Spring Fishfly

Posted on June 30, 2023 by tspuckler

While hiking in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, I came across this cool insect. It can be found throughout much of eastern North America. Adults are generally found near the water that their aquatic larvae require and can be found in a variety of aquatic habitats, including ponds, swamps, marshes, and springs.

Fishflies are quite large, with a wingspan of 2-1/2 to 3 inches. Their wings are delicate and very long, much longer than their body. The wings are clear and tinted pale brown, with no dark or white markings apart from the veins. There are two large compound eyes on the sides of the head and three small simple eyes (ocelli) in a triangle on top of the head. The antennae are long, dark brownish-gray, and have many segments.

This is a primitive creature, having appeared on earth more than 260 million years ago. Fishflies, Alderflies and Dobsonflies belong to the insect order Megaloptera, which means “great wing.” Their entire lifespan is several years, but most of this time is spent in their immature aquatic state. They only live up to seven days as adults.

The larvae of both Dobsonflies and Fishflies are called Hellgrammites, and are, famously, sold to fishermen as bait. Hellgrammites are thick and somewhat flattened, dark brown and shiny, with an impressive head, six legs and seven or eight finger-like filaments along each side.

Fishflies lay their eggs upon vegetation overhanging streams, whereby the larvae, as soon as they hatch, drop into the water, and go about preying upon aquatic animals, including vertebrates like minnows and tadpoles, as well as aquatic plants.

These insects practice complete metamorphosis, hatching from eggs, living as aquatic larvae, resting and changing as pupae and emerging as adults. Like many of the insects that develop this way, their appearance, habitat and diet changes radically in their different life stages.

Adults are active at dusk but remain hidden during the day. The wings are held roof-like and to the side of the abdomen when at rest. They are relatively weak fliers. It was super cool to find one of these; there is also a later-emerging Summer Fishfly.

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Southern Yellowjacket

Posted on January 20, 2023 by tspuckler

While flipping logs in the woods on a (relatively) warm Winter day, I sometimes come across invertebrates like this one. Southern Yellowjackets are typically found in the eastern United States and as far south as Mexico and Guatemala. Their territory expands as far west as Texas and as far east as the Atlantic Ocean.

The Southern Yellowjacket is a social wasp. This species can be identified by its distinctive black and yellow patterning and orange queen. This species is predatory and typically eats live insects, but they also feed on the flesh of deceased prey.

Their nests are typically found in unnatural habitats, such as yards, parks and the sides of roads. Mated queens (like this one) overwinter as adults in protected areas and start new colonies in the spring. In some cases, they build their own nest, but more often, they take a different approach.

Since she emerges from hibernation a month or more later than the Eastern Yellowjacket, she simplifies things by finding a recently constructed Eastern Yellowjacket nest. She enters the nest, murders the queen, and appropriates the nest and workers (which don’t seem to mind the change in executive management).

As a form of defense of their nests, Southern Yellowjacket workers use alarm pheromones to communicate with each other to coordinate an attack. These behaviors are chemically mediated, and the alarm pheromones cause many social wasp species to leave the nest and attack whatever may be threatening it.

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American Bird Grasshopper

Posted on September 30, 2022 by tspuckler

I happened to flush one of these creatures out of its hiding spot while walking through a field in southern Illinois. It did not just hop a few feet in front of me, like most grasshoppers, rather it took wing, flying several hundred feet and landing in high up in a tree.

Although these large insects have two generations a year, they are most abundant in the Autumn. Mature females are approximately two inches in length, and the males are only slightly smaller. They are North America’s largest flying grasshoppers.

While most grasshoppers overwinter as eggs in the soil, American Bird Grasshoppers overwinter as adults and lethargically active adults can be spotted on warm Winter days in meadows and along wooded edges throughout the colder months.

The American Bird Grasshopper is found in fields and open woodlands in eastern and central North America, south into Mexico and South America. Somewhat migratory, in the northern part of range it may be an immigrant only and not breed.

This species was the source of a newly discovered class of chemical compounds called caeliferins. When the grasshopper feeds on a plant, its caeliferins induce the plant to release volatile organic compounds. Caeliferins also play a role in defense, as the grasshopper expels large amounts of it when attacked.

Not only is its large size impressive, I found its detailed Art Deco-like pattern really neat.

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Nebraska Conehead

Posted on August 19, 2022 by tspuckler

While hiking on the Buckeye Trail I came across this cool insect. The Nebraska Conehead is type of Katydid. Like other members of its family, males “sing” on warm summer nights.

Part of this insect is not very well named: While it is found in Nebraska, its range is much broader, extending southward to Mississippi and eastward to Maryland. The other part is indeed well named: A prominent, cone-shaped structure is its the head, which easily seen when looking at it up close.

This katydid feeds on the flowers as well as the foliage of woody plants. The call of the male sounds like “tsip-tsip,” a buzz-like sound repeated once every two seconds. This call is typically heard in daytime, but occasionally at night as well.

It tends to spend its time facing head down more often than not, presumably prepared to execute its escape strategy – falling headfirst into the grass, where it will remain motionless to avoid detection.

Nebraska Coneheads can found along roadsides, in weeds at the edges of fields and woods and in brushy ground cover in open woods. This is the first one I’ve ever seen, so it made for a great hike.

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Carolina Mantis

Posted on December 10, 2021 by tspuckler

While walking along some railroad tracks in southern Illinois, I came across this cool creature.

The Carolina Mantis is a species native to North Carolina and South Carolina; hence the name. But, actually it is a common mantis is most states of the United States. It also occurs in Mexico and South America.

These insects are about 2-1/2 inches long and are highly variable in color. They may be gray with spots, green, green with spots or bands, brown, and brown with spots or bands.

The front legs are usually held folded in front of the insect in a pose resembling prayer. When an unfortunate insect gets too close, the mantis’ forelegs spring out, grab the prey and then hold it while it is eaten.

This insect is found in woodlands and meadows, especially around flowering plants. It tends to stay in one place as for long as there is a good supply of food and usually uses a “sit-and-wait” tactic of obtaining its prey.

The Carolina Mantis is the state insect of South Carolina.

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Modest Katydid

Posted on November 13, 2021 by tspuckler

While exploring a cypress swamp in southern Illinois, I came across this fine creature. Native to the southeastern United States, this species is more common in the south, but appears to be expanding its range northward.

It is found in a wide variety of both dry and wet habitats, though in more northern states, most reside in bottomland forests. The Modest Katydid is small and easily overlooked. Not only is the species size and demeanor modest, the song is barely audible in the field.

Though it looks leaf-like like other katydids, a key identification mark it that it has a bold dark diagonal stripe through its eye. Like other katydids, it eats leaves from deciduous trees in wooded areas, parks and neighborhoods.

The quiet, lispy ticks of the Modest Katydid are very hard to hear in the field. The nighttime chorusing of other katydids and crickets easily drown them out.

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Sword-bearing Conehead

Posted on October 1, 2021 by tspuckler

I found this cool creature while looking for snakes in southern Illinois.

Easily recognized by their slanted faces and pointed cones that extend from their foreheads, the Conehead Katydids look like insect battering-rams, ready to poke holes in whatever gets in their way. Scientists do not know the significance or use of the cones.

This species has long, slender wings and is a strong flier. At nearly 3 inches in length, it ranks as among among the longest of our native katydids.

Residing in tall grass, weedy fields and shrubby edges, male coneheads sing mostly at night and have loud raspy or buzzy songs.

The Sword-bearing Conehead is named for the extremely long ovipositor of the female, which can be nearly as long as her abdomen. In the photo above, you can see the dark brown tip of this female’s ovipositor extending beyond her wings.

Other types of commonly encountered Conehead Katydids are also cleverly named, such as the Slightly Musical Conehead, Modest Katydid and the False Robust Conehead.

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Eastern Carpenter Bee

Posted on July 2, 2021 by tspuckler

The Eastern Carpenter Bee is the carpenter bee most often encountered in the eastern United States. Similar in size and appearance to a Bumble Bee, the Eastern Carpenter Bee lacks a fuzzy abdomen, though it may have a few short hairs here and there.

These insects can be important pollinators, especially of open-faced flowers, though they are also known to “rob” nectar by boring holes in the sides of flowers (thus not accomplishing pollination). They don’t seem to mind sharing flower patch territory with other varieties of bees.

They sometimes bore holes in wood dwellings (hence the name “Carpenter Bee”) and can become minor pests. They use chewed wood bits to form partitions between the cells in their nests.

Eastern Carpenter bees are not solitary bees, but are not truly social either. The weak form of sociality they exhibit, with one female doing the majority of the work, and caring for her sisters, may be a transitional step in the evolution of sociality.

Though noisy and imposing, males do not possess stingers and females (which have stingers) are not aggressive. Though each male will stake out a small area and defend it from anything that comes near. He’ll attempt to drive off rival bees, other insects, and even animals or people.

This is truly one of the “big bugs” of Summer that is easy to notice.

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Snakefly

Posted on June 18, 2021 by tspuckler

While at my friend’s house in California in April, I noticed this cool creature on the screen door. At first I thought that it was a Mantisfly, but closer examination showed it to be an insect that I had never encountered before.

Snakeflies are family of predatory insects. They are a relict group and have been considered living fossils, as species from the early Jurassic period (140 million years ago) closely resemble modern-day species.

An adult Snakefly resembles a Lacewing in appearance, but it has a notably elongated thorax (which look like a neck) which, together with the mobile head, gives the group their common name. Snakeflies have transparent wings that are longer than their actual bodies.

Females (like this one) have a large and sturdy ovipositor. This tubular structure is at the end of the insect’s abdomen and is used for depositing eggs, often in a well-hidden location. It is thought that they lay their eggs in the crevices in the bark of trees.

At less than an inch in total length, adult Snakeflies are territorial and carnivorous organisms. They are diurnal and are important predators of aphids and mites.

This was a very cool and unexpected find on my latest visit to the Golden State.

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Obscure Bird Grasshopper

Posted on October 23, 2020 by tspuckler

Despite its common name, this insect is anything but obscure – it is large, conspicuous and “showy.” Females can reach 2-1/2 inches in length. Males are smaller, sometimes remarkably so. The name “bird” comes from the Obscure Bird Grasshopper’s ability to fly rather long distances and often up into trees, if they are frightened.

This insect is related to the famous Desert Locust, which appears in the news when it occurs in massive swarms in Africa. Obscure Bird Grasshoppers are capable of long distance seasonal migrations, though they are not populous enough to cause mass destruction.

While grasshoppers will generally eat almost anything green, the Obscure Bird Grasshopper seems to favor plants in the citrus family, such as wafer ash and lime trees.

This insect’s habitat is fields and woodlands across most of the eastern and southern United States and into Mexico. Adults are typically found in late Summer and early Fall.

I dig big bugs and it’s always neat to encounter this species when visiting southern Illinois, which so far has been the only place where I have seen them.

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Category Archives: Insects – Other

Spring Fishfly

Southern Yellowjacket

American Bird Grasshopper

Nebraska Conehead

Carolina Mantis

Modest Katydid

Sword-bearing Conehead

Eastern Carpenter Bee

Snakefly

Obscure Bird Grasshopper