Bugs and Butterflies

[Jway]

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.

Jway faints

For about 2 hours:

Gets up and reads rest of thread:

And still hopes he can someday find beauty in this creature. You can help my mind change on this. Would you hold a house centipede if given opportunity? Allow it to crawl up your arm? What visually appeals to you about them, if anything? I still wonder if they are at all harmful to humans? I'm guessing not, and in my experience they seem to avoid humans as much as possible. They also seem fast and intelligent. Like more intelligent than say a raccoon or squirrel.

Btw, the amount of bugs that I have intentionally killed or harmed in last say year is less than 20. And the times I have is when I experienced infestation in abode I live. If I see house centipede, I usually want to catch it (ASAP) and let it go outside. Be free house centipede. And be gone!

[stereologist]

I can understand being scared of living creatures. We live in a rural setting and have all sorts of house visitors. Wasps are one of them. I place a clear drinking glass over the wasp and then slide a card across the opening. Then I open a window or door and release the wasp. My better half is hysterical with fright.

I am not really keen on having things crawl on me. I'm not always sure if something can inflict injury on me or not. I'm not a fan of having spiders on me although I don't mind crab spiders. I also like to watch millipedes walking. It's amazing to watch so many legs in motion with 'tripping' happening.

[Jway]

Thanks for replies. I did see earlier where you said the length of hind legs was something you found fascinating.

I used to have irrational fear of spiders too. But what helped with that and made a small dent on the house centipedes was the simple thought that for all I know they crawl all over me (maybe even in me) during bedtime hours, while I am out cold. That really released some of the irrationality of fear I was feeling. But house centipedes are different, for some reason. I think it's the look. If another type of centipede crawled on me, I might instinctively shake it off, but I could see being fascinated by it while it crawls on the ground. With house centipede, I'd shake it off, back off several feet and then devise strategy to catch and release.

And when not in that moment, I realize just how irrational I am behaving, but so far have not found way around that. So I was hoping persons who enjoy bugs and study of them, might help. Even if just a little bit. And so far there has been a sliver of help.

Thanks,
Jway

[Turtle]

checked out of the house today for a short father's day walkabout in a neighborhood field, and one of the boys spotted a pair of these caterpillars. not sure what plant they're on and they were about 1 1/2-2" long.

[Mercedes Benzene]

It looks like the caterpillar of a Cinnabar Moth

Beautiful caterpillar that turns into a beautiful moth! Don't know if they're found all the way up there though, so it could be something else?

Was that ragwort that they were on? 'Cause that's what they like to eat!

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Mercedes Benzene

It looks like the caterpillar of a Cinnabar Moth

Beautiful caterpillar that turns into a beautiful moth! Don't know if they're found all the way up there though, so it could be something else?

Was that ragwort that they were on? 'Cause that's what they like to eat!

you rock!! it may have been Ragwort, but i didn't collect a sample and saw no blooms to photograph. i looked it up just now & the leaves look like what the critters were on. i see from your article that Cinnabar moth larvae may feed on Groundsel too, which we have here but it doesn't grow as tall as these plants were.

i have wanted to explore this particular field for about 3 years now, and i might try & get back. there is a large Garry Oak all alone in the field center and when we got in there under it we found 3 or 4 Cherry trees with fruit not quite ready. the Oak is easily 3 1/2 feet in diameter and likely 400+ years old. i'm thinkin' i outa be thinkin' about trying to get back there alone soon. anyway, i also photographed & ID'd 2 new wildflowers and have them in my album and in the Wildflower Social Group. (Album images contain common & scientific names and other pertinent descriptive data; click on them to view. )

also found an Indian Plum in fruit along the field edge (ID'd these last year in Lechtenberg) and had myself a tasty treat. my companions were, shall we say, less enthusuastic at the prospect. can't blame them i guess as the fruit is mostly seed and not so much what one would right off say is sweet.

oooppsss...got off track there. thanks again for the id Mr. Benz. i owe you one.

[Mercedes Benzene]

Originally Posted by Turtle

oooppsss...got off track there. thanks again for the id Mr. Benz. i owe you one.

Not a problem. I've had a *thing* for caterpillars and butterflies/moths since we raised them in 2nd grade, so I'm always happy to help!

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Mercedes Benzene

Not a problem. I've had a *thing* for caterpillars and butterflies/moths since we raised them in 2nd grade, so I'm always happy to help!

so your id came in handy again today when Racoon & I climbed Green Mountain & we saw a Cinnabar moth flying around. took me 4+ minutes of stammering to finally remember & spit out the name, but out it came.

more kudos to Racoon for taking a closer look at some white Foxglove & finding a deadly hunter therein. just pinned the id with roomy Ace's help, and found it is a Flower Spider, a specialized type of Crab Spider. clearly this one was better camoflauged in a white Foxglove rather than the purple ones. the bee it is sucking dry is easily 4 or 5 times the size of the spider.

here's some info, then the pictos.

Crab Spider: pictures, information, classification and more

Flower spiders, a particular type of crab spider, rest on flowers and remain motionless for long periods of time with their front two pairs of legs extended in readiness. They ambush butterflies, bees, flies, and other flower visitors; their venoms enable them to successfully attack insects much larger than themselves. They do not wrap their prey in silk after biting, but instead remain with the immobilized prey until they have sucked it dry. ...

[Racoon]

[Cedars]

I've been busy this summer with documenting the butterflies of crex meadows. The more I learn the more I figure out I dont know much. I have made it up to the meadows once a week since may. Discoveries this year include Dusted Skipper, Harvester (previously mentioned) and more recently, the Slender Clearwing (one of the hummingbird moths). It has been submitted to Wisconsinbutterflies.org and is the first submission of this type of moth ever on that website. Quite a find for me!

Picture one is the best shot overall. The flower its feeding on is a puccon (likely hoary puccoon). The width of the flower is about the size of a nickel. Picture two is the real identifier of this particular species. It shows the red legs and the red band that runs along the body where the legs are.

Heres a link to USA sightings of this moth:
Species Detail | Butterflies and Moths of North America

Heres bugguides data on this moth:
Species Hemaris gracilis - Slender Clearwing - Hodges#7854 - BugGuide.Net

As the above links maps show, the Slender clearwing is a good find for anyone interested in the moths/butterflies.

I am also waiting for confirmation on a buckmoth I photographed last september. It is likely it is a newly defined subspecies of buckmoth that is still being researched and classed. Will update as info is obtained.