coleoptera – A Thousand Acres of Silphiums

WGNSS Goes to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House

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

In February, the Webster Groves nature Study Society’s Nature Photography Group headed to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield. We paid for after-hours access and were delighted with the opportunities presented to us. Many thanks to Casey Galvin, group leader for the Nature Photography Group, for organizing this visit, and to Chris Hartley from the Butterfly House for being a lovely host. Chris patiently dealt with our needs, requests and questions, while wrangling our subjects for us. He and the Butterfly House provided us a wonderful experience of photographing some remarkable arthropods from around the world. Here are some of my favorite photos from the evening.

Hercules Beetle (*Dynastes hercules*) F. Scarabidae. The hercules beetle, found in the neotropics, is the longest extant beetle species in the world.

Rainbow Stag Beetle
(*Phalacrognathus muelleri*) F. Lucanidae. This beetle is found in northern Australia and New Guinea. The mites that can be seen on this beetle do no harm to it. They tag along to pick up a free meal from their sloppy host.

Death-Feigning
Beetles (*Asbolus verrucosus*) F. Tenebrionidae. Found in the desert southwest U.S., these beetles feign death when harassed. After a minute or two they right themselves and continue on their business.

Flamboyant Flower Beetle (*Eudicella gralli*) F. Scarabaeidae. Found in tropical Africa, this beetle is a sure stunner.

Spiny Stick Insect
(*Eurycantha calcaratta*) F. Lonchodidae. These giant phasmids are endemic to humid rainforests in Australasia.

Curly-haired Tarantula (*Tiltocatl albopilosum*) F. Theraphosidae. This handsome spider is native to Central America.

That’s all from this outing. Interested in joining in one one of these WGNSS outings? Feel free to contact me or check us out at http://www.wgnss.org to learn more.

-OZB

A Lizard Beetle

coleoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

The Languria bicolor (Erotylidae) is placed in the tribe Languriini (lizard beetles). Larvae of lizard beetles develop within the stems of plants and adults feed on the tissues and pollen of the same or nearby plants. This individual was found in July 2021 at the Beaumont Scout Reservation, St. Louis County, Missouri.

Aliens in the Midden

Backyard Gardens, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

While searching for arthropod subjects to photograph on Steve’s property, we decided to check the compost/midden pile and found something completely unexpected.

gold-and-brown-rove-beetle-staphylinidae-ontholestes-cingulatus, Farmington, MO — Gold and Brown Rove Beetle – Staphylinidae-Ontholestes cingulatus, Farmington, MO

These beetles were crazy to watch – super speedy while flipping their gold-tipped abdomens over their backs in display. These guys yield even more support to my contention that the vast majority of ideas used in the sci-fi genre (particularly the creature-features) were taken from somewhere within the natural world.

gold-and-brown-rove-beetle-staphylinidae-ontholestes-cingulatus-img_6903 — Gold and Brown Rove Beetle – Staphylinidae-Ontholestes cingulatus, Farmington, MO

Check out those chompers!

gold-and-brown-rove-beetle-staphylinidae-ontholestes-cingulatus-img_6900 — Gold and Brown Rove Beetle – Staphylinidae-Ontholestes cingulatus, Farmington, MO

-OZB

From the Network that Brought You Tiny House Nation…

coleoptera, insects, macro, Species Spotlight, wildlife photography

…comes the newest in reality based, sustainable living instructional programming: Corruption Construction!

In a previous post I wrote a bit about the Warty Leaf Beetle (Neochlamisus gibbosus), a member of the Cryptocephalinae subfamily. Fascinating due to the fact that the adult form seems to be a perfect mimic of caterpillar frass, this species is much more interesting than I had imagined.

Warty Leaf Beetle - Chrysomelidae - Neochlamisus gibbosus. Adult hotographed at Shaw Nature Reserve — Warty Leaf Beetle – Chrysomelidae – Neochlamisus gibbosus. Adult photographed at Shaw Nature Reserve, MO.

This species is highly, if not solely, associated with blackberry as a host plant. While watching these guys and looking for other insects on these plants I kept noticing gall-like structures, usually on the undersides of the leaves.

Warty Leaf Beetle - Chrysomelidae - Neochlamisus gibbosus. Larval scatoshell. Photographed at Shaw Nature Reserve, MO. — Warty Leaf Beetle – Chrysomelidae – Neochlamisus gibbosus. Larval scatoshell. Photographed at Shaw Nature Reserve, MO.

Paying closer attention, I noticed that these structures were not galls, nor were they attached directly to the plant tissue – they moved. On closer inspection, I could sometimes see the legs of the creature that resided within the house.

Warty Leaf Beetle - Chrysomelidae - Neochlamisus gibbosus — Warty Leaf Beetle – Chrysomelidae – Neochlamisus gibbosus. Larval scatoshell. Photographed at Shaw Nature Reserve, MO.

I had to crack one open to see if I could get an idea of what sort of organism built and resided within. As you can see in the photograph below, the animal appeared to be a beetle larvae.

It took me a while to put it together, but eventually I confirmed that the larvae belonged to the same species as the adult beetles that I observed all over the blackberries. My next question was, on what materials did the larvae use to build its shelter? Usually, an insect will use detritus or perhaps fresh plant tissue that it processes to make a protective enclosure like this. These guys do it a bit differently.

It starts with mom. As she oviposits, she encases each egg with a layer of her own feces and some rectal secretions. As the larvae hatches and grows, it continues to expand its home by building with its own feces to accommodate its increasing bulk. Here is a photo of an adult and larvae close together.

References and Further Reading

Black Blister Beetle

macro, wildlife

From the Garden – Redbud Bruchid

Backyard Gardens, macro, wildlife

The Redbud Bruchid (Gibbobruchis mimus), as its name suggests, is one of those perfect examples of insect-plant specialization. The larvae of this species will only grow on the seeds of Redbud trees and perhaps on those of a relative or two.

Being extremely small (2.5 – 3 mm), these cute guys are quite the challenge to photograph. Adults feed on plant tissues (flower petals, pollen, nectar, etc…) and I typically have seen them feeding on my Echinacea flowers.

The guy above can be seen creating or adding to a hole in a flower petal. I much prefer them to the exotic invasive Japanese Beetles that tend to leave nothing behind.

The Bruchids are a subfamily or “tribe” found within the quite large family – the Chrysomelidae, known as “Leaf Beetles”.

If you know the size of an individual blossom of the Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), the image above will give you a good idea on just how small these little guys are.

Thanks for stopping by.
OZB

The Soldier

Backyard Gardens, macro, wildlife

Most soldier beetles are true opportunists when it comes to tucker. While not being the most efficient pollinators, these beetles can be found around almost any flowers from mid to late summer where they feed on nectar, pollen and small insects like aphids and ants. This one was photographed on my common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).

Thanks for stopping by.

OZB
email: handsomeozarkbillyboy@gmail.com