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Chalcophora angulicollis

wildandfreemontana.blogspot.com

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Larvae feed on Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia). (Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) is not affected.) Adults feed on pollen, particularly goldenrod (Solidago spp.).

Considered a serious pest of Black Locust; previously weakened or damaged trees are often killed by the larvae. Previously confined to the native range of Black Locust in the northeast, it has spread with the trees throughout the US and parts of Canada. Black Locust is used for reclamation and similar projects where trees are likely to be stressed and thus more vulnerable to damage.

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6 Spotted Strangalia (Strangalia sexnotata)

As larva they eat decaying wood thereby turning trees back into soil; as adults they sup on flower nectar and pollen Their body segments under those black spotted orange elytra are red. I kept seeing these red beings flickering around my wild flower garden wondering what they were until these photos introduced me to my guests.

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quite variable both in size and pattern; see texasento.net; Hosts: various Malvaceae,

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Gastrophysa cyanea (Green Dock Beetle)

Gastrophysa means distended stomach as the gravid females abdomen swells to such an extent that her elytra (shield-like fore wings) cannot close.

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form succinea

The adult is highly variable in color and pattern. The base pattern of the species is red to red-orange with 18 spots. These spots may be exaggerated, or eliminated, on an individual basis. The common red form, succinea is dominant in most areas. Melanic forms conspicua (two red markings) and spectabilis (four red markings) are less common, and only starting to establish in the country. Rarely, other forms may appear. Any pattern involving red-orange and black may potentially occur in this species!
Although variable, the combination of large size and specific pattern details generally allow easy identification. Darker forms are most commonly mistaken for other dark species. In these cases, look at the white pattern on the head and pronotum (per. J. Bailey).

Other Common Names

The many-named ladybird! Multicoloured (multicolored), multivariate, southern, Japanese, Asian, Halloween, harlequin or pumpkin ladybird (ladybug, ladybeetle); la coccinelle asiatique, veelkeurig Aziatisch lieveheersbeestje, Asiatischer Marienkafer. from Paul Mabbott's Ladybird Survey
M.A.L.B. - especially in the pest control trade
Harlequin ladybird - the vernacular used in Europe, founded after initial introduction of the species.
Haxy - commonly used for abbreviation (HA-rmonia AX-yridis), especially in Europe.
--BugGuide

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Black Blister Beetles are black and have a glistening sheen on their head, pronotum and wing coverings. A bit of yellow hidden on the abdomen is the only additional color. They can secrete a chemical that causes irritation, redness and, over time, blister formation on human skin, a defense mechanism intended to protect them from predators. This chemical also renders them somewhat distasteful, further aiding in their survival. The Black Blister Beetle is widespread across the continent and can be found on flowering plants, especially goldenrods and asters. Mouthparts are for chewing, feeding on flowers and foliage.

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adults eat flowers, fruit, maybe leaves; Larvae feed on decaying wood, roots and leaves thus they serve a vital role of recycling organic matter. see: aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

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Identification

Only the females have the pronounced pronotal elevations, which makes Freude's key(1) not too helpful for keying out males. Unless genitalia are shown, I think most BG images of males will have to be left at genus level. People have been placing specimen images into the two species based on the incorrect notion that B. canaliculatus has ridges and B. plumbeus has a smooth pronotum. This will require some time and work to resolve; males will have to remain at genus level except for credible museum specimens. --Jason Botz, 28.x.2016

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Pinacante beetle (Eleodes obscurus)

Pinacante derives from Nahuatl (Aztec) pinacatl black beetle. He is a desert beetle who walks every where, no flying. In fact his elytra are fused to protect from dessication. Her diet consists of vegetable-animal detritus and seeds.

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Green Bottle Flies

On 11 August 2018 I was in a hurry to get home for lunch and was low on Oxy so in consequences I got poor photos.

I had disturbed a noticeably gathering of the flies on the sidewalk, which then moved to the Bindweed patch. I theorize that they might have been feeding on a sweet liquid (soda?) spilled by workers putting on a new roof there.

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6/16/20: I found them swarming about (see academic.oup.com) the Scotch-Pine-like cultivar by H.S.

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A genus of dipterous insects(flys) whose young (called rat-tailed larvæ) are remarkable for their long tapering tail, a retractile snorkel for breathing under water and for their ability to live in very impure and salt waters; -- also called drone fly. [I am unsure this applies to whole genus or merely to E. tenax.

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The larva of the species E. tenax, called the rat-tailed maggot, may cause intestinal myiasis in humans. see article

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Size 6.3-9.8 mm(1)
Identification: Projecting cylindrical abdomen (genitalia) of male rather distinctive.
E. volucris females have the Scaeva like markings on the abdomen, which are always separated, strongly curved and more white, while other Eupeodes species have them yellow.
E. volucris has reddish legs.

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They are keen mimics of wasps with similar colors and banding on the abdomen, but a look at their eyes and antennae reveal what they really are. In this species, female eyes are separated, while male eyes are right next to each other (holoptic).
--insectidentification.org

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from wikipaedia

Horse-flies have appeared in literature since Aeschylus in Ancient Greece mentioned them driving people to madness through their persistent pursuit. Shakespeare uses the theme of the maddening gadfly in his plays King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra.

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While fishing in Northern Wisc, my wife and neophyte to the north woods Kathryn watched a deer fly chew into her arm and fly away leaving her bleeding. She was astonished. I instructed her to just wait long enough until they bite, then swat, killing them; otherwise they keep after you until they get their blood or you go mad and jump into the lake or river and maybe drowned.

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Tachinidae Resources

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Notes on TACHINIDAE: Masiphya? spp.

5 spp. in so. US north to MD-MI-IA-CA(1)
see nadsdiptera.org

Article: Parasitism of Stagmomantis Carolina (Mantodea: Mantidae) by Masiphya confusa (Diptera: Tachinidae)
at bioone.org

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Out for a walk I passed a Chamissa with galls that I had read were caused by a Picture Fly. I stopped to see if I could see any sign of action, moving branches, scrutinizing galls. Nothing. I continued on, sat on a bench on the Riverwalk to write some notes. Soon I noticed this small bug crawling around on my left hand. Interesting looking, I boxed it, photographed it, and left it on the alamo that I thought it had fallen from. Not until I later when I saw my photos did I realize that she was the fly I had been searching for.

"Bubble Gall Tephritid", referring to the (shiny & sticky when fresh) round, glabrous galls.
    --Field Guide to Plant Galls of California and Other Western States; By Ron Russo
see: Life history, courtship, and mating behavior of the gall-forming Aciurina trixa here

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Crane Fly Female (Tipula sp.)

I stopped by the small slow tributary from a culvert draining the H.S. There I a Crane fly saw. She was depositing eggs in the water. When she saw me approaching she unsuccessfully hid in the green stream-side grasses. I approached her after a quick insurance shot for a closer better focused shot, but she decided to finish her deposit in less populated waters.

go to main entry

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links:
1.   idtools.org factsheet
2.   scalenet.info
3.   sciencedirect.com

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They seem to prefer ONAGRACEAE (Evening Primrose family), at least in cool damp times. I have also seen them on Oenothera elata (Hooker evening primrose, sundrops) in my wild garden one year, 2012?. Before 2018 I was concentrating on the flora, now I am more aware of bugs and will be on the lookout for these guys for better photos and an ID.

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Xunusually

  ― EntomoBlog, mex

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Charcoal seed bug, due to its resemblance to a dying ember. Native to the deserts of western North American, they have a tendency to appear in HUGE numbers (aided by parthenogenesis) in the late summer. --wikipae

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bugoftheweek.com

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Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
Halyomorpha halys

An invasive sp. very similar, Antennae display two interspersed white bands, a unique trait not found in native stink bugs.

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of interest...

Harlequin Bug (Murgantia histrionica)
  wikipedia
  Bug Eric

I seem to have misplaced my photos, I cannot even remember the year

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Zicrona americana nymph

On my morning walk I noticed a newly planted, chewed-up aspen; walked over to it in order determine the culprit. The usual suspects, Flea beetles, probably flown the scene to lay some eggs or eaten by this fellow and siblings, a Predatory Stink Bug with his impaled victim, a Leafhopper Neocoelidia tuberculata

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Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus)

On 16 June 2020 13:08 I returned to Ojos Frios and the patch of Lacy germander, as I round the house my eye is on the Teucrium laciniatum to see if I can spy any of my so far unidentified Assassins, No, but one of them sees me as I am almost on top of him, she takes off in a slow noisy blue-gray mini-cloud over the roof of the house. Last night, Sunday 21 June, I came across a web page describing the Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus) with photos of the Wheel Bug nymphs, A match and ID! even the slow noisy blue-gray flight of the largest of the True Bugs.

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The Assassin

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a ...

...not a tapping but a whiny buzzing in my ear,
a mosquito flying near, even in the drought!
Dropping my tome (Vollmannn's Argall) looking about
I discover sitting beside me, basking in my reading light.
    Lenore?

I boxed her that last night in June thinking Seed bug. On close inspection next day I discovered my third Assassin that month.

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see them harass a mantid

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Euro Woolcarder Bee
(MEGACHILIDAE: Anthidium manicatum)

discoverlife.org

'Anthidium manicatum (is perhaps the most widely distributed unmanaged bee species in the world. It was unintentionally introduced to North America in the late 1960s from Europe, and is now established transcontinentally, as well as in South America, the Mediterranean region, New Zealand, and the Canary Islands'
--zoolinneanArticle

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discoverlife.org

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Illustrating a Bit of the
Great Food Web

29 Aug 2019: yesterday I casually assumed that she was eating the dog poop, but today I watch her as I reset my camera. She was waiting on the poop for flies to arrive to lay their eggs, which they did. She would fly up to catch them, mainly missing. I finally got a photo and immediately after she got a fly and took off.

So maybe yesterday she was not eating (well not eating but chewing-up for the larvae) the dog do-do but the maggots, which are eating the excrement of the dog which ate the rabbit (hair shows in the poop) which ate the grass!

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Bug Guide says:

Identification:
Thin, lamellate, reflexed hind margins of 2nd and 3rd urotergites is diagnostic for this species.
The amount of black is highly variable in this species and other vespids. The eastern subspecies (boreoorientalis) is mainly black. Some specimens of this species from one locality in Florida have practically no red while others are almost completely red. In general, structural characters are more reliable and play a more important role in identification, though some species also show significant structural variation. (Comment by Mathias Buck).

Life Cycle: Nests in burrows in dirt banks, and in cells of Sceliphron (mud) and Polistes (paper) nests.

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Mason Wasp, Vespidae: Pterocheilus sp.

I walked out onto the portal with camera to the sunflower, a towering ten foot or more behemoth to see what was going-on on besides the usual suspects up to the usual things. I found there a wasp I did not recognize acting strangely. She was digging into the disk of a sunflower at eye level. Why? Was she going to make a brood chamber? No! That's silly it would have to last the winter. What than was she doing?
    I started to photograph. She was using her abdomen to leverage her head down into the hole she was digging, occasionally scraping out debris onto the rays below, and more occasionally she would back out and clean her antennae. She was working hard and steady, I kept observing and shooting.
    After 16 minutes she started inching out. It was a struggle, for her long mandibles were gripping a large pink and white longitudinally striped caterpillar. After rearranging it, Mandibles gripping the head, legs the body, she took off to I assume a prepared chamber in a hole in the ground or somewhere else where she will lay an egg on or in the future food bank of her descendant-to-be.

Bug Eric on Pterocheilus and INSECTA MUNDI Pterocheilus Subgenus Megapterocheilus
the Sunflower moth caterpillar is (PYRALIDEA: Homoeosoma electella), q.v.

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I was uncertain as to what species this was as it did not look much like the P. aurifer I had seen last year (see previous entry). But after reading the species variations account in CJAI I see that they are all the same sp.

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P. texanus vs. apachus

Polistes texanus was described by Cresson (1872), and is currently considered a synonym of P. apachus. Nonetheless, it is possible that it is a good species. The status of P. texanus is currently under investigation.

Similar to P. apachus but lacking the yellow stripes on the scutum. In P. apachus the stripes are always present in females but they can be absent in males. On the gena (behind the eye in lateral view) the yellow area bleeds gradually into the ferruginous area (both are sharply separated in P. apachus).

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K found him (he might have undeveloped wings) while gardening, I put him on the tree for the photo shoot, couldn't have him running while I was crawling.

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from: SW Zygoptera

sizes: medium, lengths 23 - 50 mm male: usually blue (violet) & black; wings well up over back, sail-like; leg hairs 2X long as space between;
females: most common tan or gray wh male blue; else like male;
behavior: flight `dance-like' (up & down); alight frequently on rocks wood rather than vegetation; more likely at moving waters;

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Aztec Dancer (Argia nahuana)

size: small/medium, length 23 - 37 mm
male: brilliant sky-blue; thorax shoulder stripe variably forked (lower stripe can be interrupted);
blue "tail" segments 8-10; distance between lower appendages from above less than width of individual appendages;
inward pointing lope on appendages when viewed from above;
usually a spot, rather than a dash, on s2
female: less colorful, thicker bodied than male; one form like male; other is tan and black

The Aztec dancer damselfly is one of the pond damsels. The dark black stripe on the side of the thorax is forked from front to back. Other field marks include blue postocular spots, pale blue legs with a black stripe, and a blue ring on the seventh segment of the abdomen.

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American Bluets, Enallagma:

males: usually bright blue & black patterned; wings alongside body; leg hairs not twice long as space between; eyes quite black on top;
females: several color forms: usually tan or gray

Northern Bluet Enallagma annexum
Boreal Bluet Enallagma boreale
Tule Bluet Enallagma carunculatum
Arroyo Bluet Enallagma praevarum

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From bugguide.net

Overlaps distribution to east with basically identical G. texensis (mostly in western Texas), and distinction is problematic (perhaps often impossible) there. This species is supposed to have a slightly different song than G. texensis, but that distinction is weak, as the song can vary somewhat with the individual, and with the conditions under which it is singing (weather, lighting, presence or absence of other individuals, etc.).

Typically a blackish Cricket (both above and below), but with tegmina and base of hind legs often lighter (brownish or sometimes reddish). Head usually narrower than pronotum (viewed from above) in both male and female. Pronotum usually somewhat pilose. Most individuals are long-winged, but may shed wings when molested (and then can be mistaken as short- winged due to lack of hind wings). It does not shed wings as readily as several other species though.

Range: Southwestern; from southern Oregon into western Kansas & Texas and southward into Mexico.

Season: Has multiple generations in south, most common in spring and sometimes again in late summer further north. Probably overwinters as nymphs (maybe in other stages also where winters are mild).

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