Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Beetlemania

Big-headed Ground Beetle (Scarites subterraneus), about an inch long.
The wee Scirtes orbiculatus, a marsh beetle.
Initially, I thought this was a Twice-stabbed Lady B (Chilocorus stigma), but noting how round those are, I searched around a bit more. This seems to be a Sigil lady beetle, Hyperaspis genus, which has a trio of species that can’t be told apart from pictures.
Ever-present Harmonia axyridis. Note the tendril-like material coming off his feet: this is Green Beetle Hanger (Complex Hesperomyces virescens), a fungus that seems particular associated with this introduced lady beetle species. Usually you see it on the elytra, but then you don’t often see ladybug feet…
2mm long beetle found on milkweed, chilled for photos through 40X scope. I think this is Mealybug Destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri), an introduced species. In this case, these are hairs on the elytra.
A 5mm long beetle found on the window screen. No idea what it is.
Never bypass an opportunity to look over a stump.
One of everybody’s favorites:
Eastern Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus). Yes, this is big: 1.25-1.5″.

Beetle-finding partially funded by you…

***

“The gun is our Moloch. We sacrifice children to him daily,” wrote Gary Wills after Sandy Hook in 2012. Still heartbreakingly, tragically true, only more so. Firearms are the leading cause of death of American children. This is a savage republic with more guns than people, a nation held hostage by roughly one quarter of the population. A terrorist minority that, in the same breath, claims to be “pro-life,” bans books in school libraries as dangerous, says public health measures are tyranny, and argues that there is nothing to be done about gun violence except having more guns, more useless police (38% of Uvalde TX’s city budget; pictures of their SWAT team on their Facebook), arming teachers, fire-trapping buildings with one door.

For Republicans, the price of “liberty” and “freedom,” as they narrowly define them, is quite simply the lives of children. And that calculus pays off, over and over again as they piously clasp their blood-soaked hands together and offer “thoughts & prayers.” “I’m sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful,” said Senator Ted Cruz as he stomped away from a question about why such massacres are uniquely American. Cruz got 4,260,553 votes in 2018, 50.9% of Texas voters.

mthew

2 responses to “Beetlemania”

  1. Chuck McAlexander

    Now that you mention them, the bugs are more noble than the politicians

    Reply
  2. Green Beetle Hanger | Backyard and Beyond

    […] (Here the female is snacking on an aphid.) Here’s another mating pair. As I mentioned on Sunday, this invasive lady bug is intimately associated with a parasitic fungus called Green Beetle […]

    Reply

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