“Another twist to add to this story is the fact that there is another leafminer that can be found on black locust trees called the locust digitate leafminer (Parectopa robiniella), a species of moth. The adult moth is tiny with a wingspan less than 1/4″ from tip to tip. Unlike the locust leafminer beetle, only the caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the locust tree. There can be 2 to 3 generations per year.”
Jef pointed out that this one has a central spot, and then carves out the leaf innards outwards from that spot, after which it returns back there and creates another node of the star shape.
Hymenoptera
With Sloan’s presence, of course the Hymenoptera were the star of the outing. It doesn’t mean I was able to actually identify them myself, of course.
Ectemnius, in Crabronidae:
Masked bee in Hylaeus
What bee? Probably something in Andrena.
Also something in Andrena, perhaps? EDIT: Andrena nubecula
Isodontia cf mexicana
Paper wasp, Polistes
Some type of potter wasp, I think.
Agapostemon virescens in Halictidae, presumably:
Another Andrena?
Lovely Pompilidae wasp, perhaps Anoplius
Coleoptera
Blister beetle — Epicauta, presumably
These beetles were absolutely everywhere. Chauliognathus pensylvanicus, goldenrod soldier beetle in Cantharidae. The mystery of the missing ‘n’ in pen(n)sylvanicus persists.
Diptera
Dolichopodidae
Spectacular Bombyllidae fly imitating Ammophila wasps in Sphecidae. Systropus macer, I think.
From BugGuide: “The best feature to separate this [Systropus angulatus] from the other eastern species, S. macer, is whether the propleuron (the swollen sclerite on the anterior edge of the thorax) is yellow (S. macer) or black with silvery hairs (S. angulatus).”
Lovely fly in Micropezidae. They are consummate wasp mimics, and even hold their front legs in front of them to mimic the wasp antennae. They had me completely fooled.
Specifically, Rainieria antennaepes
iNat called this a Bellardia bottle fly. I tried to foolishly persuade Jef Taylor that it wasn’t a bottle fly, which should teach me something. If it is in fact Bellardia, it’s fairly rare, but I don’t know if we can go that fine.
Neuroptera
I think this is a lacewing larva. I can’t rule out other Neuropterans though.
And Neuropteran eggs:
Spiders
Ghost spider, Anyphaenidae. Anyphaena genus was suggested.
A highlight for me!! Micrathena
Dictynidae. iNaturalist AI suggests Nopalityna, which I’m not familiar with, but am skeptical about.
“This is R. tringarius, a European species very common in the northeast, but also now on the West Coast. This species has a yellowish-brown frons (seen in females only) and humerus; diamonds on the first few abdominal segments; yellowish stigmata in the wings; and yellowish fore tibiae. Females are often more lightly marked, and more golden, than males.
If you don’t already know of it, there’s also a table of information on Rhagio in the Fly Guides under the Orthorrhapha column in the ‘Species Guides’ section. The Fly Guides are great for a lot of detailed info, and they’re meant for identifying from photos. https://sites.google.com/view/flyguide/species-guides“
Similar in form to Aphrophora alni (Fallén, 1805), but the forewings are more uniformly colored. Introduced from the Palearctic, mostly restricted to New England; recently reported from Quebec. It is a specialist on willows.”
a little wild 