Creatures

Trichopoda pennipes

After the heavy rain yesterday the weather has turned beautiful. It’s clear and cool and the humidity is much lower than it’s been. I went out twice to take pictures of the varied insects in the back yard and was able to work in the sun without being uncomfortable for the first time in months.

I was also rewarded with some new insect photos. First, there were two species of flies in the genus Trichopoda. The one shown here is Trichopoda pennipes and the other is Trichopoda plumipes, which has more black with a yellow pattern on its abdomen. The genus Trichopoda are known as the feather-legged flies because they have feather like brushes on their rear pair of legs. You can’t see them in this photograph but I got a few other views from behind where they show up quite nicely.

Condylostylus sp.

Back in June I posted a picture titled A Little Green Fly. At the time I identified that fly as Condylostylus sipho. The one pictured here may be the same species or it may be one of the other very similar species in the genus Condylostylus. Either way, it’s a pretty little thing.

P Brown commented that she wanted to write a poem to that one and on Facebook she did but I never got around to posting it here. So, in memory of that last little green fly and in honor of this new one, here is P Brown’s poem:

Ode To A Little Green Fly —
Have you come to snare the dancing honey bee,
You clothed in shimmering green among the Asclepias tuberosa?
Vascular threads forming a highway for thee,
And there long-legged on a leaf, you did pose.
Do I see you waving to a passing fly,
Displaying spindly legs, yet firmly built?
Perhaps to entice sipha for a brilliant mate,
Your short life to defy.
And now Henry has without any guilt,
Captured on facebook, your eternal fate.

Calycopis cecrops (Red-banded Hairstreak)

Next we have a fairly common butterfly but one I haven’t got a good picture of, as far as I know. It is the red-banded hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops). It didn’t fly off when I got close, as they often do, but it was not making itself easy to photograph. For the most part it would turn away from me so all I could see was the trailing edges of its wings. I finally got a few from the side that I was reasonably happy with.

Polistes fuscatus (Northern Paper Wasp)

Finally, we have a northern paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus). In general I wouldn’t consider these to be particularly friendly creatures but this one was pretty oblivious to my presence. I aimed the camera straight down on the tripod and got a pretty descent view of it from above. The light kept coming and going as the taller plants were blowing in the wind but otherwise, this one was easy to photograph.

I also got pictures of a yellow-collared scape moth (Cisseps fulvicollis), a wasp called Isodontia apicalis, and a few assorted and only tenuously identified flies. All in all, an enjoyable little time out back.

Mosquito on a Mushroom

I went out this morning to take some pictures of a mushroom in my back yard. It had fallen over and that gave me a nice easy view of the gills on the underside of the cap. So, I’m lying in the wet grass with mosquitoes buzzing in my ears when I notice that one has landed on the mushroom. So, I took a few of that. Later I’ll post one of just the mushroom.

Did you know that there are some 3500 species of mosquito worldwide? Also, both male and female adults feed on nectar and plant juices but it is only the females that feed on blood because a blood meal is usually required for development of eggs. How about this: Carbon dioxide, expelled in the breath of animals, attracts female mosquitoes that are looking for a blood meal. They detect carbon dioxide in the air and travel upwind to the source. So, want to stop attracting mosquitoes? Then stop breathing. Mosquito facts taken from BugGuide.net.

Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Across the street from the kousa dogwood in yesterday’s post there is a large buddleia hedge. I couldn’t resist stopping to take pictures. In addition to this female monarch (I guess that makes it a queen?), there were eastern tiger swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) and a huge number of Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui. This monarch only flashed her wings at me once when I was ready. All the other pictures show the underside of her folded wings.

Chrysoperla (Lacewing) Larva

Cathy found this little thing (it is about 5.5 mm long) crawling on our kitchen counter. I didn’t recognize it so I figured I should take its picture. I convinced it to crawl up onto a piece of paper and then put it in the freezer. I sort of wish I had known what it was, though, and put it outside. This is the larva of a lacewing and one of the most voracious aphid eaters around. So, if you find a little think that looks like this, don’t freak out. Carefully move it to your garden and be glad.

Junonia coenia (Buckeye)

This is a buckeye butterfly. Seen with its wings open it is particularly beautiful. The underside of the wings are not nearly so nice but it’s still a pretty little thing. It fluttered away from me a few times and then landed here and let me get quite close, but only with its wings held together. This was taken in the late evening so I had to use flash to get enough light.

Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, male)

It was a bit late in the day before I went out to take pictures so the light was a bit low. I didn’t take a tripod but the problem was more with the subject moving than anything else. Butterflies don’t often sit still when they are feeding. I managed to get reasonably close to this tiger swallowtail but his wings were fluttering and he was moving about the whole time. I also saw a sphinx moth (most likely genus Hemaris) but the pictures of that are too blurry to be worth much.

Butterfly Wing

When I got home this evening I noticed three butterfly wings on the sidewalk. No idea where the fourth was. Anyway, I propped one up on some plants and took a few pictures. If you look closely you can see the tiny scales that give the wing its color.

I haven’t looked it up but at a glance I’m thinking a fritillary, but that may be wrong.

Synanthedon scitula (Dogwood Borer)

Synanthedon scitula (Dogwood Borer)

I was taking pictures of wasps on the mountain mint again today and happened to see this little critter on the black-eyed Susans next to me. At first I thought it was some odd wasp but it didn’t really look right for that. The next thing I thought was that it looked more like a sphinx moth than anything but it was too small (about 1.5 cm long) and not really like any sphinx moth I’ve ever seen.

Armed with that impression I did some searching and discovered a fairly large family of moths called Sesiidae or clearwing moths (about 1370 species in 151 genera). If I’m right (and I’m waiting on confirmation by an expert), this is a dogwood borer (Synanthedon scitula). If not it’s something very like that. Their larvae bore into the bark of many ornamental, fruit, and nut trees. They do significant damage to dogwoods but are also a significant problem in apple orchards.

Anyway, I’d never seen one before so, despite their generally unwelcome nature, I was a bit excited to get a few pretty good pictures of one.

Oncopeltus fasciatus (Large Milkweed Bug) nymphs

There are only a few fading flowers left on the Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) in our yard and there are masses of gossamer bejeweled seeds. While taking the previous post’s picture of a butterfly I noticed masses of these nymphs of the large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus). Like many insects that feed on milkweed, they are colored orange, telling would-be predators, “don’t eat me, I don’t taste very good.”

Vanessa cardui (Painted Lady)

I went out to take pictures of skippers on the Verbena bonariensis but ended up with a pretty nice picture of a painted lady (Vanessa cardui) on a black-eyed Susan. It’s a pretty little butterfly, not particularly rare but I’ve found them difficult to get close to. This one let me get a few shots off before fluttering away.

Strymon melinus (Gray Hairstreak)

I went out in the back yard today to take some pictures of a couple spicebush swallowtail butterflies (Papilio troilus). Those pictures didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked so I decided to post this one of a much smaller little butterfly, called a gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus). I was working without a tripod because the swallowtails were up too high in the buddleia, so even this one isn’t as sharp as it should be.

Antheraea polyphemus (Polyphemus Moth)

So, lots of moths lately. This is a Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) and is another that was on the side of my office building. A coworker came to my office and told me about it and I went down and took a few pictures. When I left for the day it was still there but had its wings folded which gave a nice reflection in the glass on the side of the building. This was taken with flash.

Polyphemus was a the cyclops that Odysseus ran into on his journey. He was the son of Poseidon and Thoosa. The moth is named after him because it has a single eye-spot on each wing. They don’t really show up well in this picture and are more obvious from above.

Atteva aurea (Ailanthus Webworm Moth)

With the proliferation of Ailanthus trees throughout our region, it isn’t too surprising that the Ailanthus webworm moth is also fairly common. They are quite distinct and fairly easy to spot, with their white, orange, and black wings. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get both wings and head in focus in one shot. This was the best I could do without a tripod.

Cycnia tenera (Delicate Cycnia)

For those who were not happy with the first post from today, here’s one that should be less of a problem. This small moth was on the door to my office building when I arrived today. Very pretty little thing.

Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns

It was another mostly grey day at the beach today. We did go in swimming but of course I didn’t take my camera for that. We took a walk down the beach and I enjoyed watching the birds that were gathering on the sand bar. I didn’t spend a lot of time chasing birds this trip but these let me get reasonably close before they flew off.

Loggerhead Turtle

We arrived at the beach and got settled in. We had rain between Lumberton and the beach and some of that was very heavy and there were flashes of lightening all around. Not a lot of wind, though. At one point we saw a flash of lightening straight ahead of us, probably a mile or so away. Shortly after that we came upon a small fire on the edge of the woods, presumably lit by the lightening. I can’t say I’ve ever seen that before, although I know it’s fairly common. With the rain as heavy as it was, I don’t think the fire was a particular threat.

Loggerhead Turtle

In any case, the real excitement of the day was a turtle next just a few houses up the beach from where we were. The bulk of the turtles had hatched and headed out to see the previous two nights but there were some unaccounted for and we were told that they would be dug up as it got dark. A half dozen or so loggerhead turtles were found and most of them were able to crawl to the surf. Volunteers used red lights to guide them down the sand. With my camera set to ISO 6,400 and with the lens wide open at f/2.8 I was able to get an exposure of 1/100 second. Because of the red lights they are much more natural after I converted them to black and white, so that’s what I am posting here.

These two images are of the same turtle, making its slow trek to the ocean. It’s only about three inches from head to tail and I have no idea what its actual chances of survival are. I can’t imagine they are particularly high, but it made it to the water, anyway.

Tachopteryx thoreyi (Gray Petaltail)

Driving home from Kentucky we stopped for gas just west of Hancock, Maryland. This huge dragonfly was sitting on the pavement and at first I wasn’t sure it was alive but it was moving and it flew away after I took a couple pictures.

Sphecius speciosus (Eastern Cicada Killer)

On the sandy shore of Pinchot Lake, where we camped last night, there was a sign warning campers that there were cicada killer wasps laying their eggs. As you may have figured out by now, I’m not particularly scared of wasps and I thought I’d see how close I could get for a picture. As you can see, I did reasonably well. This wasp is a good 3 to 4 cm long and pretty formidable looking but they didn’t bother me as I walked among them, being careful not to step on their burrows, of course.

As their name implies, they sting and paralyze cicadas, bury them in the sand, and lay an eggs on the last cicada. When the egg hatches, the larva has a nice source of food.

Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus

Another afternoon around the mountain mint. This is a fairly common visitor and a dangerous looking wasp. Actually, none of the wasps around the mountain mint seem particularly concerned by my presence. Some move away from whatever side I’m not but none bother me in the least. The bumble bees seem to be the least concerned, letting me get quite close without flying away. These are probably next in terms of boldness, coming right in close under my lens. This photo is full frame, not cropped at all, so you can see I’m pretty close. I took quite a few of this one and some of the others are better for identification but I like this one best as a photograph. It isn’t anywhere near as sharp as I’d like but this fellow is moving around quite quickly.

Great Black Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus)

It was a much cooler day today. I woke up to 70° and a very light rain, which was wonderful. I opened doors and windows and enjoyed the freshness of the morning. It got much warmer as the day wore on but nothing like the 95+ degree temperatures we’ve been “enjoying” for the last eleven days (and four over 100°F). In the early evening I went out back and enjoyed all the bees and wasps that are gathering around the mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum). There were dozens upon dozens of them, far too many to count, and of course they are constantly on the move, flitting from one flower to the next. The flowers on mountain mint are quite small but they bloom over a very long period and they seem to be very popular with the Aculeata (bees, ants, and stinging wasps).

Katydid Wasp (Sphex nudus)

I have tentatively identified this first wasp as a great black wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus). It certainly fits the name as it’s about 2cm long and very black. The wings are a deep blue-black when it is viewed from the back and you can see a little of that in this picture.

The second wasp, also on the mountain mint, I believe is a katydid wasp (Sphex nudus). This wasp is about the same size as the first one but as you can see it has a bit of color on its legs. They are both fairly shy and don’t like to get too close to my camera. Others are much bolder or at least less concerned with my presence. Both wasps use katydids as food for their larvae, laying their eggs on one that they have killed and buried.

Macrosiagon limbata (Wedge-shaped Beetle)

I went out with my camera on a tripod to take some bee pictures around the mountain mint this afternoon. There were a lot of bumble bees and a few tarantula hawk wasps around. For all their size, the tarantula hawks are quite shy and are hard to get close enough to. I’ll get them eventually but didn’t today. I did find this little wedge-shaped beetle, a Macrosiagon limbata, on one of the flowers. It’s about a centimeter long. I don’t know about this species in particular but some members of the family Ripiphoridae are parasitic on bees and vespid wasps. So, waiting on the mountain mint was probably a good choice.

Apis mellifera (Honey Bee)

I have a feeling we’re going to be getting a lot of bee pictures over the next few weeks. The short-toothed mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) is just starting to bloom and it’s about the best bee magnet I know of. Other plants may attract them as well but I don’t know any that attract a wider variety of bees. Expect to see them soon.

For now, we have one more picture of a honey bee (Apis mellifera) on the Asclepias flowers.

Genus Condylostylus

There were a lot of these flying around the Asclepias tuberosa flowers today, along with a lot of bees (both honey and bumble varieties). I believe that this is a female of the Condylostylus sipho species group. There are a lot of very similar flies and I’m not an expert, by any means so if you are reading this and know better, please leave me a comment. Anyway, it’s almost certainly a longlegged fly (Family Dolichopodidae) and quite pretty.

Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

It was a beautiful day today and we spent some of it out in the yard. I pulled weeds for a while, doing battle with the Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense). To paraphrase Sonny Curtis, “pullin’ weeds in the hot sun, I fought the lawn and the lawn won.” Anyway, this swallowtail was fluttering around the various flowers and I was able to get a few reasonably good pictures as she landed on the aptly named butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in the back border. Much easier to get the picture here than later in the summer when they are on the buddleia, which puts them mostly overhead.

Toxomerus marginatus (Syrphid Fly)

I’ve posted a picture of one of these before (see Thursday, April 05, 2012) but I like them quite a lot. They are a little tricky to get a good picture of because they are so small. Even with my macro lens focused all the way in they don’t come close to filling the frame. This is an uncropped shot, though, and it’s about as close as I can get with that lens. It helped that there was not the least bit of wind because it means that the plant was not moving, which only adds to the level of difficulty. The fly in this picture is on the stamen of a campanula of some sort. They seem to like this plant quite a bit, as there were a bunch of them about. While the adults feed on nectar and pollen, the larvae are “voracious predators of aphids, thrips, small caterpillars.” Any predator of aphids, thrips, and small caterpillars is a friend of mine.

Yponomeuta multipunctella (American Ermine Moth)

Since I thought I had been denied the chance to see Venus silhouetted against the sun, I decided to take a few pictures in the yard when I got home. While I was doing that, Cathy came out and we chatted about this and that, going over our days. I sat in a lawn chair which happened to be near the driveway and while we were talking I noticed this little white moth on the side of our car (which, as you probably guessed, is red). At first I identified it as a Mimosa Webworm Moth, Homadaula anisocentra, which is native to Japan and China and was first found in the U.S. in Washington D.C. in 1943. After a little more research, though, I decided that it’s much more likely to be an American Ermine Moth (Yponomeuta multipunctella). As it turned out, I was able to get a picture of Venus, as well, even if it wasn’t a particularly great picture.