Bugs and Butterflies

[Turtle]

Well, this is a wasp so I am unsure of the silk ability relating to lavae age. Plenty of caterpillars spin long before they pupate. Example: Tent Caterpillars. I can name bunches more if you want :)

 

If its using the silk to mend holes, I would guess this is another indication that its a pretty normal defense tool against other parasitic wasps and predators in general.

 

i now think that what i thought was silk, was just a fiber shred from the capsule. :doh: :hihi: i went through the stills & found a decent one showing the head. :shrug:

 

Mossy Rose Gall Wasp larva -Diplolepis rosea

[Cedars]

i now think that what i thought was silk, was just a fiber shred from the capsule. :doh: :hihi: i went through the stills & found a decent one showing the head. :shrug:

 

 

Is the bug still alive? did you try taping the gall back together (just to see if it will heal)?

[Turtle]

Is the bug still alive? did you try taping the gall back together (just to see if it will heal)?

 

that particular bug appears to have expired. i separated the gall from the branch and placed it in a glass jar & rubber-banded a fine fabric mesh over the top. the gall is in 3 main pieces and going by how many larvae i saw in the gall that i opened in the field I'm thinking there may be others inside my pieces. pretty much just wait it out now 'til spring i guess. :hihi:

 

in the mean time it's on to more bugs. is it considered ok to net butterflies & moths for id? for all my gardening i only ever see 1 type of butterfly/moth around and it won't sit still for a photo. :rant: it is about 1 to 1 1/2" across, white, and has a small black dot on the wing(s). when it does light, it closes the wings upward. :hihi: . . . . . . . . :hyper:

[Cedars]

that particular bug appears to have expired. i separated the gall from the branch and placed it in a glass jar & rubber-banded a fine fabric mesh over the top. the gall is in 3 main pieces and going by how many larvae i saw in the gall that i opened in the field I'm thinking there may be others inside my pieces. pretty much just wait it out now 'til spring i guess. :shrug:

 

in the mean time it's on to more bugs. is it considered ok to net butterflies & moths for id? for all my gardening i only ever see 1 type of butterfly/moth around and it won't sit still for a photo. :rant: it is about 1 to 1 1/2" across, white, and has a small black dot on the wing(s). when it does light, it closes the wings upward. . . . . . . . .

 

Checking your area it has two possibilities. Cabbage white (import), which the male has one dot on its upper forewing, the female has two.

 

Cabbage White butterfly - Pieris rapae - BugGuide.Net

 

The other has veins on the lower wing, underside. Margined white:

Species Pieris marginalis - Margined White - BugGuide.Net

 

For the most part, its fine to net butterflies for ID. Not state or fed protected and you would need to check on the state status (usually they list if its fed protected). Some bug people cool down their bug to photograph it, but its not always easy to lug a cooler of ice around the field. Theres a couple of other tricks I can PM to you if you want.

[Turtle]

Checking your area it has two possibilities. Cabbage white (import), which the male has one dot on its upper forewing, the female has two.

 

Cabbage White butterfly - Pieris rapae - BugGuide.Net

 

The other has veins on the lower wing, underside. Margined white:

Species Pieris marginalis - Margined White - BugGuide.Net

 

For the most part, its fine to net butterflies for ID. Not state or fed protected and you would need to check on the state status (usually they list if its fed protected). Some bug people cool down their bug to photograph it, but its not always easy to lug a cooler of ice around the field. Theres a couple of other tricks I can PM to you if you want.

 

roger all. my first blush looking at the 2 is that it is the invader. they do like the lettuce to fly around, but i don't see them really doing anything to it and they get around the wildflower beds as well. the one i saw the spot had just one spot & i didn't notice the underside. that veining on the native species is distinctive, even for my eye, and all the ones i see have been'pure' white. :shrug:

 

i don't have a net, was thinking of making one if using them is ok, but always hesitant to acquire anything new. before i go there, i'll try my trick that caught pictures of the flies that look like bees. set the video camera on a tripod next to the plants & turn it on & get out of the way. it only took about 15 minutes to get the 2 flies and the bee. the resolution of captured stills from video is less than half of the still-photo function pictures, so getting the camera physically close is key. can i put a dab of anything on some leaves that would attract these butterflies to where the camerea is aimed?

 

thanks & will keep you posted. . . . . . . .

[Cedars]

roger all. my first blush looking at the 2 is that it is the invader. they do like the lettuce to fly around, but i don't see them really doing anything to it and they get around the wildflower beds as well. the one i saw the spot had just one spot & i didn't notice the underside. that veining on the native species is distinctive, even for my eye, and all the ones i see have been'pure' white. :shrug:

Their caterpillar is a green hairless worm.

i don't have a net, was thinking of making one if using them is ok, but always hesitant to acquire anything new. before i go there, i'll try my trick that caught pictures of the flies that look like bees. can i put a dab of anything on some leaves that would attract these butterflies to where the camerea is aimed? ;)

 

thanks & will keep you posted. . . . . . . .

 

They use some kind of salt mixture. I cannot remember exactly what (I keep thinking sodium bicarbonate or just sodium carbonate). Do not use table salt (iodine), just to be safe.

 

but I did find a recipe:

 

A Garden Cake for Attracting Butterflies!

 

¼ cup salt

¼ cup cornstarch

1/2 cup processed cow manure

1/2 cup sand

 

water

decorations

 

Mix all dry ingredients. Add water to consistency for holding shape. The key is to not make it too wet or you will have mush. Pack mixture in old cake pan, plastic sand bucket or what you have on hand. Make graduated tiers or use your imagination. Let it dry for just a little while before unmolding. Unmold and place in flower garden. I place flowers near the base perimeter and some centered on top leaving the cake surface exposed for attracting butterflies.Edge cake with flat rocks, preferable dark colored for sunrise heat absorption. Dot cake with flowers that do well with cutting (lavender, zinna, purple coneflower, aster, etc.) Refresh cake by spraying gently with water and replacing flower heads every couple of days. Bon Appetite!

 

The above recipe came from butterflybreeders.org

 

NOTE: We get many photos of various bugs on wolf scat. Bugs LOVE wolf scat. Big time. There are urine spots which also attract large numbers of butterflies but I dont know the source. Where we found beer laden urine spots (people suck) there were no butterflies attracted to that. They also do not seem to like goose scat or bear scat. Limited responses to raccoon scat. Mink or otter (not sure of the source) has varied responses.

 

Some dead animals whos intestines/stomachs have been opened seem to attract. Dead and squished ground squirrels attract butterflies. Frogs and toads do while their wet.

 

There are some studies on salt / amino acid combos:

Sodium: Stimulus for Puddling Behavior by Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, Papilio glaucus -- Arms et al. 185 (4148): 372 -- Science

 

I commented on the various scats because I have seen a difference in their attraction of Leps. There is either some kind of difference in mineral expulsion or the food source of animal makes a difference. There are also some pretty cool butterflies who do not nectar at all but go for saps, puddles, scats etc. for their food supply.

[Cedars]

Hit the meadows yesterday. Big storm early kept some numbers down and filled puddles giving various bugs more options. Heres one of the long horned bees hitting a Spotted Knapweed flower. Genus ID is mine and may or may not be accurate. The photos I got are limited views so I dont know if anyone can nail the species.

 

Subfamily Apinae - Honey, Bumble, and Digger Bees

Tribe Eucerini - Long-horned bees

Genus Melissodes

[Turtle]

Hit the meadows yesterday. Big storm early kept some numbers down and filled puddles giving various bugs more options. Heres one of the long horned bees hitting a Spotted Knapweed flower. Genus ID is mine and may or may not be accurate. The photos I got are limited views so I dont know if anyone can nail the species.

 

Subfamily Apinae - Honey, Bumble, and Digger Bees

Tribe Eucerini - Long-horned bees

Genus Melissodes

 

of the images of Melissodes at bugGuide, this one most looks like your bee. the reddish antennae and the not-plump abdomen seem distinct. B)

 

Long-horned Bee (Melissodes (Eumelissodes)?) - Melissodes - BugGuide.Net

Melissodes Eumelissodes

[Cedars]

of the images of Melissodes at bugGuide, this one most looks like your bee. the reddish antennae and the not-plump abdomen seem distinct. B)

 

Long-horned Bee (Melissodes (Eumelissodes)?) - Melissodes - BugGuide.Net

Melissodes Eumelissodes

 

Yeah, I was looking at that one for a possible specie ID. I may request an ID this week. If the good Dr. is around maybe he can confirm it. I hate that I didnt get a good face and side shot but the little brat flew away and I couldnt find it again in the sea of flowers in that area. theres like 5,000 bee species in N. America (if I remember right) and not all of them have a post at Bugguide.

 

Discover Life - Hymenoptera: Apoidea - Bees

 

I still havent posted my possible female from last week and I picked up a new (younger) male this week (Megachile latimanus). I got a cuckoo bee from a couple weeks ago. Beautiful colors. Will post sometime soon.

[Cedars]

Heres a good fly. This genus (closest I can get so far) is parasitic on Heteroptera (some species include stink bugs, leaf bugs, squash bugs) and Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc). The female will lay many eggs on the host but only one lavae will survive inside the host bug. After crawling out of the host (indications are the host dies) the larvae pupates in the ground and hatches out into a nectar seeking fly.

 

One website indicated some of these have been introduced into n. america and one of the n. american species, Trichopoda pennipes has been introduced into Europe for a natural pest control species.

 

Order: Diptera (flies)

Family: Tachinidae

Subfamily: Phasiinae

Tribe: Trichopodini

Genus: Trichopoda (Feather-legged Flies)

[Turtle]

Here's a good fly. ...

 

outstanding cedars san. :) makes it all the harder for me to post what's coming. :eek2: :lol:

 

so in what can only be described as a series of clumsy actions, miscalculations, impatience and cursing in my attempting to execute a 'proper capture' & id of the aforementioned white butterfly, i have a positive id via photographs of a very tattered, somewhat bent, rather twisted, and most assuredly dead, White Cabbage Butterfly. :lol: perhaps the only saving grace is that it is a pest.

 

Description: Species Pieris rapae - Cabbage White - BugGuide.Net

Remarks

Introduced accidentally near Montreal in the 1860s, this species has become an important pest. Bacterial and viral diseases now provide some biological control. (1)

Photo: Cabbage White butterfly - Pieris rapae - BugGuide.Net

 

:shade: Cabbage White Butterfly -Pieris rapae

 

[Racoon]

I'm going to tell PETA about you Turtle!

You should catch and release... :shade:

[Turtle]

I'm going to tell PETA about you Turtle!

You should catch and release... :hihi:

 

i wonder how many native bugs they might kill on their windshields rushing to the scene of the atrocity in their hybrids? :steering: speaking again of insectoid pests and their eradication, have you ever smelled moth balls? did you have to hold their little wings out? :msn: :eek: :doh:

[Cedars]

outstanding cedars san. :) makes it all the harder for me to post what's coming. :eek2: :lol:

 

so in what can only be described as a series of clumsy actions, miscalculations, impatience and cursing in my attempting to execute a 'proper capture' & id of the aforementioned white butterfly, i have a positive id via photographs of a very tattered, somewhat bent, rather twisted, and most assuredly dead, White Cabbage Butterfly. B) perhaps the only saving grace is that it is a pest.

 

hmm...

 

well... keep practicing on the white ones OK?

 

BTW, the female has two spots. The male has one.

[Cedars]

Someone posted a follow-up to the feather legged fly. I said I had been searching the net for species ID and found some pics like mine, but only genus described. The follow-up indicated wing shots (and generally pictures alone) are not enough to narrow it down to species.

 

sooo its probably as close as I can get.

[Turtle]

hmm...

 

well... keep practicing on the white ones OK?

 

BTW, the female has two spots. The male has one.

 

yes'm. i now think it was their green caterpillars that munched up my broccali leaves earlier in the year. one to a leaf they were and lying nicely camouflaged all straight along the base of the leaf stem pretending to be stem-ish. :eek2: too hot to think here today at 102F, so nothing else new from this port 'til things cool. :lol: B)

[Cedars]

ya know... I gotta admit its art. The photos of the Cabbage white I mean. Keep in tune for my next thread (not kidding) Death Meadows - Carnage on the Roadways. I've been taking pics of human induced and natural causes of death in the meadows for several years.