Leader of Today’s Ramble: Heather Lickliter Larkin
Authors of Today’s Report: Heather Lickliter Larkin, Linda Chafin, Don Hunter
The photos that appear in this report were taken by Don Hunter unless otherwise credited. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with a mouse or tapping on your screen. Not all of Don’s photos from today’s ramble made it into the Ramble Report, so be sure to check out his Facebook album at this link.
Nature Ramble Rainy Day Policy: We show up at 9:00am, rain or shine. If it’s raining, we will meet and socialize in the conservatory (bring your own coffee); if there is a break in the rain, we’ll go outside and do a little rambling.
Today’s Emphasis: Bugs We Find!
Photo of White-banded Crab Spider by Heather Lickliter Larkin
Announcements and other news:
The Garden’s 13th Annual Native Plant Sale will be held at the Mimsie Lanier Center for Native Plant Studies, on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2-6 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 11, 2-6 p.m.; and Saturday, Oct. 12, 9 a.m.-2p.m.
Catherine reminded us that the next art ramble, which she will lead on September 26, is inspired by Margot Guralnick’s Urban Botanical Art which you can see here. Below is an example that Catherine created last week in the Children’s Garden Arbor.
How Garden Design Affects Bee Visitors: local floral display drives bee abundance in gardens more than the surrounding landscape.
Do native insects pollinate the exotic plants in our gardens? Find out the answer here.
Reading: Heather read the poem “Bug Hunt,” by A. Harris
When out finding bugs
you don’t need a lot
just a tree and some bushes –
whatever you’ve got.
A path by the car park,
a dusty old lane.
If you’re out finding bugs,
don’t gripe or complain.
That sunset’s excessive.
A sunrise? For mugs.
You don’t need the world
when you’re out finding bugs.
Number of Ramblers Today: 25
Today’s Route: We left the Children’s Garden, heading down the entrance road to the White Trail spur to the powerline prairie and the floodplain. We stopped just short of the river and returned to the Visitor Center by the road, enjoying the Dunson fence as always this time of year.
Pre-Ramble Observations:
Don went in search of the two Daddy Long Legs that he photographed during the last two Rambles on these Rattlesnake Master flower heads. Sure enough, they were still there with a third joining the party. He photographed this single lacewing egg on the same flower head.
Observations:
Funnel spider web
Heather spotted this barely visible funnel web near the base of a tree beside the White Trail Spur. The resident spider was partially visible at the bottom of the funnel, and a strong anchor silk led up to nearby shrub. Normally, funnel spider webs, constructed at ground level, don’t have or need these anchor silks. No one could recall ever seeing this type of construction for a funnel spider web.
Dale wrote this about Funnel web spiders for the 30 August 2018 Ramble Report: “Funnel web spiders weave a non-sticky platform of silken threads with a short, cylindrical tube at one edge. The tube serves as a refuge for the spider. When a wandering insect walks across the web the spider detects the vibrations from its footfalls and rushes out from its refuge to grab and bite its victim. The bite injects a venom that paralyzes the insect and begins to digest its internal organs. The spider carries it back to the refuge where it consumes it.”
White-marked Tussock Moth caterpillars are spectacularly arrayed and defended: their heads are red, and the body is adorned with white stripes, tufts of long white hairs, two long black tufts for and aft, four clumps of short hairs that mimic cocoons of parasitic wasps, and two bright red defensive glands on their rear end. The caterpillar is not venomous, but touching the hairs can trigger an allergic reaction in many people and also can cause severe damage if they become embedded in skin and mucous membranes. The caterpillars are common during the late summer and fall in eastern North America, where they consume the leaves of a wide range of hardwood trees, here a Hop Hornbeam.
Blue Curls is a member of the Mint Family and has the typical two-lipped mint flowers; the upper lip is divided into four sections and the lower lip is marked with a scattering of dark purple dots on a white background. The “curls” are actually four long stamens protruding from the top of the flower. Large bees visiting the flowers bump up against the pollen-laden stamens as well as the stigma which is tucked in among the stamens.
The sun had not yet reached the eastern edge of the powerline prairie and large clumps of Bigtop Love Grass were glowing with dew.
Once we entered the powerline prairie, we began to see many insects and spiders.
Lined Orbweaver
Banded Garden Spider
Note the zigzag stabilimentum, one thing that sets this species’ webs apart from those of Joro Spiders.
Bristle Fly resting on unopened Late Boneset buds.
Asian Lady Beetle without spots, but with patches of fungus near the back edges of its elytra (wing covers). The fungus is Hesperomyces harmoniae, a newly named species.
Common Eastern Bumble Bee on Yellow Crownbeard
Female Chinese Mantis in the top of a Yellow Crownbeard plant, poised in its typical, head-downward posture. We can tell it is a Chinese mantis instead of our native Carolina mantis because the wings are longer than the abdomen. Chinese mantis will eat anything they can get their face on, including hummingbirds if given the opportunity.
Western Honey Bee foraging on Yellow Crownbeard flower heads
American Bird Grasshopper
We caught two species of katydids, Red-headed Katydid (left) and Fork-tailed Bush Katydid (right) and viewed them in plastic vials. Note how long the katydid antennae are compared with those of the grasshopper in the photo above.
Ocola Skipper nectaring on Yellow Crownbeard flowers
Ailanthus Webworm Moth is a native of tropical south Florida and Central America, where its larvae feed on tropical plants in the genus Simarouba. It now thrives throughout North America on the invasive species, Tree-of-Heaven (aka Ailanthus Tree), which is in the same family as Simarouba.
A Tumbling Flower Beetle is searching for pollen, its preferred food, among the flowering spikelets of Yellow Indian Grass. As beetles go, they are fairly effective pollinators. When disturbed, they use the enlarged femurs on their hind legs to propel themselves away from potential predators, jumping and tumbling as they go.
Green Stink Bug on the back of a Yellow Crownbeard leaf
Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp was also seen on Yellow Crownbeard.
This late in the year, Passionflower vines are nearly defoliated by Gulf Fritillary caterpillars, left, who will then turn to eating the ripening fruit. An adult Gulf Fritillary was found nectaring on the nearby flowers of Yellow Crownbeard.
The large, shiny, hairless abdomens of Eastern Carpenter Bees make them easy to distinguish from the hairy-all-over Bumblebees, below.
American Bumblebee nectaring on a Mexican Sunflower
The find of the day was this White-Banded Crab Spider, spotted by Heather on the flower heads atop a Tall Ironweed. Crab spiders are ambush predators, sitting and waiting in the center of a flower for something to land at which point that something will receive a free hug. The funny thing is that research has shown that in UV light the spider glows and is nearly irresistible to other insects, making them twice as likely to land on that flower as others without spiders in them.
Gray Hairstreak butterfly
Hairstreak butterflies exhibit a behavior not found in any other butterfly: they rub their hind wings together while at rest. Extensive research went into finding out why, and the answer is that Hairstreaks have antenna-like protrusions on their hind wings; rubbing them together makes the protrusions wiggle like antenna do. Since Hairstreaks are normally preyed upon by jumping spiders. Rubbing the hind wings together and making the false antenna wiggle makes jumping spiders think that the hindwings are the head. They will jump at the wing and the butterfly will be able to escape. Photo by Heather Larkin
Scentless Plant Bug resting on a Late Boneset flower head
Dusky Stink Bug feeding on a Yellow Crownbeard. Their piercing-sucking mouthparts include a straw-like proboscis through which they suck plant juices.
Bill sliced open and photographed a gall on the stem of a Late Boneset (below), exposing the Boneset Stem Midges within.
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSED AND OBSERVED SPECIES
White-banded Crab Spider Misumenoides formosipes
Green Lacewing (egg) Family Chrysopidae
Rattlesnake Master Eryngium yuccifolium
Funnel Web Weaver spider Agelenopsis sp.
White-marked Tussock Moth (caterpillar) Orgyia leucostigma
Hop Hornbeam tree Ostrya virginiana
Blue Curls Trichostema dichotomum
Bigtop Lovegrass Eragrostis hirsuta
Lined Orbweaver spider Mangora gibberosa
Banded Garden Spider Argiope trifasciata
Bristle Fly Family Tachinidae
Late Boneset Eupatorium serotinum
Asian Lady Beetle Harmonia axyridis
Fungus on Asian Lady Beetle elytra Hesperomyces harmoniae
Common Eastern Bumble Bee Bombus impatiens
Chinese Praying Mantis, female Tenodera sinensis
Western Honey Bee Apis mellifera
Yellow Crownbeard Verbesina occidentalis
Wingstem Verbesina alternifolia
Frostweed Verbesina virginica
Maryland Senna Senna marilandica
American Bird Grasshopper Schistocerca americana
Red-headed Meadow Katydid Orchelimum erythrocephalum
Fork-tailed Bush Katydid Scudderia furcata
Ocola Skipper Panoquina ocola
Ailanthus Webworm Moth Atteva aurea
Tumbling Flower Beetle Mordella sp.
Green Stink Bug Chinavia hilaris
Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp Eremnophila aureonotata
Purple Passionflower Passiflora incarnata
Gulf Fritillary (adult and caterpillar) Agraulis vanillae
Eastern Carpenter Bee Xylocopa virginica
American Bumble Bee Bombus persylvanicus
Mexican Sunflower Tithonia rotundifolia
Treehopper Acutalis tartarea
White-banded Crab Spider Misumenoides formosipes
Tall Ironweed Vernonia gigantea
Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus
Scentless Plant Bug Harmostes fraterculus
Dusky Stinkbug Euschistus tristigmus
Late Boneset Eupatorium serotinum
Boneset Stem Midge (gall) Neolasioptera perfoliate