Month: December 2020

Insect Countdown: 8 – 2

There’s only one day left in the year! So this week I’ll share the meat of the top 10 (in my ranking) insects I saw in 2020. This water strider came in at #8. They are challenging to photograph because they dart off quickly when approached and they live on a reflective and rippling surface. You can see in this picture how the middle leg (used for rowing) indents the water surface. Legs on Gerridae family insects have tiny hairs, and not just beard stubble hairs, but “several thousand hairs per square millimeter,” according to Wikipedia.

I shared some tree crickets earlier this year, when I found them singing in our alley. I was happy to see a bunch of them in 2020, and I like this picture of a male Oecanthus genus cricket (#6) on a leaf. Its antennae, as you can see, are longer than the rest of the insect!

Conura genus wasps (#5) were a revelation to me in 2020. From above, they’re wheelbarrow shaped, and that’s about all you can see with bare eyes. Exploring photos after they’re taken is so fun, and exposes the insect’s swollen and spiked back legs. Conura wasps are sometimes hyperparasitoids (parasites of parasites) and they are only a few millimeters long. There are fantastic pictures on Gil Wizen’s website here.

Enjoy the last bits of 2020. Cheers!

Insect Countdown: 15-9

This week we’ll break into the top 10 of my favorite insect finds of the year. I saw the snakefly above in the Willamette National forest in July, and it comes in at #9. Snakeflies are prehistoric looking, and deservedly so, because similar insects are preserved from Jurassic times. This one’s a male; females have long ovipositors. They’re in a small order of similar insects called Raphidoptera with just 250 or so species. Raphio in Greek means needle, so they’re named for the females, “needle-wing.”

I think brown lacewings are very attractive. This one did lots of gymnastic maneuvers on the grasses, and I like this particular pose. If you think they have a similar look to snakeflies, you’re onto something. Some people place the two types of insects in the same “super order.”

I wrote a column about mayflies for my Mt. Pisgah blog. This male was a favorite find. It has an extra set of red “turban” eyes on top of its compound eyes. They detect UV light and, it’s thought, help the mayfly find females above them when they’re in a mating swarm.

Next week will nearly wrap up the best insects of the year. After that, I have at least one special find to share from the end of 2020. Cheers!

Insect Countdown: 21-16

I think I’ve published all of this past week’s top insects on this blog already, so I’ll try to add new photos of the same insect where possible.

I love it when I’m able to get pictures of insects getting ready to fly, like this handsome click beetle. Insects sometimes have interesting colors and features under their wings or elytra, and I don’t kill things so I can see those details. For that reason, I’ve been attempting all kinds of silly-looking maneuvers like getting down at grasshopper level and taking slow-motion video, hoping to capture them taking off. They have really interesting wings.

I saw this Putnam’s cicada back in May and shared a picture of it from the side. It has enlarged fore-arms, which you can see a bit in this top-down view. But what really shows up here are its bulging eyes. You can also see at least one of its three ocelli, or simple eyes between the two compound eyes.

I talked about this yellow-haired sunfly in September, but I didn’t use either of these two pictures, which better highlight the yellow hair. If you recall, its nickname is the Batman hoverfly, because of the shape of the marking on its thorax. It’s not at the best angle here, but you get the idea.

Here’s the same fly from the side. The bright yellow fuzz is pretty striking.

Have a good week!

Insect Countdown: 28-22

Many of the top 40 insects of 2020 that I posted on Instagram this week were already reviewed in this blog. This Gelis genus wasp, however, wasn’t. It was active in November, busily speed-walking and perhaps looking for places to lay eggs? I’m speculating. It is a female, as seen by the ovipositor, and being late in the season, I’m guessing she won’t live through the winter and needs to fulfill her reproductive mission. These ant-mimic wasps (more on that in a minute) often parasitize moth cocoons, so maybe that’s what she was scouting.

Here’s a side view, where you can more easily see the resemblance to an ant. In some Gelis species, it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference because they don’t have wings. It’s crazy but it works for them. Ants are distasteful. Gelis wasps are the same size and shape, move like ants, and some can even emit a chemical that smells like an ant, which is all worth it if it keeps you from being eaten. There’s more on my blog on the Mount Pisgah website.

I shared a 20-spot ladybug after I found one in my yard, but I’ve seen a couple more of them since. The individual above hasn’t quite tucked its wing back under its elytra, making it look like a tail. I wonder if that is damaging to them, to be pinched and sticking out like that.

Here’s a shot with my index finger for size reference. These fungus-eating beetles sometimes have yellow or orange markings on them as well. I’m astounded at the Lilliputian size of their body parts!

That’s all for this week. Cheers!

Insect Countdown: 36-29

I’ll continue my Top 40 insects of 2020 countdown for the rest of the year. Many of the featured insects have been published here already, so I’ll focus on the ones that were not. This is a damp and cold bee fly from a chilly May day. They are normally so active it’s tough to get decent pictures, but the proboscis came out well in this shot. It later flew off, I’m guessing it fluffed up as it warmed.

This eight-spotted dragonfly came in at #33. There are lots of skimmers with various numbers of spots, some referring to the brown spots and some to the white, to make it even more confusing. In this case, it’s the two major brown spots x four wings = eight. I haven’t seen one yet, but I’ll keep an eye out for 12-spotted skimmers, because they live here as well.

Ruby-tailed wasps are unbelievably colorful, and I had no idea they lived in the Pacific Northwest until I saw one in my yard. The Chrysis genus wasps I watched would inspect each blade of grass or leaf, quickly up one side and down the other. They hardly ever stop, so they flash green, blue and red, and are easy to write off as a trick of the eye. This cuckoo wasp is #29 and that wraps up the entries for this week.

Cheers!

	Scorpionfly! And a f… on A New York minute
	TickleHead on Hello yellow!
	murphyjb6af2f20ba on Hello yellow!
	Clicks and likes \| T… on New Cards Available
	TickleHead on Red, Green and Blue

Ticklehead

micro adventures with a macro lens