Dragon, Nymph and Fairy

©2022 Karen Richards

Insects are so outlandish and extraordinary, I can see why their names are sometimes drawn from fantasy and legend. This dragonfly is one of the early spring fliers in the basket-tail family, Corduliidae. Because they mature early, they have hairs on the thorax to keep them warm. The name comes from the fact the females carry their eggs in a mass at the tip of the abdomen. She doesn’t mind putting them all in one basket, I guess.

©2022 Karen Richards

I came across this insect in mid-May hiding in the crook of a weedy plant. With naked eyes, I couldn’t figure out if it was a beetle or a bug. When I enlarged and enhanced the image at home, I thought the big eye and its shape in general looked like an immature plant hopper, a true bug. After a bit of research today, I think it’s a Douglas-fir spittlebug nymph. It’s the only hopper nymph I’ve ever seen that’s red.

©2022 Karen Richards

And now for the fairy tale. I saw three of these moths from a distance. Actually, all I saw to begin with was the antennae, and I had no idea what they were. The tails of mayflies? As I got closer to the poison ivy they were sitting on, I could tell they were moths. These micro-moths with macro antennae have the common name “fairy moth,” and they’re the subject of my latest column from Mount Pisgah. You can read it by following this link.

Cheers!

Treehopper Tending

©2022 Karen Richards

One of my most exciting encounters last year was coming across an oak treehopper. So I was overjoyed to learn that some fellow naturalists at the park found a colony of nymphs just off one of the trails. Even though they are close and at eye level, no one walking past probably notices them (see above). The lumpy bits in the middle of the frame are the young ones. Can you spot the mom? Parent treehoppers stay nearby to supervise the nymphs until they’ve got their flight wings.

©2022 Karen Richard

Here’s a closeup of the mother. Oak treehoppers have lots of different looks. The crown atop their head can be pointy or rounded, or like this one, a round point! And the adult colors are either a bluish white background with stripes of yellow and red, or this green-gray background with yellow-orange spots. I notice this mom also has a long, pointed spike above her abdomen, and she doesn’t have red eyes, like many (most?) others do.

©2022 Karen Richards

The nymphs go through five stages of growth. I’m pretty sure I missed the first one. As you can see, they look like weird little spiny land crabs. I’ve read the mother makes a slit in the oak branch, and that’s where they feed. I haven’t had a chance to look for that and it’s tough to see from the photos. This shot is from the first time I saw them, and there appears to be less red in the pattern than there was the second time:

©2022 Karen Richards

Also, you can start to see the horns developing on the nymphs. The earlier ones were flat across the front above their eyes. By the way, this group-living situation, with the parent acting as a sentry, is very unusual for insects, and that makes it even more cool to witness.

©2022 Karen Richards

On my second visit, I was lucky to see one nymph in the middle of a molt. When they first emerge from their shed exoskeleton, they’re white. This one will change colors over an hour or two to look like its siblings. Again, you can see a rudimentary horn. I hope I’m able to see them in one or two more stages before they fly off to make their own way in the world!

By the way, here’s the answer to the hide-and-seek from the first picture. The mothers tend to oversee everyone from a nearby branch. I’ve read they do defend the little ones if a wasp or another predator snoops around.

©2022 Karen Richards

Springing Slowly

©2022 Karen Richards

It’s been colder than normal and still quite cloudy and rainy in Oregon. That means some flowers are on pause and therefore the insects that use those flowers are also delayed. On a recent sunny but still cool day, I found a few critters that were new to me. Above is (I’m fairly certain) a West Coast Lady butterfly. By the tatters on the wings, I’d guess it spent the winter as an adult. Sources say there are several broods per year and Vanessa annabella may spend the winter in any stage of development. There are three very similar Vanessa butterflies, but these have blue in the center of the hind-wing eyespots.

©2022 Karen Richards

This is a species of stem-miner weevil. That means that the larvae eat through the marrow, if you will, of the stems of various plants. There’s something walrus-like, to me, about how the antennae hang down off the long rostrum in this photo. This beetle also represents a cautionary tale: Similar beetles were introduced to decimate Canada thistle, but after they ate their way through the offending plant, they discovered a taste for other, native thistles. Now, some native plants are in danger as a consequence. Never doubt Mother Nature. You can read more from a CU Boulder magazine here.

©2022 Karen Richards

This beetle was my favorite find from last weekend. It’s a Marsh Ground Beetle in the Elaphrus genus. Check out the bright green legs! Gaze in awe at the purple spots on its back! I intend to go back and try to find this guy again, but based on the fact there are very few pictures of the genus on BugGuide.net, I think I’d have to be very lucky to spot one. There’s only one other photo from Oregon, and it was seen in the northwest corner of the state.

Happy May!