beetles
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Bugs At Last!
You’ve been waiting patiently all winter long for some serious insect life to liven things up. This was the week! Two color variations of the Spotted Lady Beetle (Coleomegilla maculata).These are in the Coccinellidae family of ladybugs, but clearly not the usual rounded shape of the classic VW. Sure are spotty, though: another common name…
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Buggy Days
The Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) on, unsurprisingly, milkweed.Japanese Beetles (Popillia japonica) making more Japanese Beetles in a bed of roses.Bald-faced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) drinking dew. Those mighty-wood-chewing jaws!
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Spotted Cucumber Beetle
Diabrotica undecimpunctata on Liatris.
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VLB Adult
In less than a decade, the invasive Viburnum Leaf Beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni) has spread throughout most of New York State. They devour the leaves of viburnum species, key understory plants of our woodlands; a couple years infestation can kill the plant. I’ve seen the damage they do in Prospect Park, skeletonizing every leaf on a…
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An Inordinate Fondness
J.B.S. Haldane is supposed to have said that the creator must have a special fondness for stars and beetles, because there are so many of them. And some of them — the beetles, not the stars — are awfully small. There are 350,000-400,000 species of beetle — the exact number is probably impossible to know…
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Two-Spotted Sightings
My first ladybug of the year was spotted on the weekend. It was, no surprise, a Multicolored Asian, Harmonia axyridis, which you should expect to see just about everywhere. I also saw very small lady beetle I’m not yet sure of the identification of. But on Monday, I saw half a dozen Two-spotted, Adalia bipunctata,…
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VLB in BBP
Two of the gardeners at Brooklyn Bridge Park showed me the evidence of Viburnum Leaf Beetle that they were hunting down. The pits in the twig are egg cavities, dug into the tree by the mature beetle. The tiny larvae can just be seen. The destructive invasive beetle is rampant through most city parks, but…
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Still Hanging On
In early November, I found four adult Two-spotted Ladybeetles (Adalia bipunctata). And without looking very hard. I just stood under the tree and looked up.
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Early Stages
This is some kind of Lacewing larva. It was found predating under the Catalpa leaves, where the ladybugs are still to be found, too, deep into October. On the rocks below the trees, a lady bug pupa.
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Nicrophorus
A carrion beeetle, also known as a sexton beetle, of the genus Nicrophorus, from the Greek for “carrier of the dead.” Found this on a mammal corpse on a path at Dead Horse Bay. The carcass was in curious state; some exposed bones were already whitened, but the main part of the body still had…