Wordless Wednesday: A Flying Fly

An unidentified syrphid fly.

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Dogwood Life

Dogwood Spittlebug (Clastoptera proteus)

I was sitting next to the Jerusalem artichoke a couple of weeks ago when I saw a black speck move on a leaf. Even though I had no idea what it may have been, I shot it. I was thrilled when I found the cutest little bug ever in the computer. Who ever sees a purely black and yellow bug anywhere? It was a hopper and a spittlebug . . . my favorite insect group. What a find!

You have probably seen frothy foam on spots on plants. There are spittlebug larvae living inside that foam. They are called spittlebugs because the foam looks like spit. I have spent hours finding the tiny larvae and photographing them. Of course, I can't find the photos today. Spittlebugs are hoppers like plant and tree hoppers. They can jump like fleas.

Since this dogwood spittlebug's host is dogwood, I wanted to compile the other insects who use dogwood exclusively. I have at least three native species of dogwood on my land and I can never tell them apart. 

Two species of my dogwoods have been confirmed:

Alternate-leaved Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)

Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)

But this one that I think is red osier may be Gray Dogwood:

Perhaps Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa).
Perhaps not.

Dogwood-loving insects, however, don't care which is which. Other insects that rely on dogwood are the dogwood sawfly and the dogwood leaf beetle, a calligrapher beetle, and a species of aphid.

 

Dogwood Sawfly (Macremphytus testaceus) larva

Adult dogwood sawfly
Robert Webster

Sawflies have bad reputations for being pesky and the dogwood sawfly is no different. But I have no problem with them because my land is so diverse. I love sawflies because of their life cycle. The larvae are not caterpillars even though they look like caterpillars. 

Dogwood Leaf Beetle (Calligrapha philadelphica)

The dogwood calligrapher is related to lady beetles. They are all leaf beetles. This one eats dogwood leaves. There are many calligraphers with different and stunning "etchings" on their abdomen. 

I always find groups of Red-osier dogwood aphids (Aphis neogillettei) and their ants somewhere on a dogwood. The aphid colonies appear and disappear very quickly; seemingly overnight.

Aphis neogillettei tended by ants

All of my dogwood life has moved away now. The dogwood leaves look blighted and worn on my special bush. It's no wonder they are: they have nurtured so many lives this summer.

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Wordless Wednesday: Mother & Child

Adult

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis)

Larva

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The Pesky Details

Every photo of mine and Jody's confirmed the misidentification.

Remember these cute August 8 caterpillars when I posted about creatures that camouflage as bird droppings? The first creature I highlighted was the Beautiful Wood-Nymph (Eudryas grata). But it wasn't.

Kathryn got in touch with me last night about a caterpillar she had from her property and could identify to genus but not to species. It was a Eudryas. Without looking closely, I told her it was E. grata, the Beautiful. But she had comparison photos from the Internet and wanted to know how I was sure because she thought it might be a Pearly, E. unio. Now, Kathryn has always had an excellent eye for the small details in insect identification. I remembered how she would keep me honest and see what was in front of us, not what I wanted to see. So I looked up the details.

When I submitted my caterpillar to iNaturalist, the AI said it was E. grata. Jody had named it that, also. And then two other people quickly confirmed it. Without ever looking (but I remember wondering) at the two other Eudryas species caterpillars, I accepted the IDs and moved on. But if Kathryn had doubts, I knew I had to look again.

On Bugguide, there are no photos of the third Eudryas species caterpillar (Eudryas brevipennis), and I could safely ignore that one because it lives west of the Rockies. 

There are only two differences between the Beautiful Wood-Nymph caterpillar and the Pearly Wood-Nymph caterpillar: dots on the prolegs (1 dot on the Beautiful and 2 dots on the Pearly on each proleg) and the color of the pro-thoracic shield (orange on the Beautiful and white(ish) on the Pearly), both of which I marked on the photo above. I had to reacquaint myself of the meaning of pro-thoracic and how the heck you find it on a caterpillar, but I did. 

Kathryn and I agreed that all the caterpillars that she, Jody, and I had were Pearly and not Beautiful. Which meant I had to update the IDs on iNat, tell Jody, and update my post of August 8.

The moth I posted on August 8 was the Beautiful, and did not belong there with that Pearly caterpillar. Below are my Beautiful moth and Joanne Russo's Pearly moth. The inner brown band is smooth on the Beautiful and scalloped on the Pearly. And that's about it for the difference between the two species. It gets a person to wondering why Nature does this. It must be out of perverse pleasure to making humans nuts.

Beautiful Wood-Nymph - Hodges#9301 (Eudryas grata) 

Pearly Wood-Nymph - Hodges#9299 (Eudryas unio)

© Joanne Russo

AND . . . the biggest news! 

Kathryn says she is doing bug photos again!

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Wordless Wednesday: Another Daylily

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A Fly for Supper

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Jody found her ambush bug the other day and gave me permission to post her photos. These are special photos that are not simple insect portraits. So I made a slideshow of them. She only uses her iPhone for insect photos and I am always stunned at the quality of her work. Her iPhone videos are also awesome. She also never edits her shots!

Jagged ambush bugs are fairly plentiful this time of year. Every season we have an informal contest to see who can find the first one. They are very small (less than 1/2 inch long) and well camouflaged so it is a competition of our bug eyes. This is the first year that I have won, with my shot of the ambush bug hiding in yarrow that I posted for Wordless Wednesday:

The ambush bugs lie in ambush in flowers. Their huge front legs enable them to snatch an insect out of the air as it flies by, or to grab it as it walks or crawls by. The ambush bug has piercing and sucking mouth parts, so it injects a paralyzing agent through its beak and into the other insect. I can't find information on whether this paralyzing agent also anesthetizes the insect. Because after the prey is paralyzed, the ambush bug uses that beak to slurp up the insides of the insect prey. And that knowledge made it difficult for me to look at Jody's photos the first time. But like we tell each other, everything has to eat.  

Jody identifies as a gardener and she maintains the gardens not only at her home but at church and the library. We are all enriched by her insights with insects. I am especially enriched that her knowledge of botany enhances my knowledge of insect behaviors.

Another JAB I found on August 8

University of Minnesota: Small Wonders: Jagged Ambush Bugs

Missouri Department of Conservation: Ambush Bugs

Video: Bug of the Week: Ambush Bug Catches a Bee

Piyushi Dhir: What's That Bug? Ambush Bugs: All You Need to Know for a Bug-Savvy Backyard

Michael J. Raupp, Ph.D.: Bug of the Week: Ambush - Ambush Bugs, Phymatinae and Crab Spiders, Thomisidae

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My Pizza

Finally!

I have perfected my pizza recipe. I use three recipes that I have adapted for what I like. I have used hamburger as a topping, and here, thin slices of fresh tomato lightly dusted with dry basil. The crust is thick and soft, the sauce is tangy and thick, and it takes an entire two cups of shredded mozzarella. The recipes makes enough pizza for three or four meals with leftovers for breakfast, which is very important. It takes perhaps an hour to make and bake, which is also important. The sauce is no-cook.  I overcame the salt and crust problem that I have posted about before. This took years of finding the perfect ingredients, seasonings, recipes, and a pan the perfect size for the crust. It is just the way that I love pizza.  👼

Sauce

In blender or food processor:

14.5-ounce can no-salt diced tomatoes, undrained

6-ounce can tomato paste

¼ of a small onion but the more the better

2 large garlic cloves (I use a spoon from the drawer and just scoop out a lot of chopped garlic from a jar)

1 heaping tablespoon King Arthur Flour pizza seasoning

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Blend, or use food processor, until this is thick and smooth.

Crust

1 cup warm water (110°F/45°C)

1 tablespoon white sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast (which is one envelope)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon non-iodized table salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

Stir water, sugar and yeast together until dissolved. Add the olive oil and the salt. Stir in the flour until well blended. Let dough rest for 10 minutes. But if you use instant yeast, just toss everything in a stand mixer and, using dough hook, let it run.

Mist the pan lightly with olive oil. Gently flatten the dough in the pan and turn it over so both sides are coated with the oil. Pat dough into pan using fingers dipped in olive oil. If the dough doesn't retain its shape, let it rest 15 or more minutes. If desired sprinkle basil, thyme or other seasonings on crust. Top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated 425°F (220°C) oven, turning 180° halfway through the bake. Check the bottom of your crust before taking out of oven.

Do not put KAF seasoning on top of the pizza: it is too salty.

Special stuff

By the way, I didn't qualify for Amazon Associates, so none of these products are affiliated with anybody except me.

USA Pan jelly roll pan 14.25 x 9.37 x 0.5 inches

Awesomely good but be careful with salt levels!

Because of my hands, I don't chop garlic anymore.
This brand is simply what our village store carries.

Original recipes

Bigger Bolder Baking 5 Minute Pizza Sauce

Mel's Kitchen Homemade No Cook Pizza Sauce

Valentino's Pizza Crust

KAF Pizza Seasoning

Saturday is always pizza night now! I will be playing with toppings from now on. And baking desserts.  

🍕😀🍕

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Wordless Wednesday: A Crown of Yarrow

Jagged Ambush Bug (Phymata americana)

at Comedy Plus

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Beautiful Bird Droppings

Beautiful Wood-Nymph - Hodges#9301 (Eudryas grata)

These caterpillar and moths are prized finds for moth-ers. I have only found one.  😧  They are gorgeous but the prize is that they are one of the creatures that look like bird droppings. You can't tell that from the caterpillar stage; perhaps you can't even tell from the adult moth. But when you see the moth live and in person, they look like bird droppings and you are tempted to move on and search for other insects. 

Dorsal view of a Beautiful Wood-Nymph adult on house.

Side view

There are only three species in the genus Eudryas. They all pretty much look the same except for the pattern and shape of the edge of the wings. 

The problem with Eudryas (not for me, but for Jody, when she found that caterpillar at her garden) is that they can skeletonize your grape vines. You can see that in the photo below. Jody lets the grapes go in order to let the moths live and because she is not going to use chemicals in her garden. Bugguide says that "[l]arvae feed on leaves of several shrubs, vines: Ampelopsis (a genus of climbing shrubs, in the grape family Vitaceae), Buttonbush, grape, hops, Virginia Creeper. Adults do not feed?"  I am very surprised that nobody knows if the adults feed or not. 

Our caterpillar devouring Jody's grape vines.

Beautiful wood-nymphs are only one of bird dropping camouflage animals. Another, also difficult to find, is:

Small Bird Dropping Moth - Hodges#9095 (Ponometia erastrioides)

Whenever I see something that looks like bird droppings, I never assume it's a bird dropping. I gently poke with a soft blade of grass to see if it is alive. I'm glad I did that when I found another bird dropping on the bark of a gray birch tree one day and found  . . . 

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis) larva, 1st instar 

That caterpillar goes through 4 or 5 more instars until it pupates and metamorphoses into . . . 

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Be careful out there with bird droppings!

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The Grimness of Nature, Part 2

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When Jody sent me this video last week, I didn't even know what I was looking at and thought it was a two-headed snail (even though that made no sense . . . were the two heads wanting to go in conflicting directions? No.). But Jody reminded me that snail eyes are at the end of the tentacles, not on their head. I still had no idea what I was seeing. 

Leucochloridium infected amber snail (Jody's photo)

Jody told me I was watching the action of a parasitic worm, Leucochloridium, that was residing in the eyestalks of the snail. The worm dances in order to imitate caterpillar behavior. The worm wants to be eaten by birds, but the dancing eyestalks need to be seen by the birds, so the worm manipulates the snail's behavior and coerces it to climb as high as possible in daylight (the snails are nocturnal in order to avoid drying out in the sun). A bird will see this faux caterpillar and peck out the snail eyes in order to eat it. Inside the bird's guts, the worm reproduces, the bird defecates the worm eggs, the eggs are eaten by another snail, and the entire cycle repeats.

This isn't the end of the snail, however. The bird only eats the eyestalks, which regenerate and the snail lives on to see another day. It will again reproduce and create more little hosts for more little worms. 

Amber snail (Genus Succinea)

The only type of snail I see is the amber snail, an entire family (Family Succineidae) of many species of snails worldwide. All of ours here seem to be of the same species but nobody seems to know (or care) which species. Since Leucochloridium only preys on amber snails, I am in a perfect position to find an infected snail.

Below is a photo of what could be snail eggs. Or slug eggs. I find them under rotting wood where it is damp. They are like little jewels.

You can also find these infected snails and observe their behavior. Look on the vegetation, not down near the ground. Remember, the worm forces the snail to climb as high as it can. Good luck!

Wired: "The Parasitic Worm That Turns Snails Into Disco Zombies"

W. Wesołowska, T. Wesołowski: "Do Leucochloridium sporocysts manipulate the behaviour of their snail hosts?"

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The Grimness of Nature, Part 1

Tiger fly eating small carpenter bee

This week I have seen the gruesome side of Nature. Usually I think of adult flies as nectar eaters simply because that is what I see them eating. But tiger fly adults, I learned, are predatory. While taking the above photo, I had no idea that the fly was eating another insect. In the computer, with a lot of manipulation, I think it was a green carpenter bee (Genus Ceratina). I do not like that. 

Eastern calligrapher fly with non-fatal Trombidiform mites.

My beautiful calligrapher Syrphid flies have been very rare this summer, and not just because of the weather. They flock to black-eyed susans, which bloom every other year. I have very few blossoms this year; less than 100, actually. On their blooming years, I will have thousands. Fewer flowers, so fewer flies. I managed to find the above Eastern calligrapher this week, but it was infested with mites. It has been very difficult for me to find much information on red mites on insects, but I have been told that they do not harm the insect. But having a bunch of mites hanging on your mouth parts does not seem pleasant.

Asian lady beetle probably infected with non-fatal
Laboulbeniales fungus.

The above invasive Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, is infected with a fungus. It contracted the fungus by exoskeleton to exoskeleton contact with another lady beetle that was infected. The fungus drills down through the exoskeleton and sips the haemolymph (insect blood). The fungus can spread over the exoskeleton until the insect is covered with it (see photo here). Surprisingly, the fungus does not kill the insect, simply because the lady beetle life span is so short that there is not time enough to kill it. A fun article to read about this life cycle is "The Birds and the Bees of Ladybug STDs." 

The Laboulbeniales fungus is also called "beetle hangers." There is an entire project at iNaturalist, called Beetle Hangers, collecting sightings of it. It is a project of Beetlehangers: A Haelewaters Project. There are, at this moment, over 2,000 species of this fungus.

Close-up of Hesperomyces harmoniae fungus

Jody found a more ominous, grimmer, even nauseating find in Nature this week. Her story will be Part 2 of The Grimness of Nature tomorrow.

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