Hi everyone! First of all, this website will continue to be just as active as before.
I’ve created a new website: https://anaturalslant.wordpress.com. This is also for my photographs, but it’s in a portfolio format, and also has particular galleries for specific types of photos, such as black and white, minimalist, broad landscapes, more intimate nature photos, photos taken nearby, etc.
It’s also oriented less towards bugs, and more towards other nature photos, although there are certainly some bug highlights.
Great bug walk with Don and Kyla Bennett! The highlight was the samples from the lake, but I don’t have a ton of photos of that part.
Hemiptera
I’m not 100% confident this is even a bug, but I think this is a woolly aphid. Something like Phyllaphis fagi (Woolly Beech Aphid)? I thought it showed signs of feet and antenna, but I don’t see them in this photo very well. One point for great camouflage!
Backswimmer, Notonectidae –> Notonecta.
Jikradia olitoria
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonids are always tricky, but this is certainly sub-family Pimplinae, probably tribe Pimplini, and hopefully genus Itoplectus. Or it could be something else.
Odonata
From the lake (thank you Don!). Naiad (I think that’s the correct term) of a damselfly.
And an adult damselfly. Variable/violet dancer, I think — genus Argia.
And another
Coleoptera
Whirligig beetle
Diptera
Dolichopodidae, probably Dolichopus.
Spiders
Well, not actually a spider. Opiliones are omnivorous, and here’s a capture of one eating an ant.
Jumping spider. Probably a female Hentzia?
Vertebrates (!)
A tiny turtle. I was told this was a musk turtle, thank you Kyla.
“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.”
The highlight had to be the three observations of scorpionflies within half an hour of each other. I’ve never even had three scorpionfly observations in a season before.
Hemiptera
We’ll keep this at tribe Scaphoideini and hope that that is safe enough.
I think this is Microdon, in Syrphidae. The question then is, which one?
NOTE: Eumerus was suggested in iNaturalist, in Erastalinae. Microdon has much larger antennae, I’m told.
Dolichopodidae, perhaps Chrysotus:
Hybos reversus, according to iNaturalist:
And another
Picturesque Bombylid:
Another Dolichopodid:
Toxomerus geminatus:
Coleoptera
Eucnemidae, false click beetle.
Hymenoptera
Is this something like Isodonta mexicana (leaf carrying wasp)? I think so, but I personally can’t even rule out Eumeninae (potter wasps).
EDIT: “not vespidae by the wing shape (the majority of vespids will hold their wings out like this at rest but will also fold them lengthwise giving them a characteristic thinner look, for ex: https://bugguide.net/node/view/947720) and the thin thread-like petiole bt thorax and abdomen puts this in sphecidae, isodontia is the only sphecid in the region to hold wings out like this”
These Ichneumonids were all over the place. I also got some mildly unsatisfactory photos of one ovipositing.
“Probably Pimplinae”
And hey, another one:
Ant alate
Camplopegine Ichneumonid, I think:
This could be Spathius. Notice the folding of the ovipositor. There are also stray strands around the ovipositor, and I don’t know what they are.
Odonata
Ischnura, a forktail? Ischnura posita, fragile forktail, was suggested.
Mecoptera
As promised, multiple scorpionflies, all in Panorpa! Here’s the first:
Lasioglossum, sub-genus Dialictus, I think. One of the my favorites, I love the golden color.
If I had to guess, then my guess would be something like Cryptinae. iNaturalist goes further and claims Mesostenus, but that seems very very ambitious and optimistic.
Odonata
One of the dancers?
Argia, one of the dancers?
I thought this was funny, it took off as I was lining up the shot
a little wild 