Category: Bug of the Week (Page 188 of 218)

Bug of the Week: Butterflies

We spent the weekend in the mountains of northeastern Arizona chasing butterflies with some members of the Central Arizona Butterfly Association.

tiger swallowtail

fritillary

fritillary flying

Some of the butterflies were not ready to pose.

common ringspot

painted lady

Others were very cooperative.

Although I learned a lot about butterflies this weekend, I mostly learned how little I know. There are many more butterfly species out there than I ever imagined.

For more information, try:

Dave Powell has Arizona Butterflies, identified to species.

Finding Butterflies in Arizona: A Guide to the Best Sites by Richard Bailowitz, Hank Brodkin (Author, Photographer), Priscilla Brodkin (Photographer), Kenn Kaufman (Foreword)


Butterflies of Arizona: A Photographic Guide by Hank Brodkin, Priscilla Brodkin and Bob Stewart


Arizona Butterflies & Moths: An Introduction to Familiar Species (A Pocket Naturalist Guide) by James Kavanagh and Raymond Leung (Illustrator)


Butterflies through Binoculars: The West A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Western North America (Butterflies and Others Through Binoculars Field Guide Series.) by Jeffrey Glassberg


You also might be interested in our list of butterfly and moth books for children at Science Books for Kids.

moth-and-butterfly-books-for-children-list

Disclosures:  I am an affiliate for Amazon. If you click through the linked titles or ads and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Proceeds will be used to maintain this self-hosted blog.

Bug of the Week: Cicada Nymph

A few weeks ago in Summer Sounds 1, we saw the adult cicada.

If you have cicadas around, you may have found some of these.

cicada exoskeleton

It is the dried “skin” or exoskeleton of the cicada nymph. Cicada nymphs spend a year or more underground feeding on tree roots. When they are ready to emerge as adults, they dig out of the ground, crawl up onto a tree or the side of a building, and shed their exoskeleton for the last time.

A few days ago we dug up something really cool in the garden.

cicada nymph

What is this weird grub? It is a live cicada nymph! Check out the white eyes. They were eerie.

It was really clumsy and kept rolling onto its back.

cicada nymph

On its back, it was easier to see the large front legs used for digging, with dark claws. In between the front legs is the tube mouth the cicada uses to suck on tree roots.

You can see those things in the shed exoskeleton as well.

cicada exoskeleton

Note:  if you have one of shells, examine it closely. In the back where the skin has split you can often see tiny white threads. Those are the reminants of the cicadas breathing tubes, called trachae.

After a few photos, the cicada nymph went back into the soil. Hopefully, it will be singing in the trees someday soon.

Edit: A friend posted a link to a cool video of a cicada molting. Thanks Molly!

Bug of the Week: Long-horned Bees

Although the weather is uncomfortably hot for humans, things are still happening out in the garden here in Arizona.

sunflower

The sunflowers we planted for the Great Sunflower Project have started to flower.

The bees can hardly wait.

A few days ago these bees were sleeping on a nearby milkweed plant.

long-horned bee

long-horned bee

Long-horned bees (tribe Eucerini in the family Apidae) are named for the long antennae present on males. They have a habit of clustering in groups to sleep overnight on plants.

I’m not sure what species these particular bees are. There are over 30 genera in the tribe Eucerini, including Melissodes (the long-horned bees), Peponapis and Xenoglossa (squash bees), and Svastra (sunflower bees).

Hopefully we’ll be seeing bees on the sunflowers soon.

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