Water Bugs

Bugs on the pond surfaces of Halibut Point catch the attention of insectivorous birds, even if those morsels are not visible to our own eyes.

Tree Swallow dipping for bugs

Swooping swallows pluck them off the water when the birds dip down out of their gyres over the quarry.

Eastern Phoebe plunging from a branch

At the quarry's edge a phoebe waits on a promontory for a prospective meal, then dives and hovers to pluck it from the water surface without immersing itself.

Water Strider, Rheumatobates vegatus, consuming an aphid

It's hard to know precisely what bugs the bird is catching. One of them, a Water Strider, is busy searching for its own prey.

Water Strider, Gerris sp., held afloat by surface tension

Thus far I've been using 'bug' in the looser, vernacular sense. Water Striders are True Bugs (heteroptera), characterized by four flight wings, piercing-sucking mouthparts, and partly leathery, partly membranous forewings. The fine hairs covering their middle and hind 'feet' allow them to skate quickly over the surface while their forelegs are held above the water for grasping. 

Longlegged Fly, Dolichopodidae, closing in on a stranded ant.

Despite casual similarities in appearance and behavior this fly is not technically a bug. With only two flight wings and with sucking rather than piercing mouthparts, it belongs to a different taxonomic order of insects, the diptera (two wings.)

Shore Bug, Saldidae

Shore Bugs meet all the criteria of the heteroptera classification. They are found very close to water though not actually in it or on it.

Whirligig Beetles, Gyrinidae

These frenetically spinning creatures often seen on pond surfaces are a beetle (the order coleoptera, from the Greek meaning 'sheath-winged) rather than a bug because their shell-like protective forewings are held aside during flight rather than utilized in propulsion, and they have chewing mandibles rather than piercing-sucking mouthparts.

The compound eyes of Whirligig Beetles are divided for seeing both above and below water level. Their middle and rear legs are greatly flattened and fringed with bristles that fold to aid swimming action. The longer front legs are adapted for grasping food or prey.

Giant Water Bug, Belostomatidae

Below the surface live the largest of the local True Bugs, at two inches long earning their name Giant Water Bug. Their oar-like middle and hind legs are well adapted for swimming, their raptorial forelegs menacing to all manner of small pond creatures. They breathe snorkel-like through a short tube that can be retracted into the abdomen. 

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We've seen in this posting on insects informally titled "Water Bugs" that 'water' refers to a common environment and that 'bugs' in the strict usage of natural history has a narrowly specific meaning.

Stink Bugs

Some years ago in the early days of my Halibut Point explorations a colorful bug dropped out of a tree onto the path in front of me. It was a beetley-looking thing with Matisse-like ornamentation, though surely the inspiration of its design would have passed from nature to the artist rather than from the man to the bug, if the two had met. I took its picture home for research. A naturalist friend reported, "It's a Stink Bug nymph." I've been marveling at that combination of terms ever since.

Green Stink Bug nymph, Chinavia hilaris

How does one hold a glamorous creature and the words 'Stink - Bug - nymph' together in comfortable unity? A firmly formed person finds himself in a muddle of prejudices. His birthright curiosity needs refreshment, confrontation, spectacle. He needs to fall through the Looking Glass. This recent summer was my season of looking.

Green Stink Bug nymph at a later instar

I came across more nymphs. As the Green Stink Bug nymph matures it loses its harlequin coloration in a progression of developmental stages called instars. But I could sense consolation in that arcane scholarly-magical term, and in the lengthening wings of each instar that would prepare the creature for flight.

Green Stink Bug adult

For the serious business of adulthood the Green Stink Bug might just as well blend in to its surroundings.

Twice-stabbed Stink Bug (T-s.S.B.), Cosmopepla lintneriana

The Twice-stabbed Stink Bug, on the other hand, is vividly marked at all stages. Rather than seeking protection through camouflage its harlequin coloration warns predators of an unpleasant taste and odor. This stink bug wants to be unmistakably visible in every instar.

(T-s.S.B.) Instar 1

(T-s.S.B.) Instar 2

(T-s.S.B.) Instar 3

Spined Soldier Bug, Podisus maculiventris

Stink bugs generally possess a long, broad scutellum, the triangular segment between their "shoulders" which often protrude in lateral peaks. Most bugs in this family eat plant tissue only and can be an agricultural scourge. The Spined Soldier Bug is considered a beneficial predator in your garden where it will feed on leaf beetle larvae, caterpillars, and other problem pests.

Stink Bug, Mormidea lugens

Stink bugs comprise the family Pentatomidae (Greek pente 'five' + tomos 'section'). The name refers to their five-segmented antennae, or possibly to the configuration of their shield shape. They are of the sub-order heteroptera, True Bugs, as introduced in the previous Note.

Leaf-footed Bug nymph, Leptoglossus sp.

Other rather plain-looking heteropteran bugs emerge from spectacularly composed nymphs as well.

Four-lined Plant Bug nymph, Poecilocapsus lineatus

Four-lined Plant Bug adult

The heteropteran Plant Bug family Miridae also offers examples of fantastic progressions through their instar developments. 

True Bugs

Dear Readers,

All through this series of insect postings I've been skirting the word "bug", which is inescapably linked with "spray" and all small things creepy that fly or crawl. Actually, "bug" means something very specific to naturalists and "true bugs" refers not to loyalty or believability but to certain physical features.

My field guide catalogs eighteen orders, or major groups, of insects. Only one of these, the hemiptera,  is technically comprised of "bugs". The hemiptera (Greek hemi 'half' + pteron 'wing') are distinguished by forewings that are leathery (protective) toward the base and membranous (better flight dynamics) toward the tip. Their sucking mouthparts separate them from beetles which are equipped with chewing mandibles and shell-like forewings that are held aside during flight rather than employed for propulsion. The hemipteran's two pairs of wings separate it from flies, of the order diptera (Greek di 'two' + pteron 'wing'), which have a single pair of observable wings.

To accurately grasp the meaning of True Bugs we have to go deeper into taxonomy. At one point "True Bugs"  referred to the entire order hemiptera. However the term is now usually applied only to a subdivision of this order called heteroptera which have certain developmental and anatomical differences from other bugs. I give you these distinctions to try to stay in the good graces of entomologically fluent readers.

And now to some portraits. The photographs that follow show the astonishing diversity of "True Bugs" as they clamber through vegetation at Halibut Point. In successive Notes you will meet other relations in the order hemiptera.

Lupine Bug, Megalotomus quinquespinosus

Clouded Plant Bug, Neurocolpus nubilus

White-margined Burrowing Bug, Sehirus cinctus

Helmeted Squash Bug, Euthochtha galeator

Lace Bug, Corythucha sp.

Big-eyed Bug, Geocoris uliginosus

Stilt Bug, Neoneides muticus

Large Milkweed Bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus

Late Bloomers

 

A menagerie of insects on goldenrod today

On a warm day in late October insects have come out of their torpor to search for sustaining flowers at Halibut Point.

Eastern Bumble Bee, Bombus impatiens

Here and there a goldenrod brightens the landscape but it is mainly asters that fulfill the nectar seekers.

Potter Wasp, Parancistrocerus perennis

The foraging insects are as varied as the species of asters.

Eastern Calligrapher Fly, Toxomerus geminatus

At least sixteen kinds of asters display their star-like inflorescences between August and October at Halibut Point.

Common  Lagoon Fly, Eristalinus aeneus

They attract at least twenty-five different species of Flower Flies, like these three, in the genus Syrphidae.

 

Narrow-headed Marsh Fly, Helophilus fasciatus

The Syrphidae are also known as Hover Flies because of their tendency to seemingly wait motionless in the air before choosing a destination.

Wide-striped Sweat Bee, Halictus farinosus

There may be a comparable number of bee species, some quite tiny, that depend on the asters' nectar and pollen.

Chinese Mantis, Tenodera sinensis

Of course where there is a chain of life animals of prey are drawn to the arena to make their own way.

Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp, Eremnophila aureonotata

Many creatures that consume carnivorous protein early in their development change diets to plant-based food as adults.

Cabbage White, Pieris rapae

Others such as the Cabbage White are garden pests because their larvae lacerate the leaves of our crops in the cole family such as cabbage, kale, and broccoli, while in the butterfly phase they dine on nectar from flowers.

Monarch, Danaus plexippus

The aster blossoms compose a final phase in the season not only for our visual pleasure but for insects that must now migrate, hibernate, or perish from their adult stage into overwintering egg capsules.

One Man's Weed Is Another's Wildflower

Anything that grows spontaneously, prolifically, and without a name is likely to arouse doubts in an orderly mind. Now doubts are variable in their impact. Doubts can lead to joyous discovery, harmless dismissal, or urgent annihilation. 

"Is that a weed or a plant?" is a question sometimes posed to landscape professionals. Whenever life hangs in the balance, a pause may be in order. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson mulled over the question not far from here, two centuries ago. "What is a weed?" he asked himself, and answered, "a plant whose virtues have never been discovered."

The White Fir stump, April 2021

This spring a prominent patch of dirt appeared where the fir tree had been decapitated by landscape developments at Halibut Point. (see Majesty Crushed) The dirt looked forlorn as the surrounding meadow came to life. Human effort did not provide an immediate improvement. But nature, we know, abhors a vacuum. That truth rings disturbingly in its Latin roots: "Horror vacui." The Greek antecedent has been attributed to Aristotle.

Carey's Smartweed, Persicaria careyi

Finally, summer greenery sprouted spontaneously on the bare soil from invisible seeds. One of the ardent volunteer plants reached 4 feet tall, 6 feet across. It was covered with purple-white flowers in August and September. Carey's Smartweed is its name. 'Smartweed' set off a train of notions in my mind about intelligence.

Honeybee

The Smartweed's flower buds are suffused with rosy violet tones. Once open they become pure white and honeybees sip from their cups. Many other insects are also attracted to the nectar. The flowers are about an eighth of an inch across.

Pure Green-Sweat Bee, Augochlora pura

Thick-legged Hover Fly, Syritta pipiens

Obscure Sap Beetle, Conotelus obscurus

Maize Calligrapher, Toxomerus politus

Crabronidae wasp, Astata unicolor

Great Golden Digger Wasp, Sphex ichneumoneus

Feather-legged Fly, Trichopoda pennipes

The virtues of Smartweed whether encoded or discovered appealed greatly to the late summer insect population of Halibut Point.

Predator Perils, By Web

Entrapped insect

Dewdrops accentuate the fatal filaments that web-weaving spiders deploy to catch their prey.

An enmeshed Wide-footed Treehopper Campylenchia latipes

Under most conditions the sticky strands would be imperceptible to insects flying by.

When a hapless victim does become enmeshed the resident spider rushes out of hiding to subdue it. The spider crosses the web freely along adhesive-free lines interlaced with the adhesive ones.

A Common Stretch Spider Tetragnatha extensa consuming a dragonfly

The spider often anchors its prey with additional cords before feeding.

A Twice-stabbed Lady Beetle Chilocorus stigma

One day recently I came upon a Lady Beetle suspended in midair. Coming closer and changing angles revealed the silky threads that held it.

The Lady Beetle thrashed frantically. The spider failed to appear. Eventually the beetle freed itself and flew away.

Fall Fascination

For people on an early morning walk at Halibut Point spider webs are innocent and delightful, especially when adorning poison ivy.

Tuft-legged Orbweaver, Mangora placida

The spider musters bodily resources, inborn skills, and unpredictable fortunes to complete its destiny.