Category: macro

Saddleback Caterpillar – 2023

insects, Lepidoptera, macro, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

We had a great time this past Saturday when the WGNSS Entomology and Nature Photo Groups got together for our great caterpillar hunt at Pickle Springs C.A. in Ste. Genevieve County, MO. Of course I was primarily looking for the Limacodidae – the slug moth caterpillars. We’ve had better results with the slugs, but we did find five species over the course of the day, including a spun-glass slug (Isochaetes beutenmuelleri) and this saddleback (Acharia stimulea). Unfortunately, I was the only one to see this one as I spent some time by myself in the late afternoon looking through hundreds of young oak trees at Hawn State Park.

As always, we did find a few other species of interest, unexpected things and, as of now, unidentified creatures. I will be posting more from this trip in the near future.

I decided to go for stacking this nice saddleback. With so many details and intersecting lines, I knew this might be a risky attempt. I think they turned out pretty nice.

As much as I like the convenience and price of my wireless Godox flash system, it does come with some aggravations. One thing that frustrates me is the ease in which the controls can be inadvertently changed when carrying the system around on a strap. Then, the flash doesn’t work and I have to take the time to figure out what happened and make the necessary adjustments. Or, after powering the transmitter and flash down, the settings in one or the other change for some reason.

Another thing that drew my attention when putting these stacks together is the variable light output when taking a stack of images like these. Despite everything in the camera and flash units being on full-manual control, the illumination provided by the flash varied noticeably from one image to the next. This is something I never noticed when using my Canon branded speedlights. Thankfully, the differences between exposures, in the slivers that are used to make up these final images, is not noticeable at all. So, maybe I’m complaining about nothing.

Here is the first stack, also featured at the top of the post. The head of the caterpillar is facing you but is not visible as it is covered in the protective hood. Additional protection is also afforded by the obvious sharp tubercles that can break off into any would-be predator, injecting toxins that burn and irritate, an experience that I think is very similar to that of brushing up against nettles.

Saddleback caterpillar (Acharia stimulea). This image was taken with a 180mm macro lens on a full-sized sensor camera, composed of a 37 image focus stack at f/11, 1/125 sec and ISO-250.

The next stacked image is an overhead view. I am putting this one in as a full-sized jpeg file. So, be sure to click on the image to see the details up close! The remnants of the mucous-like silk they secrete as the glide about the leaf surface can be seen towards the bottom of the image.

Saddleback caterpillar (Acharia stimulea). This image was taken with a 180mm macro lens on a full-sized sensor camera, composed of a 26 image focus stack at f/11, 1/60 sec and ISO-250.

Virginia Snakeroot (Endodeca serpentaria)

macro, native plants

Virginia snakeroot (Endodeca serpentaria) is an easily overlooked cousin of the much more familiar Dutchman’s pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla). Belonging to the Aristolochiaceae (birthwort) family, both species host the pipevine swallowtail butterfly. The Aristolochiaceae family is composed primarily of tropical woody vining species. Virginia snakeroot is an exception in the family, being neither tropical, woody nor a vine. This species is a low and slow growing herbaceous perennial native to Missouri and is a really nice find.

The hastate leaves and growing habit of Virginia snakeroot (Endodeca serpentaria). Note the ground-level flower.
Flower of Virginia snakeroot.

Osmia taurus – Taurus Mason Bee

Hymenoptera, insects, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Casey and I found these mason bees in mid April this year at Hughes Mountain N.A. I had no clue what these were but was intrigued to “discover” a new-for-me bee so early in the season. Unfortunately, I was to find out it is yet another introduced species. Apparently these were first found in Maryland in the 1970’s and have spread west since then.

Hardworking for Hyperactive Hesperiidae

insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

This season Casey and I have been focusing on trying to find some of the more rare and harder to find skipper butterflies in the family Hesperiidae. We’ve come up short a few times – there are several who seem to be on severe declines in our area and may be extirpated from previous well-known sites. Here are a few we had luck with finding and worked our tails of to get a few photos.

Atrytonopsis hianna (dusted skipper)
This striking skipper was found in the glades of Jefferson County, MO in May of 2023.

Problema byssus (byssus skipper)
Classified as vulnerable by the Xerces Society, the byssus skipper uses eastern gamma grass and big bluestem as its host and is threatened by the continued loss of prairie and grassland habitat throughout its range.

Euphyes dukesi (Duke’s skipper)
Uncommon throughout its fragmented range, the Duke’s skipper uses sedges in moist fields, marshes and forests for its host. This species is highly vulnerable to ongoing draining and development of these habitats. Casey and I refound this particular population in St. Charles County and we were happy to find a few in ditches alongside heavily trafficked roads.

Dorsal view of Euphyes dukesi (Duke’s skipper)
I has thrilled to be able to catch this female Duke’s skipper ovipositing on a sedge stem

Amblyscirtes hegon (pepper and salt skipper)
With a very large range, covering most of the eastern U.S., the pepper and salt skipper is nevertheless difficult to find and photograph.

Amblyscirtes hegon (pepper and salt skipper)

Peacock Brenthia (Brenthia pavonacella)

insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Here is another set from the bowels of Facebook that I wanted to make sure gets captured here. This is the diurnal metalmark moth (Choreutidae), Brenthia pavonacella (Hodges #2627). It is known as the peacock brenthia, due to its unusual mating display behaviors that can be seen here.

Peacock Brenthia (Brenthia pavonacella)
Peacock Brenthia (Brenthia pavonacella)
Back side

Schinia nr-jaguarina (French-grass Flower Moth)

insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

These are some older photos that I posted on Facebook back in 2018 when I had the annoying habit of posting some interesting topics only on Facebook for some reason.

Schinia nr-jaguarina (French-grass flower moth)

Only discovered in 2012, this species of flower moth (Schinia nr-jaguarina) has yet to be described and named. This was photographed at Desplaines State Fish and Wildlife Area near Joliet Illinois. This species seems to be an obligate feeder on Orbexilum onobrychis (scurf pea, french-grass, among others). To read more about this recent discovery, head over to this location: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/…/interesting-moth-new…

Schinia nr-jaguarina (French-grass flower moth)

2023 Update
This past weekend, the WGNSS Entomology Group spent the better part of a day exploring the wonderful Horn’s Prairie Grove LWR, just north of Vandalia, IL, and discovered a population of Schinia nr-jaguarina (apparently, this species has still not been officially described and the specific name given here is just a placeholder).

One of us collected a specimen to rear so I might be able to get photographs of an adult soon.

Schinia nr-jaguarina (French-grass flower moth)

Some Lovely Lycaenids

macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Tonight I’m just sharing some photos of a few lovely Lycaenid butterflies that I had the pleasure of photographing this season. The Lycaenidae family is the second largest family of butterflies, with about 6,000 species worldwide. The highlight was the bountiful season that the juniper hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus) had. Prior to this year, I had only seen one or two in a season, usually without my macro rig with me. In a few trips to the glades in Jefferson County this spring, Casey and I had at least two dozen individuals. They are not usually cooperative, but we worked pretty hard to get something.

First up is the afore mentioned C. gryneus.

A not so lovely eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas)
The perfectly names spring azure (Celastrina ladon)
Henry’s Elfin (Callophrys henrici)
And a beat up gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus)

Passionflower Flea Beetle (Disonycha discoidea)

macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Ever since seeing the photo of Disonycha discoidea in Arthur Evans’ “Beetles of Eastern North America,” I have been wanting to find and photograph this gorgeous Chrysomelid. I have looked for years for this species around St. Louis and southeastern Missouri, and even planted one of its host plants, Passiflora incarnata, in our yard hoping to possibly attract them.

Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)

Just a couple weeks ago, my friend, Pete, posted a bunch of picks from his botany trip to southern Illinois on Facebook. As I perused through his collection of fascinating plants he found, I stopped at a photo of several beetles that were on a grape vine. In this photo was a single D. discoidea. Getting a little upset, I messaged Pete to see if he could tell me exactly where he had found this. He was at Giant City State Park and because of smartphone technology, he forwarded me his geotagged photo and I had access to exactly where he had taken the picture.

Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)

However, I knew this was a big risk and I didn’t get my hopes up. First, Pete had taken his photo approximately a week before Sarah and I took the 2.5 hour drive south. In addition, the beetle he photographed was on a grapevine, not their typical host plant. Was this just an accidental occurrence of this beetle or could they use grapes as an alternative host? Nothing in the literature suggested that this occurred with this species; apparently, it is monophagous and only uses members of the Passiflora to feed.

We decided it was worth the drive. Giant City State Park is a high quality area and I knew that if we struck out we wouldn’t have to try hard to find something else of interest. We found Pete’s spot of original find pretty easily and started searching. After a couple hours of looking as hard as we could among the grape and poison ivy we decided we weren’t going to find the species there. Utilizing smartphone technology again, I thought it might be a good idea to look for Passiflora plants that had been documented in iNaturalist within the park. My phone signal was pretty poor, so we drove to one of the highest points we could find and I found a single spot that had these plants documented.

Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)

These plants were found in a poor scrub prairie habitat along with blackberry and even more poison ivy. We started looking, finding and searching between 50 and 100 of these short plants. We looked very closely and I had a chance to try my DIY collapsible beat sheets that I made over the winter. No luck. I couldn’t believe it. I really thought we had a good chance. We knew the species had been found in the park and here we were within a sizeable population of the host plants. You’ve seen the photos already, so obviously we found our target. And, of course, insect finder extraordinaire, Sarah, was the one to find the beetle on a ragged, half-eaten P. incarnata plant. I immediately got to work photographing from a safe distance. One of the reasons they call them flea beetles is that they will jump great distances upon being disturbed. Ultimately, we found four individuals all on the same plant. Thankfully, this species is quite large for a flea beetle and I didn’t need to get too close that higher magnifications would require.

The aposematic colored Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)

So what’s up with that coloration?
This species exhibits aposematism, also known as warning coloration. This is the same reason that unpalatable or downright toxic species like monarchs and milkweed bugs along with stinging predators like yellowjackets or velvet ants show warning colorations. Disonycha discoidea picks up cyanogenic glycosides from its Passiflora host plant, making it distasteful or toxic to would-be predators. By evolving this aposematism, the insects can advertise this and avoid the predators that would be on the lookout for an easy meal. In the tropics, a group of butterflies known as the heliconiines also acquire these toxic compounds from the larval feeding on Passiflora.

Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)

It was great to finally find this target species. The larvae of this species is also quite photogenic. If I find the time to make a return visit this summer, I would love to find a few of them as well.

Thanks for stopping by!
OZB