Creatures

Agelenidaea (Funnel Weaver)

Late in the summer, spider webs start to appear in pretty great numbers in the ground cover throughout our yard. For the most part, the spiders themselves are not seen, but once in a while, if you are patient, they will come out. This appears to be one of the funnel weavers or possibly a grass spider from the family Agelenidaea. It’s a largish spider and fairly menacing looking from the front. Their webs are horizontal and have a small funnel-like tube off to one side. They retreat into this ‘den’ when startled.

Genus Ammophila (Thread-waisted Wasp)

It was only last week, on September 11, 2015, that I posted a picture of a thread-waisted wasp in the genus Ammophila. Generally I try to avoid pictures of the same type of animal or plant in the same year. Sometimes they are different enough, like the nymphs and adult large milkweed bug pictures, posted on August 29, 2015 and earlier today. Nevertheless, I’m posting this because I think it’s a cool picture and it lets you see this wasp from a different angle. Besides, this is my blog and I can do what I want. If you don’t like it, no one is forcing you to come here and see my pictures. One of my favorite things about this picture is the pollen that is all over the wasps thorax.

Oncopeltus fasciatus (Large Milkweed Bug)

On August 29, 2015 I posted a picture of nymphs of large milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus). They quickly grow into adults, like this one. They are mostly gone now, off to wherever adult milkweed bugs go. I think they are really cool looking. I especially like that you can see one of its three simple eyes (the red dot above the larger, compound eye). Many insects have them, but usually we don’t get close enough to see them very well.

A Jaunty Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)

There were a lot of birds in the back yard this morning, coming down to the bird bath on the edge of our patio. They often fly to the lower branches of the nearest maple tree first, and then fly down to the edge of the bath. The goldfinches often land on a metal pole, even closer. Then there are the catbirds (grey catbirds, to be precise, Dumetella carolinensis). They land in and around the potted plants and often perch on this leaning garden ornament (which doesn’t light up any more, but we haven’t gotten around to removing it). I especially like watching the way birds stand on sloping and moving objects, with a sophisticated auto-balancing system that works wonderfully to keep them upright with little or no effort.

Cupido comyntas Eastern Tailed-Blue

I’ve found a way to get a bit closer in. This photo of an eastern tailed-blue turned out nicely. It was bopping from flower to flower and let me get quite near, which was unusual, and I got a couple pretty clear shots. It’s a pretty little thing and the upper side of its wings are a lovely, metallic blue with the same orange spots, which are quite striking against that blue. But I wasn’t able to get any pictures with its wings open. Maybe next time.

Genus Ammophila (Thread-waisted Wasp)

This is one of a few species of Ammophila (the thread-waisted wasps), probably (but by no means certainly) Ammophila nigricans or Ammophila procera. They are difficult to identify, particularly from photographs and in this case, my photographs don’t show some of the distinguishing characteristics. In any case, this is one of only a few I’ve seen this summer. The wings are hiding the long, thread-like petiole, but it’s quite distinctive. I managed to get three decent pictures of this one before she flew away (I’m guessing on the sex—the orange is paler on the males but without them being side by side, it’s not always easy to tell).

Lucilia sericata (Common Green Bottle Fly)

I hope you aren’t too tired of insect photographs. It won’t be long and they will be a lot harder to find, so my photography will shift into autumnal mode, with colored leaves and such. For now, the insects are still going string. We were supposed to have heavy rain today and in Annapolis they got nearly 3¾″. We got enough to make the ground wet, but not under trees.

This is a common green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata), also known as a sheep blow fly. While the larvae feed on flesh, they only eat partially decomposed tissue. They have actually been used to clean wounds, eating the necrotic tissue and leaving healthy tissue alone.

Euschistus Species (Stink Bug)

I came across a little stink bug this evening. It isn’t the “dreaded” brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) that made such a stink the last few years (if you’ll pardon the expression). The genus consists of about 20 species in our area and the darkish spot at the center of the scutellum (the triangular bit in the center of its back) and less obvious dark patches on the wings (not really visible in this angle) are distinguishing to the genus. It’s a little fellow and it was climbing around close to the ground on the leaves of blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum).

Augochlorella Species

I took some wasp pictures this evening. I didn’t get anything spectacular, but since I don’t want to miss posting a picture for today, I have to post a less than perfect one. This is one of a few species of Augochlorella, a genus of sweat bees (family Halictidae). It’s a fairly small bee, as you can see by comparing its size to the central part of the black-eyed Susan on which it is feeding. I was only able to get two shots of it before it flew off and neither is really as sharp as I’d have liked.

Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

It was a beautiful, if somewhat hot day. Summer has not really abated at all and it continues to be very dry. We thought it would be a nice day to visit the demonstration garden at the county’s agricultural farm park, so that’s what we did. It won’t come as any great surprise that I brought my camera and spent much of my time photographing both flowers and insects. The first of two images that I’m posting is of a variegated fritillary (Euptoieta claudia), a smallish fritillary and one that is difficult to get close to, but I managed to get two pretty good shots of it with wings spread.

Megacyllene robiniae (Locust Borer)

I’ve already posted the picture of the variegated fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) taken at the demonstration garden at the county’s agricultural farm park. This picture won’t be so popular, because everyone loves butterflies, but I thought it was a pretty enough beetle to deserve a shot at fame. Actually, the locust borer (Megacyllene robiniae) is a pretty significant pest. The larvae live in and eat the wood from black locust trees. The adults eat pollen, particularly from goldenrod (Solidago species). This one is worn. The yellow bands that usually go all the way across the back of the thorax have been rubbed off in the middle. Most of the yellow on the abdomen is gone, as well. Still, it’s a handsome and distinctive horned beetle.

Cisseps fulvicollis (Yellow-collared Scape Moth)

The autumn clematis (Clematis paniculata) has started to bloom. This is a plant that Cathy dug up (with permission) from someone’s yard and planted. It’s finally reached a size that we need to keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t get out of control. It’s growing on the fence and over top of one of the many buddleia bushes that have come up in our yard. This particular buddleia was actually planted but it’s a good location for the clematis, as well. The new flowers attract new insects. This one appears to be a yellow-collared scape moth (Cisseps fulvicollis).

Tylozygus bifidus (Leafhopper)

I enjoy macro photography, partly because I enjoy small things. I like photographing insects because I find them so fascinating. Their small size and relative mobility makes them something of a challenge, of course. As I increase my skill at capturing them, the challenges continue to appear. As I get to the point where I believe I am able to photograph a bee or a butterfly quite handsomely, there are ever small and quicker insects that are just out of my reach. Take this little leaf hopper (Tylozygus bifidus). It is only about 5mm long and with my current set up, using a 100 mm lens that focuses to 1:1, I’m just not able to get close enough. There’s always something smaller, always another challenge.

Bombus impatiens (Common Eastern Bumble Bee)

The bumble bees and the carpenter bees look a bit alike, both being fairly large and a combination of black and yellow or orange. The bumble bees are in a separate subfamily from the carpenter bees, being in the subfamily Apinae along with the honey, Long-horned, Orchid, and Digger Bees. This one is considerably smaller than the carpenter bee I posted a photo of recently, probably being at most about two centimeters long.

Oncopeltus fasciatus (Large Milkweed Bug)

Generally, I’m not very partial to insects that eat plants that I like. There are levels of dislike, of course. Those that simply suck on the sap aren’t as bad as those that eat leaves and stems which in turn are less of a problem than those that bore into plants, particularly woody plants. Still, they can be bad enough. This is particularly true early in the season, when even sucking insects can seriously stunt the growth of plants and prevent them from blooming. Blooms, after all, are why we grow many of these pants.

The large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) is somewhere in the middle of this continuum. It doesn’t do significant damage to the plant on which it feeds, either in its nymphal or adult stage. It eats the seeds of milkweed plants. In this case, these large milkweed bugs are on Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed). They do cause damage, of course, because the eaten seeds will reduce the amount of self-seeding that the plants can do. But they don’t do any real harm to the plants themselves, which are fairly tough perennials. So, I let these alone. They are quite pretty, anyway.

Limenitis arthemis astyanax (Red-spotted Purple)

It’s wings are in pretty bad shape, at this point but they seem to be over-engineered enough that it didn’t seem to have any trouble flying with them. This is a less common butterfly than the eastern tiger-swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) and even the monarchs (Danaus plexippus) that we see most often. It was moving between the black-eyed Susans and the buddleia. It’s a pretty butterfly, even with much of its hind wings missing. The orange spots are quite vivid and the pattern is unmistakable. Both sides of the wings, but in particular the upper surfaces (not seen here) show a decidedly iridescent blue color in bright sunlight. In certain light it can appear purple, which accounts for the common name, but red-spotted blue might be a more obvious name.

Xylocopa virginica (Eastern Carpenter Bee)

The bumble and carpenter bees were thick this afternoon. One nice thing about them is that they are much more slow moving than most of the other bees that are about and they allow me to get pretty much as close as my lens will focus. The fact that they are so large means that I can fill the frame with a bee and not need to crop it at all. This one turned out pretty well. The white face indicates that this is a male.

Leucauge venusta (Orchard Orbweaver)

Almost two weeks ago, on August 13, I posted two pictures, one of which was of a basilica orbweaver spider (Mecynogea lemniscata). A few people on Facebook couldn’t actually make out what it was (and those who could were generally not excited by the picture, in any case). Well, today’s picture should be easier to identify (if not to actually appreciate). This is an orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta). They are not as closely related as I would have guessed, belonging to different families: the basilica orbweaver is a member of family Araneidae (Orb Weavers) while the orchard orbweaver is in family Tetragnathidae (Long-jawed Orb Weavers). This one was moving from the center of her web up into the relative protection of some leaves, because I got a bit too close.