Bugs and Butterflies

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Cedars

Well, you have them in a shot glass, on an old piece of leaf, presumably in a cool house. Temps impact activity, lots of caterpillars are night active and if these are a type which migrate to their host plant, there really isnt many options for them to behave naturally. Another thought is the Tent caterpillar/moth. Eggs are laid (for this area, the fall before) and when the cats hatch, they look for twigs to spin their group nest. But it is a recent laying, so look for early hatching/hibernating moths in your area.

The only carnivorous cat in N. America is the harvester. I do not know if they are in your area. I did see their butterfly in my yard already this year and photographed another on Crex Meadows a few weeks ago (first photo for that in Crex Meadows and the wisconsin county its in). If I remember right, it was the first report ever of harvesters in Crex's county, though they have been documented in counties north and south of Crex.

Let us know if you have caterpillars munching on the tomato leaf, or if they use a different host (you are going to add options for the ones you kept right?)

Acknowledged all. Muchas gracias. We had severe thunderstorms yesterday with strong winds & heavy rains, and the cats I released back onto the outside plant are not in evidence this morning. I don't recall mentioning it, or know if it's worth mentioning, but the tomato plant the eggs appeared on is in a pot. Still no evidence of similar eggs anywhere else in my gardens.

In the shot glass, a few cats moved off the leaf onto the glass sides (none went to the fresh tomato leaf ), and a couple fell in the dribble of water in the bottom and drowned. It's still rainy but relatively calm so I put the shotglass on its side in one of my wildflower patches where there is the greatest variety of plants and some cover.

Keeping my fingers crossed that my curiosity has not unduly upset the natural order of things.

PS Found this earlier image on my camera that includes a 1mm scale.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

thats pretty cool, never knew that! yes, this is a common Taiwanese sight. actually its a slow one as the others all blurred up the pics lol.

Yeah, I thought it was a cool bit of trivia and easy to remember.

Another piece the guide (Dean) spoke of was inadaquate butterfly gardens and the basic scam . Boils down to this. Offering nectar without caterpillar hosts provides nothing for butterflies. Plan your butterfly gardens to provide food for both caterpillar and butterfly and habitat. I have been astounded at how many cool butterflies start out as grass eaters, and many of those deposit eggs on the soil, the cats feed at night and crawl back down on the ground to hide in debris during the day. Tons of the little butterflies cats are mutually dependent on ants for protection from predators. Example: To find Karner blue cats (rare and protected butterfly), you look for lupine (host plant) AND ants. This spring I have been searching for Karner cat signs and of all the lupine I have looked at (100s of plants) I have found two with signs of Karner cats. Though I could have missed some of course.

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

any thoughts on this bee? was taken last week here in mid taiwan

The bee appears to be a honeybee. Which variety I dont know (and have no idea how many species of asian honeybees there are) but thats where I would start. It could be a wild asian honeybee and not an escapee. I dont know anything about Taiwan native honeybees or if they are all imported from Asia.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Keeping my fingers crossed that my curiosity has not unduly upset the natural order of things.

I thought about raising a few of my cat finds to butterfly/moth (to match cat with butterfly) but remembered from my youth how much of a hassle it was providing fresh leaves. Some of the cats are really picky about fresh greens. I have forgotten much of it, but back then, there were some types of cats I left in the field because they were so hard to raise to maturity.

Originally Posted by Turtle

PS Found this earlier image on my camera that includes a 1mm scale.

Its still a teeny, kinda fuzzy green cat, probably a moth.
Seriously, those pics of the hatch were pretty cool and the ruler ones just add to your scientific credibility. We all know your not in it for the money.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Cedars

I thought about raising a few of my cat finds to butterfly/moth (to match cat with butterfly) but remembered from my youth how much of a hassle it was providing fresh leaves. Some of the cats are really picky about fresh greens. I have forgotten much of it, but back then, there were some types of cats I left in the field because they were so hard to raise to maturity.

Its still a teeny, kinda fuzzy green cat, probably a moth.
Seriously, those pics of the hatch were pretty cool and the ruler ones just add to your scientific credibility. We all know your not in it for the money.

gracias. after 2 days in the flower bed, the shot glass was empty of the cats. all's well that ends uncertain.

speaking of moths, today i caught this little bugger on my blue flax.

[Cedars]

A while back (last year) I posted my first pictures of a Karner Blue. Earlier this week I got an email from a friend about Karners near Crex meadows. They were showing up now! I tried to wait until friday but just couldnt do it. I took Thursday off and headed north to the meadows. Wow. Another great day.

Here are open wing shots of a male and female Karner Blue. Unusual feature of these butterflies is the Female is more colorful than the male (on top open wing view). Once again as soon as the Karner Blues landed, they became very easy to photograph (unlike many other skittish butterflies).

Enjoy!

[Jway]

I think I realize this is mainly a thread for aficionados. So, I think I'm posting in the right area. There's a bug that to this day gives me the willies. An irrational fear. And I'd LOVE to hear from people who appreciate all things "bugs" what you find to be good, even beautiful about this creature. The creature I refer to is Scutigera coleoptrata or more commonly known (I think) as 'house centipede.' I saw one again this recent weekend (indoors) and it reminded me that I am still not over my irrational fear of them.

[stereologist]

I think it's fascinating that it's hind legs are so long.

Jway, one of my favorite bug adventures happened climbing El Cap in Yosemite. I was 4 days up and about 800m straight up in the air on this rock face. I entered a place where thousands and thousands of silverfish were on the open rock face. As I came near them they began to leap off forming a rain of falling 'bugs'. Kind of weird having them run off your head and shoulders and leaping into the void again.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Jway

I think I realize this is mainly a thread for aficionados. So, I think I'm posting in the right area. There's a bug that to this day gives me the willies. An irrational fear. And I'd LOVE to hear from people who appreciate all things "bugs" what you find to be good, even beautiful about this creature. The creature I refer to is Scutigera coleoptrata or more commonly known (I think) as 'house centipede.' I saw one again this recent weekend (indoors) and it reminded me that I am still not over my irrational fear of them.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so I cant change your mind on that. I think spiders are cool but hate it when one runs across my arm.

Benefits? House centipedes feed on spiders, bedbugs, termites, cockroaches, silverfish, ants and other household arthropods. From Wiki.

I suppose if this is your only irrational fear and seeing a centipede doesnt give you an aneurysm or cause an epileptic seizure, its really not a big deal to have this fear

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by stereologist

I think it's fascinating that it's hind legs are so long.

Jway, one of my favorite bug adventures happened climbing El Cap in Yosemite. I was 4 days up and about 800m straight up in the air on this rock face. I entered a place where thousands and thousands of silverfish were on the open rock face. As I came near them they began to leap off forming a rain of falling 'bugs'. Kind of weird having them run off your head and shoulders and leaping into the void again.

Do you think the climbers below you thought of it as a favorite bug adventure? Look out, falling silverfish!

[stereologist]

He didn't notice anything. I was wondering if they were able to glide back tothe rock surface or catch an updraft.