Category: insects (Page 28 of 89)

Bug of the Week: Assorted Dragonflies and Damselflies

August 10, 2016 / Roberta / 0 Comments

I was walking in our local greenbelt this morning and saw a half dozen or so dragonflies hunting. They were no more than golden flashes of wings back lit in the sunlight.

They reminded me to post these photographs of a white-faced dragonfly I took earlier this summer.

This one is harder to see. Its eyes look like they are turquoise.

Not hard to see the blue on this damselfly.

Here’s a tiny damselfly with turquoise on its tail.

All these photographs were taken at one pond within a few minutes on a summer day.

Do you see dragonflies or damselflies where you live? How many of them have blue on them?

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Bug of the Week: Stoneflies

June 29, 2016 / Roberta / 0 Comments

Water is plentiful in western New York and so are aquatic insects. Our featured insect is one example. For the first time for Bug of the Week we have an adult stonefly.

The adult stoneflies have wings that fold over their back. They have two slender antennae in front, and a pair of similar but shorter structuresÂ in the back called cerci.

You can see the cerci in the left of this photograph. They look like two “tails.”

The immature stoneflies are called nymphs or naiads. Like the adults, they also have two cerci. They live in the water where they feed on algae, detritus, or some of the bigger ones may prey on other aquatic insects.

Many types of fish eat stoneflies, both nymphs and adults. Fisherman study stoneflies so they can tie realistic ones for fishing.

You can see a few examples of stonefly nymphs in this video. Caution:Â this man is extremely passionate about stoneflies. It might just rub off on you!