New Phase

When I left for my trip the gypsy moth caterpillar scourge was just coming to a close, for two reasons: the caterpillars were finally succumbing to the fungus, and those that were not dying were pupating. I haven't seen any live caterpillars since I returned (though there are plenty of their disgusting carcasses on the tree trunks), but I have been seeing the adult moths. I saw a male on the porch the other night, and I think I have been seeing males flying around the backyard for the last couple of days. There are a LOT of moths fluttering around, about the right size and color to be male gypsy moths, but I never see them land, so I don't know if that's what they are. The way the gypsy moth courtship works is this: the female, who has wings but doesn't fly, emerges from her chrysalis and crawls to a congenial spot nearby. I presume she then emits pheromones to attract a mate. The males fly around looking for females, they mate, and then the female lays her egg mass on the tree. They don't eat in their adult phase, and I presume at some point after mating they did. Their adult phase is not long. The eggs will remain until spring, when the new brood of monsters emerges. Up until today I had not seen any female gypsy moths, which was something of a relief, and I was at least hoping that all the moths I have seen flying around are not male gypsy moths. Well, today I found females.

 The female and male gypsy moths look quite different, with the female being larger, and white, with a rather plain patter, while the male is brown with a lot of zig-saggy marks. This female was in the process of laying an egg mass.

Onto bugs I like much better. Backyard Bug of the Day:

This is a species of thick-headed fly, Stylogaster neglecta. That is not a stinger, it's an ovipositor, for laying eggs in the insects it parasitizes. I like it because it reminds me of ads for bug spray drawn by Ted Geissel (aka Dr. Seuss) in the 1940s (I think).

Other bugs:

 Some kind of stinkbug, I think.

 This is probably the least popular bug among my friends–ear wig.

The sumac bushes are in bloom and attracting a lot of pollinators:

 There are four pollinators in this shot. Can you see all of them?

 Lady beetle

 We have a solar powered, motion sensing light on our driveway, and it has recently stopped working. My husband took it down today to see if he could figure out why. It's hard to say if this is the cause, but he found it full of ants and their young. I used to think that ants built their nests in the ground, but in fact many of them choose much less natural locations. This year in particular I have been finding these nests everywhere–in the garden shed, in the package bin, in pretty much everything.

 Beetle

 Assassin bug nymph. So many different species of assassin bug nymphs the last few days.

 The milkweed didn't bloom with much gusto this year (still better than last year, when it hardly bloomed at all), but it's still attracting insects. Here's a plume moth and a long-legged fly.

 Plume moth

 Long-legged flies

 Looper

 The number of butterfly pictures you see here is no reflection on the number of butterflies I see in my backyard. Yesterday I saw 5 different species, and got no pictures. Today I saw three species, one totally new to me, and only got pictures from about 10 feet away of this one, which I think is a red-spotted purple.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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I didn't see the spider when I took this picture. Can you spot it?