One-banded Sparganothis (Sparganothis unifaciana)
June 23, 2008

At the same location as my stint as an inadvertent food provider for a Cobra Clubtail on the 17th, I repeatedly flushed Haploa moths that wouldn't tolerate my approach within several feet. Oddly enough, one Haploa was nectaring at a Black-eyed Susan and tolerated me taking numerous photos from various positions around the flower.

Also on the 17th, I had a brief look at a One-banded Sparganothis moth, but didn't manage to take any photos because of its position in the vegetation. Today, I walked through the same area for over an hour hoping to spot another individual. I got my photos today, but paid for them with over 200 chigger bites. I guess that should be expected when not only walking through tall vegetation, but also stopping occasionally to sit in it.

Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
June 22, 2008

I need to work on taking photos before I approach close enough for a full-frame shot. I believe I got a quick look at a Striped Hairstreak (Satyrium liparops) yesterday, but never even looked at it through my camera lens. While thinking, "Is that really a Striped Hairstreak?", I took a step for a closer look, the butterfly took off, and I was left thinking that at least a photo from far away would have let me zoom in for a longer look back home on the computer.

Later the same day, I remembered the lesson and took a photo of a Pink-bordered Yellow (Phytometra rhodarialis) from a few feet away. I need to find another individual of that species for a decent photo (this one is seriously cropped), but for right now, I can at least prove to myself that my id was correct.

Haploa sp.
June 17, 2008

I kicked up quite a few moths (and found a few perched on top of leaves, looking very much like a brown area of leaf damage) while walking through prairie plants. An unmarked Haploa flew at my approach when I was 8' to 10' away. I followed it for a while, each time as I got close (but still too far for a good photo), it would fly away – sometimes just a few feet, sometimes up to 30', but the white inch-and-a-half wingspan was easy to follow. After several chases interspersed with breaks to photograph a geometrid moth and a milkweed beetle, I once again failed to sneak up close enough for a frame-filling image of the Haploa despite slowly crawling through the 2' tall vegetation.

Feeling guilty about repeatedly flushing the moth, I decided that I'd make one last approach and then leave it alone. But when I was about 10' from the moth, I noticed a clubtail perched on the plants just about halfway between me and the moth. I immediately decided to abandon my pursuit of the moth in favor of Cobra Clubtail (Gomphus vastus) photos. I snapped one from where I was and then crept closer to the clubtail for better shots.

Now I was only 5' from the moth, its average level of tolerance, but because of its position in the vegetation, it wasn't very visible and I wasn't even looking for it anymore. Suddenly it bolts – at least by its definition of bolting – which is actually a slow flutter. My eyes instinctively leave the clubtail to glance at the moth – just in time to see that I'm not the only one who noticed it. My reflexes aren't quick enough for a photo – all I could do was scream “NO!” inside my head as the clubtail screamed “LUNCH!” and flew to the top of the nearby oak tree.

Later in the day, I found a dead mole alongside the trail and took photos of flies laying eggs on the carcass.

New species for the year:
Painted Lichen Moth
Cobra Clubtail

Van Meter State Park
June 11, 2008

Found a Stilt-legged Fly (Micropezidae) waving its front legs with white tarsi in front of its head in an effort to resemble a wasp. It's thought that looking like a wasp provides some protection against predators.


Blacklighting for Moths at Overton Bottoms, Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge
June 10, 2008

Highlight of the evening – prize find of the night goes to Jim who found an Eyed Paectes (Paectes oculatix) feeding on the bait we put out.

Glorious Habrosyne (Habrosyne gloriosa)
June 5, 2008

It was raining when we went to sleep on June 4th, and I almost got up to turn off the deck light. But within a few minutes, the rain stopped, so I left it on. I'm glad I did. When I got up on the 5th, I found this gorgeous creature sitting on the outside of the kitchen window. I lucked out and managed to coax it into a net – I couldn't swing the net at the window and I couldn't use a jar because the window is about 6' over my head. Fortunately, when I placed the net over the moth and dragged the net towards it, the moth crawled into the net and didn't fly away when I lowered the net to the ground. I shot a few photos in captivity and then released it.

Orange Bluet (Enallagma signatum)
June 1, 2008

We spent the afternoon kayaking in Boone County. Several Orange Bluets were the highlight of the day. Males were resting on floating plants. I saw one pair ovipositing into a floating plant with the male holding the female just behind the head while his body was angled up at a 45 degree angle. The female was grasping the vegetation with her legs. No photos, though. It's hard to manage insect photos while sitting in a kayak, although I've occasionally pulled it off.

Other firsts for 2008 included Blue Dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis) and Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata). I watched a pair of saddlebags oviposit. Every few moments, the male would let go of the female, she would drop to the water and dip the tip of her abdomen into the water while the male hovered just above her, then she would fly up to the male and he would grab her by the head with the claspers at the tip of his abdomen and they would fly off to a different spot to lay more eggs.

Hoary Edge (Achalarus lyciades)
May 29, 2008

Wow! I've never seen so many Hoary Edge skippers in a single day – I'd guess we saw between 30 and 40 while hiking about 2 miles along trails in Miller and Camden counties. I spent 21 minutes photographing a group of Hoary Edges and a Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades) at a very fresh and unpleasant smelling pile of dung. Not a great substance to have 9” away from your head.

A few new species for 2008: Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela), Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae), alderfly (Neuroptera Sialidae Sialis sp.), and a scorpionfly (Mecoptera Panorpidae Panorpa sp.).

We found a few carrion beetles on the trail, and a Calligraphy Beetle (Calligrapha spiraeae), but a dung beetle rolling a large ball of dung definitely was a highlight of the day.

Just before heading home, we topped off the day with an Orange-patched Smoky Moth (Zygaenidae Pyromorpha dimidiata) resting on top of a leaf.

Termite Swarm (Isoptera Rhinotermitidae)
May 21, 2008

Syrphid flies were visiting the blooming Ninebark today, but not as many flies or bees were around as I would have expected. A Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops) and an Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas) were also at the Ninebark, in addition to my first Sachem (Atalopedes campestris) of the year. Another first for 2008 was a male Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon) – but this was in the woods, not at the ninebark. Overall, butterflies were pretty scarce today, especially compared to late April. I flushed a single Goatweed Leafwing (Anaea andria).

I was still seeing a few Calligraphy Beetles (Calligrapha spiraeae), but they were harder to find today. Possibly because the blooms partially covered the leaves the beetles were on.

A Leaf-footed Bug (Leptoglossus clypealis) reminded me that I neglected to mention my first of the year. I had a leaf-footed bug on April 30th in St. Louis County.

During lunch, I noticed a small insect fly a few feet in front of me and idly wondered what it was. When a second one flew past, something finally penetrated my brain – all 4 wings were the same. When I looked around, I noticed quite a few in the air on the other side of the parking lot. I was hoping to find the termite swarm on the ground and lucked out – they were in mulch right at the edge of the parking lot.

Although I've had spittlebug adults, I found my first nymphs of the year today.

Black-sided Pygmy Grasshopper (Tettigidea lateralis)
May 18, 2008, Johnson County

We found a caterpillar (Erebidae Catocala sp.) crawling on the sidewalk near the campground shower house at 5:30 am. A Bronzed Cutworm (Noctuidae Nephelodes minians) was crossing a park road late morning. I moved both of them into the grass nearby.

I found the Black-sided Pygmy grasshopper (Orthoptera Tetrigidae Tettigidea lateralis) in a savanna. On the same savanna trail, we also saw a Bird-dropping Moth (Antaeotricha schlageri) and Long-necked Seed Bug (Heteroptera Lygaeidae Myodocha serripes).

Quite a few Eastern Forktails (Ischnura verticalis) were in tall vegetation bordering a large lake. A Skimming Bluet (Enallagma geminatum) was found along a trail in a savanna restoration area.

Tortricid Moth (Ancylis divisana)
May 17, 2008, Johnson County

Still seeing lots of Goatweed Leafwings. I also saw a black form female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus).

New species for 2008 included a stinkbug (Parabrochymena arborea), 2 Pistol Casebearers (Lepidoptera Coleophoridae Coleophora sp.) and a tortricid moth (Ancylis divisana).

Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops)
May 16, 2008

While packing the car for a weekend trip to photograph insects, a Red-banded Hairstreak briefly landed in the driveway. No photos of it, but here's a look at one from September 19, 2007 (also in our yard).

Nessus Sphinx (Amphion floridensis)
May 4, 2008

Two highlights of the day – a Nessus Sphinx (Amphion floridensis) flying amazingly fast and a millipede (Narceus sp.) being harassed by a pair of flies. The millipede kept changing direction, rolling over, and thrashing around but never managed to shake them in approximately 10 minutes I watched them until the millipede disappeared in the surrounding vegetation.

Toadbug (Gelastocoris oculatus)
May 3, 2008

First toadbug of the year seen along Hinkson Creek in Boone County.

Blue Corporal (Libellula deplanata)
May 1, 2008

Two new species of dragonflies for the day: a Blue Corporal and a teneral (just emerged) clubtail.

Cow Path Tiger Beetle (Cicindela purpurea)
April 29, 2008

It warmed up during the day, but someone told me that they had to scrape frost off their windshield when they headed for work this morning! I saw significantly fewer butterflies today than on April 23 when I saw about 50 Falcate Orangetips and 25 Goatweed Leafwings. Today I didn't see any Goatweed Leafwings and fewer than 6 Falcate Orangetips.

The best sighting of the day was a Cow Path Tiger Beetle – the first one I've ever seen. It was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get as close as I'd have liked.

Chickweed Geometer (Haemotopis grataria)
April 26, 2008

No photos taken today, but saw Chickweed Geometers (Haemotopis grataria) for the first time this year. Also my first syrphid fly (Diptera Syrphidae).

Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas)
April 24, 2008

First Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas) of the year seen on gravel during a bike ride. Also saw a Celery Looper Moth (Noctuidae Anagrapha falcifera) in the grass, but it was easily spooked and I couldn't get close enough for photos.

Ninebark Calligrapha Beetles (Chrysomelidae Calligrapha spiraeae)
April 23, 2008

First sighting of whirlygig beetles (Heteroptera Gyrinidae). Today also marked my first 2008 observations of Ninebark Calligrapha Beetles (Chrysomelidae Calligrapha spiraeae) on, well what else?, Ninebark (Rosaceae Physocarpus sp.)

I searched the same tent caterpillar web as on the 21st and today found a mating pair of Anchor Stink Bugs (Stiretrus anchorago). I am assuming the largest one was the female. Really cool bugs – the male green and white, the female orange and black. After the male left, the female ate a caterpillar; she caught one inside of the nest which apparently was a little too close to the outside layer of webbing. A small piece of the caterpillar had been pulled outside of the web by the stink bug and she was busy sucking out all of the body fluids. A few of the caterpillars were wandering on the outside of the web, when they would touch the stink bug's legs, the stink bug would pivot with its beak inside of the caterpillar it was feeding on to get away from the other caterpillars.

Anchor Stink Bug (Stiretrus anchorago)
April 21, 2008

Really upset to be without my flash (which is on the east coast being repaired) today when I saw an anchor stink bug for the first time. I found it crawling on an Eastern Tent Caterpillar web and flushed it. Later in the afternoon, I checked the same web and it was back – this time eating a caterpillar.

Tons of Goatweed Leafwings (Anaea andria) and Falcate Orangetips (Anthocharis midea) flying around Cole County today.

Common Green Darner (Anax junius)
April 15, 2008

A day of first sightings for 2008. I've never had a day when I've seen so many cool things combined with taking so few photographs – I spent much of the day trying to get close to Goatweed Leafwings (Anaea andria). They were jumpy enough that I was occasionally flushing them from 10-15 feet away.

For a list of first sightings of the year, I'll start with the one that felt the most like “summer's coming” -- Common Green Darner (Anax junius)! It's been a long 6 months – my last Missouri dragonfly was a Variegated Meadowhawk last October.

Another first for spring of 2008 was a Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindella sexguttata). And a few new butterflies (and a moth) for the year: Falcate Orangetip (Anthocharis midea), Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme), Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus), Henry's Elfin (Callophrys henrici), Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) and a Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) moth.

In addition to the easily startled leafwings, other butterfly behavior lead to the low number of photos. Butterflies were continually jumping up to chase other butterflies. At about 5:30 pm, there were several episodes of 5 individuals engaged in chases: a Painted Lady, a Red Admiral, and a Goatweed Leafwing taking turns at the front trailed by 2 unidentified spreadwing skippers.

Snow Flurries!!!???
April 13, 2008

That's just wrong!

Caterpillar
April 9, 2008

We decided to join Randal Clark's wildflower walk tonight, but typical of this spring, wildflower sightings were scarce. Someone on the group found a very tiny caterpillar on gooseberry. Unfortunately, it kind of looked like rain, so I left without my camera – and even without my phone!

Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)
7 April, 2008

Saw a few butterflies for the first time this year – Spring Azures (Celestrina ladon) and a Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus). There were also quite a few moths (Caenurgina sp.) flying over mowed grass along the trail. I also found 2 blister beetles (Meloe sp.) on the trail.

Water Measurer (Hydrometra sp.)
5 April, 2008

SUN! After seemingly endless days of cloudy, rainy weather, we finally get a break.

I spent an hour and a half sitting at the edge of a pond watching water striders, backswimmers, water boatmen, and a variety of diving beetles. But the highlight came when I noticed a water measurer (Hydrometridae, Hydrometra sp.) walking across the water surface. It's the first time I've ever seen a member this family of insects other than in the Enns Entomology Museum. Maybe I haven't been looking closely enough, but in my defense, it was gray-brown and about the size of a sewing needle. While sitting at the pond, I heard an insect jump onto dried vegetation behind me. It was a froghopper (Cercopidae Lepyronia sp.)

I ended up with 5 butterfly species for the day – Cabbage White (Pieris rapae), Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa), Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis), Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma), and Gray Comma (Polygonia progne). One of the Gray Commas was nectaring at Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica).

Water Strider (Aquarius sp.)
March 21, 2008

A mix today of winter and spring sightings. While watching my first water striders of 2008, a White-throated Sparrow foraged on the ground nearby.

I have a new pet -- "Maggie" -- I collected one of the maggots I photographed yesterday. I have it in a plastic container with about 1" of dirt. I think it's a crane fly (Tipulidae), and will try to raise it to an adult to see what it looks like then.

Maggots
March 20, 2008

A great first day of spring – sunny and mid-60s. But while last week in Louisiana we were in the midst of spring with butterflies, dragonflies and other cool stuff, today I resorted to maggot photos and a photo of henbit which should soon be turning parts of the landscape purple. (Take a look at Daniel Spurgeon's Nature at Close Range blog entry on henbit.)

We did experience my favorite part of spring – extremely loud spring peepers. As we rode our bikes past flooded woods at 2 pm, we heard mostly chorus frogs with a few peepers. The return ride at 5:15 pm was mostly peepers with a few chorus frogs. I like both, but really prefer to hear the peepers. Kind of weird that someone who admits (yes, I'm embarrassed) to being creeped out by frogs, lizards, skinks . . . . thinks listening to them is the best part of spring.

And switching to birds -- my first Eastern Phoebe in Missouri this year.

Southeast Louisiana
March 9 - 13, 2008

It was really nice to get an extra week of spring by driving out of winter. Some highlights of the trip were dragonflies and damselflies at Tickfaw State Park, including a Stream Cruiser (Didymops transversa) and lots of Fragile Forktails (Ischnura posita). The forktails were common everyplace we went – even in my parents' yard. Butterflies at Tickfaw included quite a few Southern Pearly-eyes (Enodia portlandia).

Everywhere we went – but especially Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge – had way more lizards than I cared to see. We also had to turn around on the Mandalay trail midway one day when we couldn't get around a water moccasin. We had lunch, and returned to the trail and then made it to the end since the snake had left the bridge it was sunning itself on. From the wharf at the end, we saw the biggest alligator I've ever seen while out hiking – I'd guess about 15' long.

The best sighting at Mandalay was a bee mimic robber fly (Laphria sp.). Unfortunately, I had to be satisfied with using a doubler on my lens, shooting from 8' away at an insect higher than my head and cropping the photos. But since it was the only one in the genus I'd ever seen, I was still glad to get the shot. We also saw a few skippers, including this Least Skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor) nectaring at a flower in the pea family.

My parents' yard also had several really cool assassin bugs in the genus Zelus.

Micromoth
March 4, 2008

Sunny and almost 40. I saw a tiny (probably 3-4 mm wingspan) tan moth flying over a creek at about 3:30 in the afternoon. It landed in the water, swam a few inches and managed to climb out of the water onto a protruding rock. Given the water temperature and the way I was dressed, I opted not to jump into the creek for a closer look.

Goatweed Leafwing (Anaea andria)
March 2, 2008

When went back outside just before lunch, I noticed a small gray insect almost completely blending into the concrete. Fortunately, I'm constantly looking for insects because I'd have been really upset with myself if I had stepped on an antlion larva and then noticed it smashed on the pavement. I had been wondering if the warm weather would get a few of the antlions in our nesting area moving around, but this was the first time I'd seen one leave the loose dirt and crawl up a 4 inch vertical slab of concrete.

In the afternoon, we headed out to Henry Domke's reception for his photo exhibit at Runge Nature Center. As always, Henry's photos were brilliant, stunning. . . . While out on the trail (on this 77 degree day), we saw our first butterfly of the year – a female Goatweed Leafwing.

I left the deck light on in the evening to watch for moths, but the only visitors were two ichneumonid wasps similar to this one photographed in March 2007.

Overwintering
March 1, 2008

A warm (69 F), sunny day. I wasn't seeing much on our bike ride, so in desperation I started lifting pieces of bark on the ground below a tree and found an overwintering beetle larva. I also had a fly buzz my bright green and white helmet, but since I was still wearing my helmet, I didn't get a good look at it.

Chorus frogs were calling this afternoon.

February 29, 2008

A warm day, but a search of Peace Park didn't turn up any insects. As usual on any warm day in winter, I found a few Red-shouldered Bugs outside Jesse Hall. I also had a winter crane fly land on a book I was reading outside.

I've been reading Enjoying Moths by Roy Leverton. The book was published in Great Britain, so it's mostly about British moths. Here's a great quote from the chapter discussing European moths that have become established in North America:

“Some moths (or rather their caterpillars) have been given common names, such as Apple Leaf Skeletonizer Chloreutis pariana and Omnivorous Leaf-tier Cnephasia longana, reflecting an American tendency to see moths as enemies rather than as wildlife. After it was introduced, our Rosy Rustic became their Potato Stem Borer!”