I heard this line recently, I think in a movie or TV show: “I love winter… all the insects are dead.”
Which is silly, of course. Insects may be hidden away or living in seldom-seen stages, but no insect species is “dead” in the winter. It did make me wonder, though: In what season is the largest number of insects alive? It could be winter, depending on the percentage of insects that overwinter as eggs and larvae. Come spring, when they venture out, so many become food for something else, and while they’re tucked away in the soil or under tree bark, they may have a bigger population.
I always check man-made objects for insect life. This time of year, it can also provide a more colorful backdrop. The bug above is a plant hopper, but it’s a different genus than the ones you normally see popping around in the grasses. It’s, I think, in the Cixiinae subfamily. They often have clear wings held wider than typical hoppers.
Tiny daisies are just starting to bloom. There was a wide variety of flies on them, as well as one or two little wasps. The closeup above shows how each central yellow daisy flower opens up to provide pollen. This teensy parasitoid wasp here has beaded antennae. It’s either a chalcid wasp or in the family Platygastridae, but the females almost certainly lay their eggs inside another insect host.
To demonstrate just how small that wasp is, here’s a syrphid fly, also known as a flower fly, on the same type of small daisy. Note: The fly itself is only about a centimeter long. I believe it’s a sedgesitter fly.
Enjoy the late winter growth. Things are about to pop outside!
Ticklehead 