Happy 2022! I’m always up for learning about insects and this year I’m looking forward to many more outings, leading some walks, creating some insect-themed products, and deepening my understanding of insect ecosystems. Oh, and I want to plant more native plants and keep improving my photography skills. What are your outdoor goals?
When I saw this little true bug (above) on a fern, I thought it was a small milkweed bug. I was wrong. It’s a white-crossed seed bug, and if I’d known, I would’ve spent more time getting better images, because the bug was really cooperative. Anyway, it’s boggling to me the vacuum of information about it. They’re not uncommon, but the same bits of scant information are repeated on dozens of websites: Neacoryphus bicrucis like ragwort, and are also known as the Ragwort Seed Bug. That’s it. Digger deeper online, I learned adults can be found nearly every month of the year in Oregon, and they are eaten by vireos, which are small round birds that have some yellow on their gray-brown feathers.*
*Update: I have since learned some intriguing facts about white-crossed seed bugs, by searching academic papers. To learn more, visit my Mount Pisgah column here.
I’ve seen many tiny inchworms, caterpillars and other larvae recently. It’s taken a few years for me to even have the capacity to ask questions about them. I see now, though, that every insect has other forms that are interesting in their own right. Most of them have distinct diets from the adult forms, and many live in different habitats. The larva above will become a snakefly. I’ve shown them here before, but you can also look up an image of an adult. They are very cool, and make up their own insect order.
Something else that’s accelerated my interest in larvae is a page-a-day calendar for 2022 from The Caterpillar Lab. I look forward to learning about a new moth or butterfly every day!
The seasonal ponds from recent rains are teeming with life, including a one-eyed red crustacean I never knew existed called a copepod (maybe I’ll put a photo at the end of the blog, since it’s not an insect). This Predaceous Diving Beetle came out of the water for a while, and I got a few nice portraits. I was happily surprised when I enlarged them to see the intricate, fingerprint-like pattern on its elytra.
This Small Winter Wood Beetle was indeed so small I didn’t think it was actually a living creature. But I’m nearly certain of its identity because it looks just like these cousins. They are associated with slime molds, which I’ve seen in the news a few times lately, and are worth looking into if you’re curious.
May 2022 be a year of enjoyable time outside! Here are those copepods:
Ticklehead 