Whew! After a rough 10 days indoors because of unhealthy air, we’re back to simply dealing with Coronavirus restrictions. A couple of sunny days brought out lots of insect activity, including this hoverfly I’d never seen before. Myathropa flora only arrived in the western U.S. in the past 10 years, and I’d not noticed them here last summer (which isn’t saying much), but there have been several around lately. They have bright yellow hair and a superhero marking on the thorax that gives them the common names Batman hoverfly and yellow-haired hoverfly.
Here’s a big-caboosed ant I found yesterday. I think it’s in the Prenolepis genus. Some ants in the colony take on fat and nutrient reserves and are called “corpulent” ants. They can carry more than twice their body weight in their abdomen (or “gaster.”)! Also known as “winter ants,” they don’t come out until it starts getting colder. Nests are deep and the colony is sustained with the stores from these corpulent workers. Here’s the same ant from the top:
I’m not completely sure this is a Prenolepis, so I’ll submit it to BugGuide and let you know if I learn anything new.
Now, for a story. I saw what I first thought were moths fluttering outside our second story window. I went outside and traced them back to our alley, where they were emerging from a hole in the ground near a sewer cover.
They weren’t moths. They were termites. As I watched, a couple of dragonflies came zig-zagging above the yard, having an afternoon snack. Then a flicker found another spot where they were emerging and poked its beak in for some food. After most of the activity was done, I also found ants (below) carrying off some of the termites.
You can see some of the shed wings on the right. After they find mates, termites lose their wings and go to look for a new nest. Which brings me to the next fascinating thing I saw:
I saw four of these pairs of wingless termites marching along on our cement walls. Researchers call this “tandem running.” Sometimes, ants will do it to show each other where to go get food. For termites, it’s sometimes mated pairs looking for a place to settle down, and sometimes it’s same sex pairs, traveling together so their risk of predation is lowered. I haven’t tried to figure out if the ones I saw were the same sex or not. This is the best picture I have, and it may not be good enough.
Now for the most exciting thing that happened this week… I had a few sample decks of cards printed from my Yard Insect project. I’ve been working on this for over six months, and I’m very happy with how they turned out. I have a few small edits I’d like to make, and then I’ll print a few more as gifts and to catalyze some other creative projects I’m mulling.
Have a great week!
Ticklehead 