a little wild   (a small slice of wildlife)

I promised I would be expanding my range. This is a Trustees of the Reservations area on the Charles River in Needham, and my first trip here.

First, some non bug photos. It was a bright sunny day, so many attempts at shooting towards the sun to show off the backlighting, made a little harder by the fact that the sun was still high in the sky.

Time exposure:

Diptera

Syrphid fly. Epistrophe, or perhaps Eupeodes cf americanus. Or Syrphus cf torvus. Syrphus cf ribesii? Parasyrphus, but I don’t think so. EDIT: Sphaerophoria suggested

Really don’t have a good idea.

Gold-backed snipe fly? Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. Chrysopilus thoracicus.

Dolichopodidae, something like Condylostylus. I think it was a male displaying its wings to attract a female.

Hymenoptera

Looks to me like Ceratina. EDIT: also perhaps Osmia

Pteromalinae

Hemiptera

Leafhopper nymph?

Spittlebug nest? Spittlebugs are froghopper nymphs.

Odonata

Perhaps orange bluet

Coleoptera

Lucidota atra in Lampyridae?

Some gorgeous kind of weevil? Maybe Myrmex? However, the antenna doesn’t seem to match too many weevils. Trichapion? None of these match the color, either. Odontopus cf calceatus? Tanysphyrus cf lemnae? Cylindria cf prolixa?

EDIT: Eugnamptus angustatus in Attelabidae, leaf-rolling weevils.

A golden tortoise beetle!!!! Cassidinae. Deloyala guttata looks quite similar. Plagiometriona or Cassida are less likely.

Who is this? Carabidae, but I don’t know too much else.

fuzzy but head view. kind of looks like a tiger beetle from this angle

Lepidoptera (?)

Is this a monkey slug moth caterpillar? (Limacodidae)

Spiders

Castianeira. C. longipalpa and C. variata are the ones we have here: this looks closer to C. longipalpa, but I don’t know how to be certain.

Parasteatoda tepidarorium?

I know, not a spider, it’s in Opiliones. But what a face!

Vertebrate riff-raff

Tree swallow

Noanet Woodlands is a Trustees of the Reservations site in Dover. This was my first time there.

Nearly all of my trips are to a few locations that are literally five minutes drive from my house. I love exploring those locations in depth, but am hoping to expand my range.

This wasp is Ophioninae in Ichneumonidae:

Leucauge venusta

First, the Canoe River power lines

Diptera

Toxomerus marginatus

Syritta pipiens in Syrphidae.

Lepidoptera

Polites mystic, Long Dash

“This is 5451 – Parapediasia teterrellus. The white head is the give-away, with the dark sprinkling on the wing.”

(ORIGINAL COMMENT: Best guess: Mottled Grass-Veneer, Neodactria luteolellus, 5379)

“It doesn’t have the distinct darker triangle over the back which nigranum has and the color is too greenish. Possibly O. olivaceana, but these species are so variable and it would really need dissection to identify it for certain. Also, there are several undescribed species in the genus.”

Odonata

Seen but not photographed: a gorgeous Ebony Jewelwing.

Female calico pennant:

Unfortunately, no idea what this damselfly is, either.

Hymenoptera

Braconidae –> Agathidinae

Other suggestion: Braconidae –> Doryctinae –> perhaps Doryctes

Maybe yellow-faced bee, Hylaeus modestus/affinis?

Perhaps Ceratina?

Ceratina? The body looks too smooth.

Pimplinae in Ichneumonidae, perhaps Pimpla

Braconidae

Ichneumonidae, probably Odontocolon

Coleoptera

Synolabus bipustulatus, Oak leafrolling weevil, Attalebidae

Podabrus cf brevicollis in Cantharidae? There are too many similar looking species, so tough to be certain.

Sumitrosis inaequalis

Spiders

Thanatus, in Philodromidae:

Bowl and doily weaver web (Frontinella pyramitela)

Leucauge venusta. As always look at the bristles on the fourth leg.

Came home to a nice Easter Parson Spider, Herpyllus ecclesiasticus, in Gnaphosidae.

What is this?

Found sticking out of the ground. There was an ant nest outlet not that far away.

Coleoptera

Elateridae were all over. I do not dare try to refine this any further. But just FYI, the sharp flanges at the ends of the thorax are called hypomerons.

Also, saw at last 15-20 Cicindella sexguttata, six-spotted tiger beetles.

Hymenoptera

Cynapoid, perhaps Figitidae.

‘cynipoids all have sort of a triangle “dagger” shaped cell toward the edge of the forewing. Also the shape of the abdomen, antennal segments, etc. are clues.’

There were a bunch of these caterpillars, and there were a bunch of ants attacking them. The caterpillars were writhing furiously (and perhaps successfully).

Lasioglossum suggested. Someone else suggested Sphecodes?

Osmia?

Ceropales maculata in Pompilidae. From BugGuide, as ID for Pompilidae:

Family characteristics(6)(7):

Typically dark colored with smoky or yellowish wings; a few are brightly colored.

Slender with long and spiny legs, hind femora typically extending beyond tip of abdomen.

Tibiae of rear legs have two prominent spines at apex (distal end, next to tarsi)

Wings not folded flat on top of abdomen.

Mesopleuron with a transverse suture

Like the Vespidae, the Pompilidae have the pronotum extending back to the tegulae, the pronotum thus appearing triangular when viewed from the side and horseshoe-shaped when viewed from above.

Ichneumonini. Like Ichneumon or Cratichneumon.

Nomada

Ichneumonidae, such as Pimpla or similar.

Sphecodes? In flight!

Lepidoptera

Bagworm nest

Hemiptera

Very colorful, Zelus luridus?

Stictocephala treehopper

Brown marmorated stink bug

Diptera

Bibionidae (male)?

These flies abound. And I’ve never been able to get an ID for them.

Tachinidae? Compsilura concinnata looks very similar to this.

Bibionidae?

Spiders

Gnaphosidae. Something like Zelotes, but it’s not easy to go to genus.

Lycosidae. Gladicosa? Just possibly Pardosa.

Cute little Salticid. Looks like a young Phidippus Whitmani.

Attulus cf. floricola? Also, is Attulus a synonym for Sitticus? If it’s changed, which one is more recent? (ANSWER: Yes, Attulus is more recent.)

I think this is a Neriene radiata egg sac (perhaps some other Linyphiid). And here’s the spider whose web it was in.

THIS WAS EXCITING! Titanoeca in Titanoecidae, first sighting of this family in Massachusetts according to BugGuide. And my first sighting of this family, too.

And another Salticid, perhaps the same species as previous.

Leucauge venusta.

Philodromidae:

Looks like Bassaniana versicolor

Another tough Salticid. Turned out to be Zygoballus.

And another one. Also turned out to be Zygoballus, probably female.

Peekaboo!

Another Bassaniana versicolor.

No exoskeletons

Lady slipper orchid

Perhaps the same lady as we saw in the same location a year ago? They can live 2-3 years in captivity, perhaps living inside the house is just as good.

Fungus growing on wood. I always hope it turns out to be slime mold and it never is.

EDIT: it’s not fungus or slime mold, it’s mineralized wood excretions. So just ignore, please 🙂

For the last few years, we’ve had plenty of little Theridion spiders nesting outside the front door. This morning, a little hanky-panky — they were busy making little Theridions. Note the distended palps on the male, indicating he has already loaded up the sperm sacs into his pedipalps for mating.

Rain overnight, morning photos

Tiny caddisfly, perhaps 3-4 mm, under the lights inside the house. I’m not sure the two photos are the same species.

I almost never post non-nature photos. Here are a few closeups taken while testing the macro setup.

But first, a tick, taken at Canoe River:

Speakers:

Velcro:

Made several more trips to see the evolution of the salamander eggs shown earlier. It was surprising to me to see that they became more opaque with time. Also accidentally formatted the SD card and lost a bunch of them, which is … life.

2022-04-28

Hydrachnidia:

2022-05-01

Another Hydrachnidia:

Look at the details inside the individuals:

Caddisfly larva:

2022-05-05

A bit opaque to get too much by way of details: