the river was so high and fast that Powdered Dancers couldn\u2019t find any aquatic vegetation to oviposit in.\u00a0 A dry spell revealed some weed patches, and the dancers hopped right onboard.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This male Eastern Pondhawk was hugging the cattail stalk, a posture that\u2019s not characteristic of this usually-horizontal species. Turns out that it had captured a Violet\/Variable Dancer damselfly and was holding it closely between its body and the cattail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What would a summer summary be without one of the BugLady\u2019s favorite spiders, the Crab spider? Where\u2019s Waldo? Bonus points if you know the name of the plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not surprising to see yellowjackets browsing among herds of water lily aphids. Adult yellowjackets are (mostly) vegetarians, but they collect, masticate, and regurgitate small insects for their larvae. Honey bees are hard-core vegans, so what\u2019s going on here? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Aphids overeat \u2014 they have to. The plant sap they suck in has very low concentrations of sugars and proteins, so they need to process a lot of it in order to get enough calories. Sap comes out of the plant under pressure, which forces the sap through the aphid smartly, and the extra liquids (in the form of a sweet substance called honeydew), exit to the rear of the aphid (or it would explode). Honeydew drops onto the surrounding leaves and attracts other insects that harvest it. The bee is no threat to the aphids, she\u2019s just collecting honeydew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fun Fact<\/strong>: According to Master beekeeper Rusty Burlew, writing in her blog “Honey Bee Suite,” The bees treat the substance like nectar so it is often mixed together with the nectar from flowers. As such, it is not really noticeable in the finished honey. Honey made almost exclusively from honeydew is known as honeydew honey, forest honey, bug honey, flea honey, or tree honey. Sometimes it is named after its primary component, such as pine honey, fir honey, oak honey, etc. It is generally dark, strongly flavored, less acidic, and less sweet than floral honey.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n At barely an inch long, this improbably-colored dragonfly is one of our flashiest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mosquito Control 101: \u201cGet rid of standing water in your yard!\u201d Check. But, the BugLady has a bird bath (her \u201cvintage\u201d childhood saucer sled) that she washes out and refills at least once a week… or so she thought. She was surprised the other day to see a whole mess of mosquito \u201cwigglers\u201d (larvae) in the water. Worse, they probably were the small-but-mighty Floodwater mosquitoes that can make August miserable because they emerge in Biblical numbers and because they seem to be biting with one end even before the other end has fully landed. They develop at warp speed \u2014 a week from egg to wiggler, and another week from wiggler to adult. Get rid of standing water in your yard. Check. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These are odd-looking insects from a whole order of odd-looking insects (Mecoptera). This guy is in the Common scorpionfly family Panorpidae and in the genus Panorpa<\/em> \u2014 a corruption of the Greek word for locust<\/em>. The appendage at the end of the male\u2019s abdomen explains its name, but these are harmless insects, fore and aft. One site mentioned they are wary and hard to photograph. Amen! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Panorpa<\/em> uses chewing mouthparts at the tip of its elongated rostrum\/snout to eat dead and dying insects, and it may liberate insects from spider webs (and sometimes the spider, too). It is also said to eat some nectar and rotting fruits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He courts by releasing pheromones to attract her, quivering his wings when she comes near, and then offering a gift \u2014 a dead insect, or maybe some gelatinous goo manufactured in his salivary gland. He shares bodily fluids with her as she eats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What a lovely, chunky little nymph! <\/p>\n\n\n\n The dragonfly scene changes after mid-summer, with the early clubtails, emeralds, corporals, whitefaces, and skimmers being replaced by darners, saddlebags, and a handful of meadowhawk species. This newly-minted (teneral) Autumn Meadowhawk has just left its watery nursery on its way to becoming \u2014 for the next six weeks or so \u2014 a creature of the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady was photographing leafcutter bees that were visiting birdsfoot trefoil flowers. (Birdsfoot trefoil is a non-native member of the pea family that was introduced for animal fodder and erosion control and that can become invasive in grasslands. There\u2019s probably some blooming along a road edge near you). She noticed that when the bees approached one particular flower, they reversed course and didn\u2019t land, and when she checked, she found the tiniest katydid nymph she has ever seen. This one will grow up considerably to be a 1\u00bd\u201d to 2\u201d long Fork-tailed bush katydid… or somebody else in the genus Scudderia<\/em><\/a>. How do you find bush katydids? The \u201cListening to Insects\u201d website advises us to \u201cWatch for a leaf that moves on its own, or a leaf with antennae.<\/em>\u201d They are a favorite of Great golden digger wasps, which collect and cache them for their eventual larvae, and another website said \u201cThis is what bird food looks like<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady found a recording of their call. They don\u2019t say \u201cKaty-did, Katy-didn\u2019t\u201d they say \u201ctsp\u201d or \u201cpffft,\u201d and they don\u2019t say it very loudly. Bush Katydids are busiest at night, when their long, highly sensory antennae help them to find their way around. Although adult females are equipped with a wicked-looking ovipositor, they don\u2019t sting, but they do nip if you handle them wrong. Memorably, it\u2019s said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Go outside, look at bugs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n (Note: Links below are to external sites. Click on thumbnail images to see larger versions.) Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady has been scouring the landscape and aiming her camera at anything that will sit still (and some that won\u2019t). And without going too overboard …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19040,"featured_media":15144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[865,864,467,547,484,863,542,80,515,869,867,868,866,564,545,862],"class_list":["post-15139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-amberwing","tag-aphid","tag-bee","tag-beetle","tag-butterfly","tag-dancer","tag-dragonfly","tag-flies","tag-fly","tag-katydid","tag-locust","tag-meadowhawk","tag-mosquito","tag-nymph","tag-spider","tag-strider"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\n\n\nJapanese Beetle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nWater Striders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nAppalachian Brown Butterfly (probably)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nPowdered Dancer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nEastern Pondhawk Dragonfly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nCrab Spider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nHoney Bee with Aphids<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nEastern Amberwing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nMosquitoes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nScorpionflies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nCarolina Locust<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nAutumn Meadowhawk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n\n\n\nKatydid Nymph<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>