Watching Insects

October 21, 2008

Few butterflies and moths around, but I found several in a small area with native plants. Most of the blooms were aromatic asters.

Butterflies:
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Sachem (Atalopedes campestris)

Corn Earworm Moth (Helicoverpa zea)
Yellow-collared Scape Moth (Cisseps fulvicollis)

I also saw lots of Syrphid flies.

Herald Moth (Scoliopteryx libatrix)
October 17, 2008

I photographed this Herald Moth about 25' inside of a Boone County cave; this moth overwinters as an adult inside of caves.

Blue-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum ambiguum)
October 16, 2008

I'm going to try to keep track of the last day I see some things this year, although I find that much more difficult than mentioning the first time I see something for the year. In addition to being more tedious to keep track of, it's also somewhat depressing.

Several Blue-faced Meadowhawks were in a downtown park along with numerous mating pairs of Great Spreadwings (Archilestes grandis). I couldn't find any water striders.

Festive Tiger Beetle (Cicindela scutellaris)
October 11, 2008

We went to a Horseshoe Lake State Park in Illinois to find Bronze Coppers (Lycaena hyllus). We did find several coppers, along with a variety of other butterflies.

Tiger beetles are pretty high on my list of favorite insects, and we found plenty of them. While I haven't put names on all of them, I did identify a gorgeous maroon tiger beetle as a Festive Tiger Beetle. A lifer. In eastern Missouri on the 10th, I also found a Cow Path Tiger Beetle, which I saw for the first time this spring.

Also saw 2 moths:
Chickweed Geometer (Haematopis grataria)
Hawaiian Beet Webworm (Spoladea recurvalis)