Insect of the week!

Recently a retired OARDC-Entomology staff member, Bill, brought in a mystery insect which he suspected might be a lady beetle. He found them aggregated on some logs near his home.

Specimen: Found aggregated on logs in NW Ohio

Upon closer inspection of the beetle, the antennae looked too long and it was clear this was not a lady beetle.  All we could tell Bill at the time was that this was not a lady beetle, but it was perhaps a mimic. With that limited information Bill researched and found the species name before members of the ALE lab even had a chance!

This species, Endomychus biguttatus, is a member of the Handsome Fungus Beetle family (Endomychidae). It feeds on fungus which may explain why it was discovered on a log pile. Below is a much better image of this species, which clearly shows the long antennae and a pronotum without the spots which are normally present on lady beetles.

www.billjohnsonbeyondbutterflies.com

It is easy to see how this insect could be confused for a lady beetle, the color and shape of the wing covers are very similar to some lady beetle species, pictured below:

The Columbus Dispatch

Great detective work Bill!

Sources:
Bugguide.net
www.billjohnsonbeyondbutterflies.com

Arthropod in the Spotlight (IN SPACE!)

Female Phidippus johnsoni  (Wikipedia)

The first jumping spider to survive a 100 day stay on the International Space Station died on December 3rd at the Smithsonian. The species chosen to make the trip was Phidippus johnsoni (The red-backed jumping spider), which is a species commonly found in Western North America. The spider was launched into space as part of a student experiment to study its adaptability to the weightlessness of space. The spider was able to account for the effects of zero-gravity and catch it's prey. Upon it's return to earth in October it was able to readjust to gravity. The spider lived 10 months, which was the normal lifespan. Two other spiders have been to space, where they became the first spiders to spin webs in space in 1973 on Skylab, the United State's first space station.

www.collectspace.com/news/

www.cnn.com (Article about the original experiment)

Great pictures of this species!

Insect in the Spotlight: Beech Blight Aphid

The beech blight aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator) can be commonly seen this time of year on American beech trees. This species of woolly aphid forms dense colonies on the branches and leaves of the trees. Last weekend they were very noticeable at Wooster Memorial Park where we were hiking. At the time I was not sure what species of aphid they were and we kept ourselves amused for some time poking and shaking the branches to watch the aphids "dance". What we were actually observing was defensive behavior in which they raise their abdomen and sway from side to side when disturbed.

(c) Joe Boggs ( http://bygl.osu.edu/content/return-engagement-boogie-woogie-aphid-0 )

Check out the video posted below (source: YouTube):

These aphids are not a significant risk to the health of the tree, and often deposits of sooty mold will form where the aphids have left honeydew behind.

Sources: bygl.osu.edu, extension.umass.edu, wikipedia.org

Insect in the spotlight: Agenioideus nigricornis

Australians have a tiny wasp to thank for keeping the population of a dangerous spider in check. The redback spider hunting wasp (Agenioideus nigricornis) attacks...wait for it...redback spiders. Bites by redback spiders, which are closely related to black widows, cause severe pain, sweating, weakness, vomiting, and in rare cases can result in death.

A redback spider-hunting wasp dragging its paralyzed prey back to its nest. Photo by Florian and Peter Irwin.

The wasp, described in 1775, had only been known by it's scientific name until just recently when a 9 year old boy (budding entomologist perhaps??) observed a wasp dragging a redback spider to it's nest. The boy's father photographed the event, collected the organisms and sent them off to be analysed. The wasps sting and paralyze their prey then drag the spider back to it's nest where it lays an egg on the live spider. The egg soon hatches and the larvae feeds on the spider (watch Alien if you would like another example of this behavior with other species) This newly discovered behavior led to the common name of the wasp, and has also been very interesting to entomologists. The redback spiders have spread from Australia to Japan and New Zealand, and perhaps these wasps could be introduced to control the populations of the spiders in those areas. Though I am sure there is MUCH research to be done before those options can be considered.

Citations:
huffingtonpost.com
ouramazingplanet.com

Insect of the Week: Bagworm Moth

This week's featured insect is the bagworm moth pictured below:

Unidentified species Source: Wikipedia

These moths were given the name bagworm because their larvae construct cases out of silk and materials from the surrouding environment (such as twigs), pictured below:

Unidentified species. Source: Wikipedia

Pachythelia villosella

Source: Wikipedia

This bag protects the larva from predators and it also serves as the pupal casing. The adult female resembles are larval form and remains in the bag throughout mating and egg deposition, after which it crawls out of the bag. falls to the ground and dies. There are multiple species of this type which can cause extensive damage to trees and shrubs.