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.”

Host and Diners

A knee-high sapling of Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) has kept me busy this spring.
I’ve seen Locust Leaf-miner Beetles (Odontota dorsalis) on it a couple of times.(The strips of eaten-away leaf are intriguing; I don’t think they’re the work of the beetle.)
This is a leaf-blotch miner moth larva, Chrysaster ostensackenella, I think.
Locust Sawfly (Euura tibialis) larvae. Black Locust was one of the first North American plants taken to Europe. It was planted widely and is now highly invasive, especially in Central Europe. This sawfly went with the plant and is now found across the Atlantic as well. We’re all so familiar with invasive here that we forget it’s sometimes a two-way street.

On Wednesday, I passed by again to see what was cooking, but the plant and surrounding vegetation had been cut back. Damn!

mthew

One response to “Host and Diners”

  1. Charles McAlexander

    Sight lines, beautification, weeding, insect and plant “pest control” all add up to less habitat for nature to exist. Once we start changing and controlling the environment it’s no longer natural. It’s artifice and we aren’t very good at it.

    Reply

Leave a comment