invertebrates
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Winged Ones
Hymenoptera, the insect order that includes the wasps, bees, and ants, are named after their “membrane wings.” But ants don’t have wings, at least not in the colony, where such appendages would get in the way. The reproductives, males and virgin queens, however, do have wings. The queens break their wings off after mating flights…
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Pods and Seeds
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa).Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).The seeds of the above.Another Common, with Milkweed aphids (Aphis nerii) and Variegated Ladybugs (Hippodamia variegata).
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O brave new world
That has such creatures in’t! These are all new discoveries for me, excepting the last, because there’s one thing the arthropods prove, and that’s ever-new discoveries.The aptly-named named Saddleback caterpillar (Acharia stimulea), about 2cm long. The adult moth is one of the fuzzy indistinguishable brown jobs, but this larval stage form is amazingly unique. The…
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Katydids
The trees are alive with the sound of music. At night. Katydids and crickets stridulating away, rubbing the pegged “file” of one wing against the ridge-like scraper of the other to produce those clicks, tisps, buzzes, etc. Each species has a distinctive sound: it’s the males marking their territory and calling to the females. Bonus…
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Butterfly Meadow
The glorious meadow at Mt. Loretto, a New York State “unique area” at the southern end of Staten Island. (Used to be a lot more like it, of course… SI’s development mirrors the post-war suburban destruction of unique areas.) It was abloom with butterflies recently. Here are a few of the species I saw: Pearl…
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Orange Is the New Bluet
A male Orange Bluet (Enallagma signatum) in the afternoon sun.
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Venation
Male Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans).Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia) male.Forewings of female Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella). I found this with a little bit of thorax exoskeleton a few blocks from home. Extremely lightweight, and prone to blowing away in a weak breeze.Some magnification. Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) female. Hindwings are especially wide on this species.
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Eastern Forktail
A male Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis) showing off the characteristic and unique solid green shoulder markings and blue on segments 8 and 9. An inch long; you really have to get close to see the jewel-llike details. And, oh, look, an exuvia I didn’t even notice in the background when I took this picture.
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Fragile Forktails
A mature female Ischnura posita. An immature female. Inch-long damsels, these. Eat more mosquitos, ladies! A mature male. The exclamation mark on the shoulder is tell-tale for this species, but it can fade with age.
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Hanging the Night
This Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) was parked just off the path around 730pm, so I think it was roosting for the night. The black markings looked velvety in the light.This is a mature male. If you counted the white spots, too, he would be a twenty-spotted skimmer. To matters more confusing, this species used to…
Backyard and Beyond 