Jane Austen and Bugs

June, 22, 2014

Jane Austen once wrote of herself in a letter, "I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress." She had a point in a certain respect, that being that her formal education ended when she was 11 years old, but she certainly was not really so unlearned - reportedly knowing French and a little Italian, and being a voracious reader. But she is known for her snarky sense of humor, after all, and was as willing to turn it against herself as against anyone else. Anyway, her level of education is sort of beside the point, because she was a literary genius.

I, on the other hand, can make use of her phrase and say that I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the person most unlearned and uninformed on the science of entomology who ever dared write a blog about bugs. I may know more about bugs than the average person, but the one thing I have learned with the greatest force over the last 2 plus years is how much I don't know. But I have learned a lot of other things, too, and I always say that you should try to learn something every day. (I don't actually do that, but I say it). (And by the way, those of you who know me, are you surprised it took me this long to get a Jane Austen reference into my blog?).

And actually, the last several nights of watching insect documentaries has been not only informative, but gratifying in that there were quite a few things that it turned out I already knew! Like all that stuff I have been saying about ants herding aphids. Confirmed as fact by Richard Attenborough, and you are not going to question him, are you?

However, I know I am ignorant about a lot of things, and I just guess about the meaning behind a lot of what I see in the backyard. And as for research of the internet to explain things... I stink at it. Last night I tried to find out what kind of caterpillar is out on my plant, and all I could come up with is a species of butterfly that is apparently not found in this part of the country. So... no good information there.

However, I keep muddling along, and even if I don't know what it is I am seeing, at least it is interesting to see.

Okay, too much blathering, let's have some bugs.

Backyard Bug of the Day: Late Breaking News!
I had a Backyard Bug of the Day all picked out, but here it is 11:28 at night, and the porch light was on, and I just abandoned my plans because I found something better!

So... Backyard Bug of the Day:

 A gorgeous moth!

Sometimes moths are more impressive when you look at them really close. Whether they are kind of drab at first sight, or mildly interesting, when you look carefully a lot of times there are more colors than you saw at first. This is one of them. I thought it was handsome at first, just from the patterns, but when I really looked (through the camera), and saw the amazing colors... sigh. It was terribly uncooperative, too, but worth persevering for.

I think I am going to do double blog posts tonight, and the second one will just be moths I found on the porch, and there will be really close up pictures of this moth.

Here is the bug that was going to be Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Assassin bug. Waiting in ambush in among the milkweed buds. That's where I would wait if I was tiny and wanted to catch bugs.

If you were a bug, this is what it would mean to stare death in the eye. (This picture is zoomed in - I couldn't get this close). I don't feel too bad in bumping this bug from BBotD status, because I am sure it will have another chance, and these aren't the greatest pictures anyway.

So... let's see... Where was that train of thought I had...

Ah, assumptions. Things I guess about. This is, I think, a mating dance:

 I have found out that these are long legged flies.

 These two were following each other around, from leaf to leaf, circling around each other in the air, and also in walking on the leaf.

 You can imagine the difficulty of getting pictures of that.

 What I found interesting is that they are not the same color. So I guess the different colors are not different species, but variants within the same species?

Oh, how I wish either the bugs or the shadows were in focus... Preferably the shadows...

And speaking of these bugs, here's today's Missed Shot of the Day:

Sigh.

Okay, a couple of random bugs:

Now for an update on a previous Backyard Bug of the Day:

 It is a stink bug that preys on caterpillars (I hope it stays away from the caterpillar I am monitoring!). My new bug book gives the scientific name, Stiretrus anchorago, but I prefer common names, and the book doesn't give one. (I know, scientists wish people would just use scientific names, but come on. The scientific names are always something like Stiretrus anchorago).

The bug comes in a variety of colors, and this one, as you can see, is pink!

Last bug - sort of - for you today:

I have been keeping an eye on the possibly morphing ladybug, and this is what I found today. My guesses are either that it busted out of this in a final moult into an adult ladybug, or something ate it.

Wait, one more bug related thing - Eggs:

 Here are the formerly pink eggs. Today they look like they have something inside, specifically, zebras. But probably bugs of some kind.

 Then I found these empty eggs, on the same little tree as my current favorite caterpillar. No bugs nearby, though.

 Then I took this picture, and when I looked at it on the computer, saw what looks like a butterfly egg on the leaf.

 Zoomed in on the picture... It's not in focus, of course, because that's not what I was taking a picture of, but I'll check it out tomorrow.

Backyard Bud of the Day:

 Some kind of grass.

 Who knew grass was so beautiful?

And had pink and purple flowers?

I have these flowers in my yard:

 They are growing on a bush. I am guessing some kind of wild lilac?

 And here's that plant that's impossible to take pictures of.

And milkweed. I am obsessed with milkweed flowers, so expect to see them for a few days. At least I am not also posting foxglove every day!

And now, Arachnid Appreciation! There are three spiders to appreciate today, and one is pretty high in heebie jeebie levels, so you've been warned...
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 If it was up to me to name this spider I would call it Ghost Spider.

 I believe it is actually some kind of crab spider.

 I found this lovely, green probably-a-crab-spider on the porch light.

 It was really small, but it caught something smaller.

I think this might be a wolf spider. It kind of freaked me out.

Now, go learn something!