So Much To Learn

 When I first started my backyard bug project there were very few bugs I could identify. There were entire orders of insects that I had never heard of, never seen a single member of, and had a hard time even looking up in my bug books (when I finally got books), because they were so alien to me that I didn't know where to look. I've learned a lot since then, and much of the time even if I have never seen a bug before, and don't know what it is, I can at least figure out from certain features what order they belong to, and where to find them in a field guide. I can see a Hemiptera and know it's a Hemiptera. But sometimes I still am confused about the things that I find, and not even necessarily because I have found something from a smaller order that I have never found bugs from before. Sometimes it's just really hard to know what I am looking at.

And that brings us to the Backyard Bug of the Day:

I think this is an ant. But I am not completely sure. I thought it might actually be a velvet ant, which is not an ant, but a kind of wasp with wingless females. It looks like an ant. Mostly. But sort of not. I did try looking it up as both an ant and a velvet ant, but did not find it. Complicating matters of identification for me is the fact that ants and wasps belong to the same order, Hymenoptera. That's pretty interesting in itself, that ants and wasps are closely enough related as to belong in the same order. If you really look at them you can see how it makes sense that they are related. But also not really. Hymenoptera is a confusing order. I still cannot reliably tell the difference between a bee and a wasp sometimes, and then you throw in the sawflies, which as wasps, not flies, while there are a lot of flies that look a great deal like they are wasps or bees...

It is about the size of a medium-sized ant. It's probably an ant. But I am not sure. Anyway, in trying to find out I learned that there are species of ants called Dracula Ant and Odorous Ant, so even if I did not find out what I wanted to know, the name of this insect, it was not time wasted. I would also like to mention that as little as I know about ants, I know enough to know how shocking it is that one of my field guides, which is about insects of New England, has only a few species of ants in it, when I have seen quite a number of ant species in my backyard. I always expect the books to have more species than my backyard.

Other Bugs:

 

The second caterpillar eluded the stinkbug. I do wonder if the other one got captured because it left this enclosure, or if the stinkbug got inside and dragged it out. If you don't know what I am talking about, check my last couple of blog posts.

 

 

Leaf hopper

 

 

White marked tussock moth. Usually around this time these are all over the place; this year I have only seen three. I think that might be because the particular tree that they liked the best did not have a good year, so it may not have been a good food source for them. But normally around this time I will see up to a dozen on the trunk of that tree every day.

 

 

This group of large milkweed bugs are on a plant off on its own, not in the milkweed patch. You can see it is made up of younger bugs than the other groups, but one of them became an adult today. You can see its exuvia on the bottom of the seed pod, the white thing at the bottom of the picture. Also note the bug in the middle, which I think has some kind of parasite egg on it. I wonder what happens to that when the bug molts?

 

Meanwhile, back in the milkweed patch, there are not many juveniles left.

Arachnid Appreciation:

 

The orb weaver moved its web to a new location, attached to the same tree, but over a few feet, but not knowing that I almost walked right into it. When the spider is in the middle of the web it's fairly obvious; this is a large spider by Connecticut standards. But it was hiding in its leaf bower, as they often do during the day. However, once I found the web I knew to look for the spider in a shelter made of leaves held together with silk.

 

 

Flower crab spider

 

Six-spotted orb weaver. These are usually a common spider in my backyard, but I have only seen a few of them this year.