An antennae-span of nearly three inches to greet the early risers.
When this moth flew into the veranda, everyone thought it was a bat with it’s 4-inch wingspan.
Katydids, part of the night chorus, could usually be found lazing around during the day. This one was caught in a brief rain shower.
Saw the same species on Virgin Gorda last year.
Paper wasps known locally as Jack Spaniards (perhaps because they can be stinging annoyances), nesting under a Tyre Palm, the only native palm species left on the island. The wasps were to be found under many a leaf. Open this image up to get a closer look at their smoky, mahogany-colored wings. 
This spider, with its ornate spiny abdomen, has some prey in its silky clutches.
18 degrees north of the Equator, things will have a tendency wander into your bathroom and just die there. Several species of scorpion are found on the island. 
About four inches long, these big African millipedes, known locally as gongolo, originated in Madagascar and probably came over during the slave trade. Will spray a nasty cocktail at you if they don’t like you, evidently, but I’m pretty lovable and thus remained unscathed.
Posts Tagged 'invertebrates'
Arthropods of St. John Part I
Published January 26, 2012 Fieldnotes 5 CommentsTags: insects, invertebrates, spiders, St. John
Neighbors
Published January 15, 2012 Backyard , Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: Brooklyn, insects, invertebrates, wasps
A paper nest made by Bald-faced hornets, Dolichovespula maculata. Found a block down the street from the Back 40. It’s quite empty this time of year. Next year’s already mated females are somewhere nearby, tucked into over-wintering nooks, hoping to become queens of new colonies/nests. They will not reuse this nest.
Here’s a these Bald-faced hornets gathering some wood pulp in Central Park for her nest.
Mortal Foe
Published January 4, 2012 Fieldnotes 2 CommentsTags: Brooklyn, insects, invertebrates, Nantucket
Well, it seems it’s finally winter, at least for a day or two. That means cold, just like when I was a boy.
Over the weekend we saw a turtle head peeking out of the Lake in Prospect Park. That’s no sign of winter! Two weeks ago, I was battling mosquitos in the tropics of Massachusetts. 
This species has a particularly nice wing pattern.
More ancient enemies here, here, and here.
Winter caterpillar
Published December 22, 2011 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: Brooklyn, Green-Wood, insects, invertebrates
Large Yellow Underwing caterpillar. I took this photo on October 15th in Green-Wood and saved it for the first day of winter to illustrate the insect’s life cycle. I thought October was late in the year, but Noctua pronuba can be active even in the dead of winter, given a thaw. The mature caterpillars can live right through the cold months before turning into moths in May. This is not typical: Lepidoptera, the butterflies and moths, generally over-winter as eggs or nymphs (in cocoons). Pronuba is a species only recently, and accidently, introduced to North America. Starting in the Canadian Maritimes in the late 1970s, it has spread south and west rapidly and profusely.
Our winters are milder than they used to be. (And by “used to be,” I mean as little as half a century ago; and by “little as,” I mean I’m nearly of half century vintage myself.) This means that more and more insects are surviving a season that once to cut their numbers back severely. One example: the forests of the intermountain West are under severe attack from Western Spruce Budworm and Douglas Fur Tussock Moth, native defoliating species that have been supercharged by both fire suppression strategies and warmer weather.
Ootheca
Published December 13, 2011 Fieldnotes 1 CommentTags: Brooklyn, Four Sparrow Marsh, insects, invertebrates
A praying mantis egg case, or ootheca, from the Greek for egg (oon) and container (theka). Thanks to Amy for spotting and IDing this for me while we were at Four Sparrow Marsh. These are collected and sold for science projects and pest control in gardens, since mantises devour whatever they can get their prayerful legs on. Up to two hundred baby mantises may be in this ootheca. These cases are formed in the fall of eggs and a foamy protein. The protein dries to protect the eggs. The young will emerge after several weeks of warm weather next year, the kind of weather that brings out their prey.
Montréal’s Insectarium is located next to the Jardin botanique. Admission is included with the garden. 
And here’s a jump back to some of the beetles.
Three for Thanksgiving
Published November 28, 2011 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: beetles, invertebrates, snails
A trio of things found in a southeastern New Hampshire garden this summer by our Thanksgiving dinner host.
Burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis. Gray lancetooth snail, Haplotrema concavum (I think). Six-spotted tiger beetle, Cicindela sexguttata.
Let’s take a closer look at the latter:
The elytra are parted to reveal the underwings.
Beetlemania
Published November 26, 2011 Fieldnotes 3 CommentsTags: beetles, insects, invertebrates, Montreal
A collection of beetles at the Insectarium de Montreal which I visited earlier this month. This picture was shot through the vitrine glass.
There are 350,000-400,000 described species of beetles; estimates suggest there may be a million or more species of them all told. These are just some of the most spectacular and shiny ones — jewels, predominately, of the tropics.
Some beetles captured by my lens can be seen here.
Milkweed Party
Published November 4, 2011 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: Brooklyn Bridge Park, insects, invertebrates
A larval Large Milkweed Bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus, on its eponymous food source in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Two of the adults. The park has several species of milkweed, which hosts a number of interesting animals. Monarch butterflies (and their caterpillars) are the most famous milkweed fans, but they have flown south for the winter. These milkweed bugs, however, were out in force yesterday, enjoying the warm weather.
Their bright pattern serves as a warning: they are not tasty, having picked up some of their food source’s bitterness.
They will often group together for a feed. Note that there is a Small Milkweed Bug but no, to my knowledge, Medium Milkweed Bug.
check out my friend Gerry’s post on the wonders, and dangers, of milkweed.
“Nymph, in thy (whining) orisons be all my sins remembered.”
It was a tough night on the skeeter front. Approximately eight bites amongst the two of us, and so far three mosquitoes, including this early afternoon kill. Hard to tell here, but the eyes have a blue-green iridescence to them. Possibly the southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus (brought north by the warming climate?). Definitely not an Asian Tiger.
