Leafhoppers

This gorgeous little leafhopper is Tylozygus bifidus. They are beautifully marked with bands of blue-green, white and yellow. The eyes are brilliant red. They are very tiny at about 1/4 inch in length. They are common throughout the Eastern United States, and generally will  be more active during late summer months. If the temperature remains warm they may remain active through October. Look for them near woodlands on the leaves of tall plants.

This little green leafhopper is Acanalonia conica. They are found throughout Eastern North America. This species has a pointed head, and two black spots between the wings. This species will also be found in high grasses near timbered areas. They feed on a wide variety of grasses and shrubs.

This alien-looking creature is a treehopper nymph. I am unsure of the species, could possibly be the nymph the above species conica.

This species is Nersia florida , they are found throughout the Eastern United States and in California. They look different from traditional leafhoppers with the presence of those clear membraneous wings. They are approximately 1/2 inch in length. Lime green in color with a distinctive black spots just  below the tip of the head. In the first picture of this species the male flew in to check out the female. He walked around her for a bit, then saddled up next to her, and moved until the tip ofhis abdomen was against the tip of hers. Mating commenced.

This pretty little hopper is the Candy-Striped Leafhopper or the Red-Banded Leafhopper in the genus Graphocephala. There are 6 subspecies throughout North America and they are often hard to tell apart without close inspection.

Leafhoppers are easily found, but also easily overlooked because of their dimunitive size. Often times some of the most beautiful things come in small packages.

Thank you

 I just found out today that I was voted on of the top 40 best insect blogs on the internet. I ranked in at #12.

Thank you so much all my loyal and frequent visitors. It means so much to me that you all enjoy and believe in this blog so much that you would vote for it. There are many great blogs on the list, and if you have time you should visit them. Top 40 Insect Blogs I feel honored to be included among such great bloggers and insect experts.

When I first began this blog it was a way for me to share my love of insects through photography and short descriptions. Insects get such a bad rap that I felt compelled to try and change that mindset. I have enjoyed writing and posting more than I can express, and getting to know each of you through your comments and own blogs has been a wonderful experience.

Keep visiting, I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks again everyone for the votes.!

You've got male

Each spring the young female paper wasp will begin nest building in anticipation of laying eggs. She would have been bred the previous fall by males of her own kind. As the eggs hatch, and the larvae grow, then pupate, they will become the adults that take over the care of the nest. They will seek food in the form of miscellaneous insects that they masticate and feed to the young larvae. The nest will grow as more offspring are created. Some nests may house 20 or more individuals.

Sometime in mid to late summer the queen wasp will lay eggs that are destined to become male paper wasps. It is these males that have shown up in my back yard. I've kept my eye on one particular nest under the top lid of our propane tank. Last night the males were venturing out and testing their wings, taking short flights around the propane tank and back. It was kind of funny to watch, you could almost sense the excitement in the air as they flew and dived and landed (sometimes none too gracefully) back at the entrance to the lid of the propane tank. This nest is quite large with at least 20 wasps all clinging to it. Soon the males will seek fertile females to mate with.

When the first hard frost hits the wasps will begin dying, and by the middle of October or first of November they will be gone...the only ones that will remain behind are the bred females. They will hide themselves away in leaf litter, under the bark of trees or some other secure spot to wait out winters fury. They will return with the first warm days of spring to begin the cycle all over again. The presence of these males only indicates to me that winter is not far off, which is so hard to imagine with temperatures topping out at 99 degrees today. Winter almost....ALMOST sounds good right now.

Bolas Spider

 This odd looking little creature is a Bolas Spider (Mastophora). They are found worldwide with exception to temperate Eurasia and Antartica. There are several species throughout North America. Four species are listed as being common in the Eastern United States, they are M. Archeri; M. bisaccata; M. hutchisoni; and M. Phrynosoma. I am unsure which species I photographed here is, but I believe it could be M. bisaccata. They are reported to resemble, superficially at least, snails. That is certainly what I thought this was when I first spotted it stuck to the leaf of a honeysuckle bush in my yard. Other species are bird-dropping mimics and will attach themselves to the upperside of leaves to rest throughout the day. Their ruse is complete with lumps, bumps and proper coloration. Many creatures mimic bird droppings, which I must say is a great disguise, who or what after all would want to feast on Poo?

These spiders are unique in many ways, they do not look like any other spider you are likely to come in contact with. They hold their legs under their body, much like a turtle pulls itself into its shell. They are very calm, and will not try to escape when handled, although the females of some species may emit a foul smelling odor as a form of defense. This particular spider did not do so, thankfully. I handled her quite a lot and she did not seem to be overly disturbed by the experience. Although I must say getting her to show her legs was a feat in and of itself. Perhaps she is modest? She proved difficult to photograph in other ways too, I could not find any decernable eyes on the head of this creature. Seriously, where are the eyes? They are reported to have excellent eyesight and hearing, so where are the eyes? It made focusing on her face quite challenging, when there was NOTHING to focus on.

 They are classified with Orb Weavers, yet they do not spin webs. They instead have a very unusual way of capturing their prey. The female will sit perched on a leaf, and emit a pheromone that mimics a particular moth species.  One species that they are known to mimic is the Bristly Cutworm Moth. This moth in its caterpillar stage is a known pest of herbaceous plants. This spider helps reduce the number of mating males, thus reducing the amount of damaging offspring. This pheromone tricks male moths in the area into thinking there is a female moth nearby ready to mate. As he flies in to investigate he instead finds himself lassoed at the end of a sticky string that the female spider so expertly flung at him. This silken strand of line has a sticky glob of silk at the end of it, this glob of silk is what earned the spider their common name of "Bolas". A bolas is a type of weapon used by the South American Gauchos to throw at the legs of animals, effectively tripping them. Bolas translates into ball, which is an apt description for the sticky glob of goo on the end of the silken strand produced by these spiders. That ball grabs ahold of the moth and won't let go, and the spider "reels in her catch". This method of hunting has also earned the spider two other common names, angling spider and fishing spider (not to be confused the Dolomedes genus of spiders that are found near ponds and other water sources). Males and young spiderlings do not use a 'Bola" to capture their prey, they instead sit at the edge of a leaf and wait for prey to pass by, they will then reach out and capture their meal with their front legs.

 Another unique thing about these spiders is their mating habits. Mating occurs in late summer, then in late fall the female will produce an egg sac. Within this egg sac will be hundreds of eggs. She may produce numerous sacs each containing hundreds of eggs before she herself perishes (except in warmer climates, she may live through the winter). The egg sac overwinters and in the spring the young spiderlings emerge...so far nothing so unique about that right? Well here comes the shocker...male bolas spiders are hatched, and are immediately an adult. They will be approximately 1/16 of an inch in size and are already capable of breeding. Females on the other hand must grow and mature before they are ready to mate. Most spider species require that the male also grow and mature before being ready to mate, not so with this genus of spiders. When fully grown the female will measure approximately a 1/2 inch. These are a small spider and are easy to overlook.

This spider has a venom, but unless you are a tiny moth you have nothing to fear. They are unlikely to bite a human and if they did it would be completely harmless to us.

Predaceous Diving Bug

 This bug part way submerged in the water is a Giant Water Bug in the order Hemiptera. There are 19 species within North America in 3 genera. They range in size from 3/4 of an inch to well over 2 inches. Sometimes called Electric Light Bugs from the habit of flying to pole lights or porch lights. They are even called Toe-Biters, supposedly for their preference of biting tootsies as you walk through the water.  They will be found in shallow waters, along the shorelines of ponds, streams and rivers, moving and hiding within the vegetation near the edges.

Because they are in the order of true bugs they will go through an incomplete metamorphosis, meaning there is no pupation stage. The nymphs look very much like the adults with the exception of fully functioning wings. They may also vary somewhat in color. After reaching adult size, they will seek mates. After mating the female will lay eggs on the backside of her mate. The male will carry his offspring around with him. He protects them until they are ready to hatch.

They feed on aquatic insects, snails, small fish, tiny frogs and toads. Handling one of these bugs could earn you a nasty nip from the beak-like mouth of these bugs. Like other bugs within this order they use that beak to inject their victim with a tissue destroying enzyme, this allows them to slurp up the liquified insides of their prey.

This one was photographed at our farm pond. There were 6 or more of these little bugs (approx. 1 inch) sitting on top of the aquatic vegetation at the edge of the pond, all burdened with the weight of their offspring.

Honey War

A friend and co-worker found this funny, historical account of a Missouri and Iowa famous debacle. I thought it was funny enough to share, and wish I knew who wrote it to be able to give appropriate credit. I hope you enjoy reading a bit of Missouri history as much as I did.


Settlers imported the first honey bees in 1638. Once bees escaped into the forests, they quickly adapted and spread, and by 1821 when Missouri became a State, the wild bee tree was a prize for a settler with a sweet tooth. It also was the reason for the weirdest near-war in the State's history, the abortive Honey War of 1839.

                                                                         (Internet image)

The Honey War today is remembered only by a few historians. It didn't last long and it didn't amount to much, but as wars go it was the best of all possible worlds. It provided entainment for everyone and no one got hurt.

There's a metal marker on the northeast Missouri farm of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Longnecker. It's about three feet high. Time and the Des Moines River silt are burying it. Mrs. Longnecker's late father, Albert Evans, who rented the farm around World War I, remembered the post as being his height.

Perhaps in another century, the rich dirt will bury the last monument to the silliest war in American history, the Honey War. In 1839, Missouri and Iowa mobilized their ragtag militias, ready to start shooting over who owned the wild river bottom full of bee trees.

The dispute got its name when a Missourian, whose name apparently has been lost by historians, cut three bee trees in an area claimed both by Missouri and Iowa. The trees were valuable both for honey, which sold for up to .37 cents a gallon, and for beeswax, which was used in various ways, such as making beeswax candles.

Iowa tried the bee tree thief in absentia and fined him $1.50.

That inflamed Missourians, who have never been reluctant to bash heads over real or imagined wrongs. Missouri had been a state since 1821. Iowa Territory was about to become one, so the legal boundary between the two was an immediate issue.

In 1837, Joseph Brown, a Missouri surveyor, set a boundary line which no one paid much attention to. In 1838, Major Albert Lea, a federal surveyor, laid out four possible boundary lines, all representing different interpretations of historical data.

The contested area between Lea's southernmost possiblity and the northernmost was about 2,600 square miles, ranging from nine to eleven miles wide from the Des Moines River west to the Missouri River.

Missouri Govenor Lilburn Boggs, a contentious type, proclaimed in August 1839, that Brown's 1837 boundary, the northernmost line, was the state line. Perhaps Boggs was ticked off because the tree cutting Missourian had been fined by Iowa in what Boggs considered Missouri.

Almost immediately, Iowa Govenor Robert Lucas authorized the arrest of anyone trying to exercise authority in what he called the "Seat of the excitement".

Enter Uriah (Sandy) Gregory, Clark County sheriff from Missouri. He was ordered north into the contested territory to collect taxes on, among other things, bee trees.

Most of the residents in the "seat of the excitement" were Iowans by nature and they ordered Sheriff Gregory to go home. he was outnumbered 1,200 to one, so he prudently went back south of all possible boundaries.

Plaintively, if ungrammatically, he wrote Governor Boggs, "I am at a loss what to do, the Citizens of that territory two-thirds of which is hostile to the officer and declare if I pretend to use any authority which I am invested by the State of Missouri, they will take me by fourse and put me in confinement".

Governor Boggs ordered Gregory to get those taxes. The Iowans weren't kidding. They took the beleaguered sheriff by "fourse" and confined him in Burlington. He later said they treated him pretty well and let him roam around town, but wouldn't let him go home. He apparently enjoyed enforced vacation and seemed relieved to have his problems solved for him.

It was now December, snowy and bitterly cold. Both sides began to arm for battle. The alarmed Governor Lucas prophesied, wrongly as it turned out, that the dispute "might ultimately lead to the effusion of blood." He called up 1,200 men who cried, "Death to the Pukes," and drank plenty of whiskey. They were a bit officer heavy. They had four generals, nine general staff officers, 40 fields officers and 83 company officers.

The Missourians tried to raise 2,200 militamen, but less than half showed up. However, they were armed with the latest technology: one carried a sausage stuffer. The mind reels a bit at the thought of the probable effects of an attack with a sausage stuffer.

Meanwhile, Clark County officials, exhibiting rare common sense, sent a delegation to Iowa to work out a truce. The two sides came up with a classic political solution: they dumped the problem in the lap of the federal government and both sides told their soldiers to go home.

The Lewis County, Missouri, militia had spent two nights bivouacked in the cold and snow without tents or enough blankets. They did, however, have plenty of whiskey. One company brought six wagons of provisions and five of them were reputed to be filled with booze.

Even so, they weren't the happiest of campers. They wanted to shoot something. So they split a haunch of venison, labeled one half "Govenor Boggs", and the other "Govenor Lucas", shot them full of holes and held a mock funeral.

Then both sides made a rowdy retreat and the Honey War was over. Ultimately, the two states compromised on a state line close to the middle of the four possible boundaries, and in 1850 set markers every 10 miles.

Some have vanished (one showed up in the back yard of a fraternity at Northwest Missour State University in Maryville, MO), but many still exist. However, the one on the Longnecker farm is the only one to mark the "Seat of the Excitement"

Luna Moth

 This spectacular moth is the Luna Moth (Actias luna), they are a member of the Saturniidae family which are the giant silk moths. This one was captured last night at a mercury vapor light. I brought it in to photograph it. She laid eggs, that I will place near some walnut or hickory trees. I kept her to give to two little boys who are beginning their own insect collection. They had one BIG request...they wanted a Luna Moth. They will be very excited when I give them this moth. Many people wonder how I can kill something so pretty. I explain it to them this way.... Her lifespan is not meant to be any longer than a week. Within that week she will mate, lay eggs and perish. Often times she will become haggard and torn and be a mere shell of her former glory. If they have laid eggs to continue the next generation then I feel no guilt in preserving one of these beauties for other people to enjoy and appreciate. Last August I did a post about these beautiful moths after finding one in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains that had just emerged. Tenessee Luna Moth. I left this moth alone, as she had not had to opportunity to find a mate yet, and also because we were in a National Park....permission before collecting ALWAYS!

This little guy hiding among the fluff is a Stink Bug. Most of us are familiar with them and their stinky excretions. If you've ever smelled one when it is feeling defensive it is an odor you won't soon forget. I am not sure of the exact species of this particular specimen, but they all belong in the family Pentatomidae. There are over 200 species of Stink Bugs in North America so it can be difficult to ID them to species sometimes. Adults generally will overwinter and become active in the spring and begin mating. The female lays small clusters of barrel-shaped eggs on the underside of leaves. Some stink bugs feed on fruits or vegetables, others feed on various plants and still others feed on various insects. They have a piercing/sucking mouthpart. They will inject an enzyme into their choice of food and this enzyme breaks down tissue and allows the stink bug to slurp up the juices like a plant or insect slurpee. These insects can be found in a wide range of habitats, which will include meadows, prairies and other grassy areas, gardens, and agricultural areas.

Carolina Leaf-Roller

 This odd-looking little bug is a Carolina Leaf-Roller (Camptonotus carolinensis). Their size is nothing to brag about at only approximately 3/4 of an inch in length, but the antennae on the other hand are quite impressive and are more that 5x the overall length of the body. The one photographed here had antennae that were approximately 3 to 4 inches in length.

They are listed as a South-Eastern United States species, and southern Missouri seems to fall into that range. I could not find any information as to whether they have ever been found as far north as Andrew County where I live, so this may be a record for our county. They are very unusual looking insects, they almost look like nymphs of some odd orthoptera that has yet to fully develop. Brownish-yellow in color and very smooth in appearance they won't set any records for beauty, but WOW those antennae are impressive. Why the length on those feelers? Does size really matter in the world of these odd little bugs? If so, this specimen would be a winner for sure.

These little guys are incredibly fast, but do not seem to be very skittish. I was able to watch her for quite sometime before she tired of my presence and crawled away. Her ovipositor is visible in the second picture and is carried in an upwards fashion over the back of her abdomen. I could not find much about their mating rituals or egg laying habits, but one could assume they will slit holes into plants and lay their eggs.

During the day they live in rolled up shelters made out of leaves...then at night they become active and feed on aphids and other soft-bodied insects. They are usually associated with timbered areas, and since my yards has no less than 40 trees I guess it qualifies. I spend untold amounts of time in my yard observing and photographing and I am constantly amazed at the amount of new species I come across. This year has been a record year for me in being able to add new and unique insects to my life list of bugs.

Arrowhead Weaver

 Today I had a surprise visit to my office by a facebook friend that I had never met in person before. My office is on the same campus with Missouri Western State University, the campus is also home to the new Kansas City Chiefs training camp. He was coming out to take pictures of the chiefs practicing and decided to stop in and say "Hi" to me first. I am so glad he did, I had a very enjoyable visit and he took time to walk the trails with me at work. We found a few interesting insects, like this Arrowhead Weaver (Verrucosa arenata). I have to thank Eric Eaton over at Spideridentification.org for verifying the ID on this species. I love these little spiny spiders. I have posted blogs about the Spined Micrathena and the Arrow-Shaped Micrathena in the last couple of weeks and now I can add an additional to species to my life list for these spiders. They are so unusually shaped and colored. They are found from Kansas eastward and also occur in Texas. There are three different color patterns on the abdomen and each of three colors may be found on individual species living in the same habitat. I found two in the woods today and each one was a little different.

 This one was more white than yellow, but otherwise identical to the first specimen. These spiders are considered a timber species and will be found hanging upside down in their webs in woodlands. It is the arrow-shaped pattern on the abdomen that has earned them their common name...but they also go by the name of Triangulate Orbweaver, because obviously arrowheads are shaped like triangles.
These are not very large spiders, their overall length is about 1/2 with legspan (females) males are much smaller at just over a 1/4 inch.

If you would like to see these unique spiders, head out to the timber and look carefully in shady areas among vegetation. You will be surprised what you might find. The beauty of insects and spiders never ceases to amaze me.