The Unfocussed in Focus

©2021 Karen Richards

This week highlights three species that are super interesting, but that I wish I had better images of. That said, I’m happy to have seen them, because coming across new (to me) and bizarre creatures is always satisfying.

These mating flies are in the Acrocera genus of “small-headed flies.” Not only are the heads tiny, they have rudimentary or zero mouthparts, and the whiskery antennae sprigs are on top, so the whole head looks like a featureless button, or rounded tack pin.

It was fortunate to see two of them together, as well, because you can see the different male and female color patterns. Because the flies are fairly rare, until at least the 1940s, males and females were sometimes assigned to separate species… until someone verified with a sighting like this one that they were not.

©2021 Karen Richards

When this millimeters-long creature caught my eye I thought, “aphid.” But I took a couple of pictures because something seemed off about the antennae. It was so small, I really couldn’t tell what was going on with my eyes. When I downloaded the photo I wished it’d been in better focus because, as you can see, this bug nymph’s antennae are thicker than its legs! This is a Heterotoma genus mirid bug.

The adults are kind of stretched out versions of the younger ones, with the antennae segment closest to the head freakishly enlarged. This photo from Calle Soderberg on Flickr shows that the adult antennae are also kinda feathery! I’ve not been able to find an explanation for why the antennae might be like this. Feel free to concoct your own theories.

©2021 Karen Richards

I’ve shown pictures of adult Largus bugs once or twice here before. I’ve always wanted to see one in its younger stages, because I’d read they are blue with a central red spot. Well, last week I saw a few of them, but it turns out it’s really hard to take pictures of dark blue insects. This is the best I have so far. Aren’t they cool!?

That’s all for this week. I have a new column up on the Mt. Pisgah website if you want to read about spider wasps.

Cheers!

Oh, To Be a Bee … or Wasp

©2021 Karen Richards

The abundance of oddities in the insect class continues to astonish me on nearly every outing. A week ago, walking in a woodsy area, this insect landed on a tree at about eye level. I was sure it was a wasp but I’ve learned enough to know to take pictures anyway, and I snapped a dozen or more with my phone and a 15x lens. It behaved like a wasp, working its way around the trunk to a spot I couldn’t reach. It was only when I looked at the pictures later that I noticed the beetle-like antennae. What?

This Necydalis genus beetle is a fantastic creature! Notice that the elytra (those hardened outer wing-shells) are reduced to mere shoulder pads. I imagine over the centuries, beetles with shorter and shorter elytra lived longer, because their exposed wings helped them mimic wasps better.

©2021 Karen Richards

Here’s a more mainstream beetle, with wasp-like markings on its elytra. This Strophiona genus longhorn was kinda fuzzy, with a yellow underbelly, a very striking pollinator.

©2021 Karen Richards

Even moths join the wasp masquerade. This clear-wing moth landed on a blackberry leaf, and although my mind said “wasp,” I had a doubt and took a second look. I think Sesiidae family moths are super cool. There are over 1,400 species, although most aren’t in North America.

©2021 Karen Richards

Wasps were the original bees. Which is to say, bees evolved from wasps. So it makes sense that many insects would want to look like the stinging, nest-guarding Vespidae, since they’ve been around longer.

However, this robber fly is pretty obviously trying to pass as a bumblebee. It’s in the Laphria genus and I only got a chance to snap four so-so pictures before it flew off. Look for robber flies on sunny days, sometimes on roads and paths, but more often on leaves, ready to swoop down and pack off with an insect snack.

©2021 Karen Richards

When I took this picture, I thought it was a potter wasp. And yes, it is not a beetle, moth or fly, this is a wasp. But it’s a very interesting one in perhaps my favorite super-class: the Chalcids. The other Chalcids I’ve seen are so small you can’t tell what they are with the naked eye — they look like tiny triangles or wheelbarrows from above. This one, though, was bigger, and it wasn’t until I saw the hooked and splayed back legs that I realized it could be a parasitoid Chalcid. It’s in the Leucospidae family, and proves again that paying attention pays off.

By the way, I really wish I’d gotten a picture from a different angle. Leucospidae ovipositors fold up and over their abdomen! I can’t quite tell whether this one is male or female, from this angle. Here’s a great photo of a female from BugGuide.

Cheers!

Discomfort? What Discomfort?

©2021 Karen Richards

Last week, we took a short vacation to City of Rocks National Reserve in southern Idaho. It’s a beautiful park with unique, molded granite rock formations, but it is a desert climate, and it was hot. However, I’ve noticed that when I find an interesting insect, I forget any ambient discomfort. It’s an advantage, I suppose, of being single-minded.

I saw maybe a dozen hairy flower scarab beetles (above) near the campground’s sole water source and didn’t get any great pictures at first, so I hustled back up the hill in the afternoon sun to take more photos. These awesome beetles sound like honeybees and look like bumblebees but they’re just dressing the part. Trichiotinus assimilis are pollinators and their grubs live in rotting wood. Aren’t their long back legs fantastic? And that fuzzy bum?! It was so worth the sweaty hair and multiple layers of sunscreen to spend some time with them.

©2021 Karen Richards

The velvet ant was on my wish list, and I was so excited to see one, I tracked it for as long as I could through a hot sandy area. This fuzzy predator is a wasp! Only the females don’t have wings, which I didn’t know until I saw a male, with wings, the next day and looked it up. This female trucked along nonstop, so getting it in focus was nearly impossible. Plus, it wandered under grasses and into sagebrush, so it was almost always in a shadow. I can’t wait to see another one. Mutillidae family wasps are fascinating: They make sounds to ward off predators, and their exoskeletons are insanely hard and round, which also impedes birds and lizards from eating them.

©2021 Karen Richards

On the drive home, we stopped at a bike path trailhead for a picnic lunch. Again, it was in the high 90’s and we were basically in a blacktop parking lot, but there were several flowers that were attracting a lot of wasps and other insects. I thought nothing of the heat as I crouched on the ground taking pictures. I was happily surprised to spy a tiny fly on the wing of this Becker’s White butterfly when I later looked at the photos.

I should mention that insect mania has left me dehydrated a couple of times. It’s important to be prepared and mindful whenever you’re in the wilderness for any length of time. I now carry water and food all the time, and usually a change of clothes in case the weather turns.

Cheers!