Innocent White Moth

Walking a trail on an overcast day I spotted a small white moth on a leaf.  After a quick photograph it started to drizzle and I clipped off the branch to inspect later.  The next morning the moth hadn't moved until I nudged it but it still hung on tight.  There was a fuzzy white patch on the underside of the leaf and a smaller one under the moth when I bent the leaf.  I could see a mass of eggs and surprisingly the moth didn't fly off.  After photographing it I kept it for a week with the now dead moth clinging to the leaf.

Eggs in underside of leaf

This is the Fall Webworm Moth, Hyphantria cunea.  WAIT!   Before you hit the delete remembering those hated masses of silk on your tree during their big year in 2016, follow along to know thine enemy.  After mating H. cunea lays around 400 eggs on the underside of a leaf.  The eggs are bright green in many pictures but also described as "hair-covered masses of several hundred each" in others.  The hair comes from the female's body.

The female typically clings to the leaf until she dies, in this case covering her last batch of eggs.  I checked the leaf daily and on day 8 a few caterpillars emerged.  these were black-headed, typical of the spring hatch.

Emerging caterpillar

Empty egg cases

After filming them, I took the now dry crisp leaf out to a small elm tree and clipped it onto a fresh leaf.  The next morning they were crawling over a portion of the new leaf, eating the top green surface only.  You can see one emerge in this video.

Leaving the eggs

Skeletonized leaf - University of Florida

The larger next instar will eat both surfaces of the leaf leaving the structure of the leaf with no surface cells.  The final instar completely skeletonizes the leaf, eventually leaving only major veins, a view hidden by the ugly webs we all hate.

Dinner for the first instars

More on the subject is at this University of Florida link.

Bathroom Fly

Bathroom Fly - Clogmia albipunctata - REK

Side view - REK

In line with our policy of presenting the good, the bad and the ugly, here comes old ugly.  We have noted these tiny flies in our bathroom at the creek house for years.  They are very hard to photograph, measuring only 2mm (less than 1/10").  Bathroom lighting is poor and when I get the camera lens close they fly off.  I caught several in a kill jar which yields only twisted specimens.  That said, I finally got a couple of "good enough" photographs to identify them.

C. albipunctata on the wall - REK

Once again, using my post-retirement entomological training, I Googled "Bathroom fly" and came up with a rapid answer of Clogmia albipunctata, aka bathroom fly.  They are in the Moth Fly family, Psychodinae.  They have hairs on their wings which will shed like scales and long segmented antennae.  Our C. albipunctata (white spotted) is the only member of its genus in North America and has distinctive white antennae and white spots on the edges of wings and tips of leg segments.  It is a common synanthropic species throughout the temperate and semi-temperate world.

C. albipunctata larvae - Ashley Bradford

C. albipunctata pupa  - Ashley Bradford

A synanthrop, Greek syn-, "together with" + anthro, "man," is a plant or animal species living selectively near humans and prospering when they find a stable habitat with food, protection and in more recent years a relatively stable temperature range.  These range from house flies, silverfish and cockroaches up to larger species such as house sparrows, pigeons and brown rats.  Some species such as pigeons can no longer make a living without us.  The moth fly family is now found on all continents except Antarctica, probably transported by the movement of human populations.

Until we came along, C. albipunctata probably lived in moist decaying plant and animal matter.  Societies have brought garbage collections, water containers like rain barrels and fire pits, air conditioners and cooling towers and clogged roof drain pipes.  Better yet are all the kitchen and bathroom drains with traps that can hold the gelatinous egg masses.  These are resistant to flushing, hot water, soap and many drain disinfectants and cleaners.

On hatching the larvae feed on algae, bacteria, fungi, microorganisms, and are a welcome addition to wastewater treatment plants.  The cycle from egg to adult is 7 to 28 days with more of the gory details here.  Ashley Bradford has a great series of their life cycle at this Bugguide link and Duke.edu has good closeups of the adult.

Wikipedia has good suggestions for control of our population.  Our source is likely the shower drain and I will collect specimens with a clear glass jar inverted over it.  It will be getting special attention, once I have been able to collect larvae  and possibly eggs to raise.  (Editor's note - "GROAN!!)

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Recently we returned from a week absence and saw tiny specks around the edge of the water in the toilet bowl.  In the spirit of a naturalists I collected some of these and "Viola", Bathroom Fly pupae.  You can see them in motion in this video.

Bee Flies

Bee fly

I saw this little fly flitting around me on the deck on Saturday.  It wouldn't hold still for a picture but I was able to get it in a bug box and chill it for its blog debut.  I sent it in to Bugguide and within 24 hours had an ID of Hemipenthes sp.  Beyond their information, I couldn't find any other details on the genus.

According to the Hemipenthes genus page, its name means "half veiled in black", a good description of the wing pattern.  They range from 6 to 12 mm (mine was 9mm) and have short metallic hairs on the thorax and/or abdomen.  Like other members of the bee fly (Bombyliidae) family, they are ectoparasitoids, laying their eggs near the eggs or larvae of solitary bees, beetles, wasps and other insects.  The bee fly larva lives off the victim, eventually killing it.

Halteres - REK

Bee flies are in the Diptera or true fly order, the common names always separate (think "house fly").  When you see the name one word (think "dragonfly") they belong to another order.  Diptera means "two wings", separating it from the other orders that have two pair of wings.  The posterior set of wings are modified to clubbed sticks called halteres, extending from the thorax.  These vibrate with the wing beats, sending messages to the fly about its position and balance, acting like a gyroscope.  That is one reason they are so hard to swat!

Belly up

Just when I thought I was through, our friend Debbie sent me this photograph to ID.  I used my years of training and experience to identify it within a minute.  (My secret:  Google "black bee fly", look at "images" and it was the 5th on the page.)  This is a Tiger bee fly, Xenox tigrinus.   Like other members of the family, it doesn't sting or bite.  We don't even know what the adult eats!  The good news for homeowners is that it specializes in parasitizing carpenter bees.

Carpenter bees drill smooth holes in wood to lay their eggs in, and have been working on our cabin beam.  Fortunately they don't cause significant structural damage and they are good pollinators.  Still, if the Tiger bee fly wants to feed its young, I will send it our address.

Swinging Fly

Grabbing pollen - Linda Bower

I was intrigued by a video that Linda Bower sent me.  It showed what appeared to be a wasp clinging onto milkweed, swinging like Tarzan with its front legs.  You can see yellow chunks of pollen on its other four legs and I assumed that it was grabbing the pollen grains.  Chris Barnhart informed me that it is actually the pollen grabbing the insect's legs, hitching a free ride to the next flower, an innocent purveyor of plant sex.

This "wasp" is actually a male Thick-headed Fly, Physocephala tibialis, of the family Conopidae.  Most of this family are convincing mimics of thread-waisted wasps (Sphecidae).  They feed on nectar and like bees gather pollen incidentally.

Thick-headed Fly, Physocephala tibialis  - Molly Jacobson

More from Linda:

"This is no ordinary fly! As a parasitoid, this species of Thick-Headed Fly (no common name) deposits its eggs into Bumblebees. It catches the Bumblebee mid-flight, sometimes falling to the ground, the fly inserts a single egg between its abdominal segments. The larva will slowly eat the Bumblebee alive, beginning with the non-essential tissues first. The larva forces the Bumblebee to dig itself into the ground so it can overwinter as a pupa (this is called adaptive manipulation). Adults feed on nectar, as shown in this video of a male filmed on Common Milkweed in the Missouri Ozarks, USA, June 27, 2017. Some clips are in slow motion, none have been sped up."

Stylogaster sp. of thick-headed fly with long ovipositor - MJ Hatfield

Inserting an egg under the exoskeleton of a flying bee is no mean trick.  It is accomplished by the specialized ovipositor which acts like a "church key" on a beer can (before pop-top cans for youthful readers).  The eggs of some species also have a barb, functioning like a harpoon that stays in the bee.

There are a lot of interesting details about how the fly cuts its way out of the pupa and how the bee is tricked into burying itself in the ground.  (Hint - it is adaptive manipulation).  I would explain that, but our friend the Bug Lady does it much more entertainingly in this UWM Bug of the Week blog.

Master Naturalist Training

Like what you see on the blog?
Want to get involved in learning and promoting nature?

Live in the area around Springfield Missouri?

If you think you might be interested in joining the Springfield Plateau Chapter of Master Naturalists, here is your chance.  We will have a new training class this fall.  To learn more, come to one of the two Orientation sessions this month.  Attendance at one of them is required before enrolling in the course.

Where:   MDC Southwest Regional office,
               2630 Mayfair, Springfield, MO

When:
Tuesday, July 11, 7-9PM
Tuesday, July 18, 7-9PM

Attendance at on orientation is a prerequisite for attending the training.

An interesting read:
Just when I thought that choosing paper over plastic is a personal answer to holding down plastic pollution, I read this.  

Hackberry Thorn Galls

Linda Bower sent me these pictures of some cool galls on hackberry leaves. The little spike on top was very distinctive.  I think they are Hackberry Thorn Galls produced by a midge, Celticecis spiniformis.  As is true of many galls, the midge is rarely photographed or identified and they are known by their gall.  In the case of hackberry leaf galls, there are lots of different shapes and I was lucky that this one is so unique with the little horn on top.

View from above - Hershey Kisses? - LB

C. spiniformis was first described in 1895 and by 2011 there were ten Celticecis species described.*  Raymond Gagné and John C. Moser** identified many more and now there are 23 known species of hackberry gall midges in North America, 21 of which are in the Celticecis genus.  They can occur on any of the Hackberry (Celtis) species.

Bisected gall and larva - LB

The galls grow rapidly in spring to early summer.  The larva to the right would ordinarily form a cocoon in the gall.  When the leaf falls to the ground the gall bursts open and the cocoon remains on the ground over winter.  They generally pupate the next spring although some may spend another year in the gall before emerging as adults.  The midges mate in the spring although they are very discrete and have not been filmed doing that.  They lay their eggs on hackberry leaves and the cycle begins again.

*   Charley Eiseman has a set of photographs showing the wide range of unique shapes of Celticecis sp. galls in  Bugtracks.wordpress.com.
** The North American Gall Midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) of Hackberries (Cannabaceae: Celtis spp.)by Raymond J. Gagné and John C. Moser at Darwin.ansp.org

Life on the Edge

Eastern Amberwing dragonfly hunting the pond edge - Perithemis tenera - REK

While I was fishing in a friend's pond the other day he asked what he should do about the thin layer of scum and algae extending a foot or so out from the dam.  I suggested we take a closer look at it.  I came back the next day with a quart jar and a soup ladle and sampled the area.  (Note to self: wash and return ladle to kitchen drawer - quick!)  I spent the next few hours with an inexpensive video microscope, immersed in the world on the edge.

Like other environments, the energy in the pond's food chain begins with the sun.  Photosynthesis creates the energy that all animals consume, whether directly from the source or as a predator eating the primary consumer.  Autotrophs (think plants and algae) produce carbon based nutrients like glucose from the sun.  Heterotrophs obtain it by "eating" plants, organisms or decaying organic matter.  At the top of the food chain, carnivores like me obtain energy from both plants and herbivorous animals.

Six copepods in a tiny droplet - REK

The algae, cyanobacteria and some protists (all referred to as phytoplankton) are busy out of sight fixing carbon and converting sunlight to sugar.  These are consumed by many tiny creatures like case-carrying worms that drift around in the water, extending out of their cases to feed or to pull their cases along in the water as seen in this video by Linda Bower.*  The microscopic spots floating or flitting around in the water are tiny fresh water crustaceans called copepods, as well as other other zooplankton species that also feed on phytoplankton.

Case-carrying worm and Damselfly nymph - REK

Giant water bug - REK

Next up are the aquatic insects such as the mayfly nymphs which feed on algae, diatoms and detritus, the decomposing plant matter that dies or falls into the water's edge.  These supply food for fish, the reason a fisherman ties a nymph on the flyrod.  It is a bug eat bug world in there, filled with predaceous diving beetles and giant water bugs next up in the food chain.

Salamander larva with duckweed.  Note feathery gills - REK

Hardest to catch in the sample were the salamander larvae, 1/2" long and very athletic.  Based on the dorsal fin that begins in front of the hind legs these could be spotted salamanders that will live on land as adults or newts that live on land as teenagers and then return to the pond as adults.

Our brief look into the "scum" along the pond edge only sampled a few of the many species that depend on the vegetation, detritus and algae in that first 12 inches of shoreline.  Tiny frogs and grasshoppers flitted in and out of the water, patrolling dragonflies watched from the distance and dainty damselflies clung to the grass out of reach.  It is all part of life on the edge of a pond.
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I have put together life on the microscope stage in this video including damselfly larvae and snails.
* More sophisticated and fascinating pond video's are in Linda Bower's Youtube Playlist.
7-7-17  Thanks to Rob Hunt, Education Coordinator at DNR for helping to clarify my status as a dedicated heterotroph.