There is only one species of this odd family in the eastern US, and that is Myrmecophilus pergandei Bruner. Until now, there have been no records of it from Michigan, so this is a new species for the state! A recent publication by MacGown and Hill (2006) summarizes some of the biology and distribution of this species, as the authors also reported the first records for Mississippi. Myrmecophilines inhabit ant-nests of several species, and are reported to get food from the ants by strigilating the workers. My big mystery though, is how did the cricket arrive in the darkroom, and why? Fate has it that it arrived not only into the house of an entomologist, but one that just happened to be at the easiest place to spot something unusual -- a big, white sink.

I love serendipitous finds such as this, but I know that a small publication that not only reported the presence of this species in Michigan, but also included the type of ant nest it came from, would be more valuable in the long run. Such is life.

Much to my chagrin, I found that this is actually the SECOND record for Michigan, the first record was published in the April 2007 issue of the Newsletter of the Michigan Entomological Society under the title: 2007 First Reports of State and Provincial Arthropods, by Ron Priest (which is why I missed it)V52 (1&2):17.. The first record's data is as follows: MICHIGAN: Ingham Co., East Lansing, 12 June 2006, in nest of Myrmecina americana Emery. Megan Harding, collector.

A Philanthus wasp drinks nectar from Mountain Mint at the flower garden in front of the Ruthven Museum.

These smaller insects are obviously more of a challenge to observe than butterflies, but they are less wary of people, and you can approach them much more closely. For the most part, the wasps at the flowers are deriving their energy source from the nectar. Although many of them are predators, they use the insects that they paralyze (if they are sphecid wasps, that is) as food for their offspring, not themselves. If you want a good read about the lives of wasps and bees, I highly recommend the book by the late Howard Evans, called Wasp Farm. I avidly read the books by Howard Evans when I was an undergraduate, and his writings influenced the direction of my graduate work on solitary wasps, as well as the many papers that I published on their behavior and distribution. The wonderful thing about observing these wasps is that if you find where they are digging their nests, you will be treated to an amazing show of a variety of insect behaviors, including male lekking, attacks by parasitic flies, female nest recognitions, etc. My friend Julie has taken to observing the giant Cicada Killers at her workplace, and has a nice post on her blog.

Isodontia elegans on parsley flowers.

Megachile on Rudbeckia flower.

Potter wasp (Eumenes) on mountain mint.

So, if you want to see a lot of insect action, plant a wasp garden. Species of perennials that are recommended are:
Mountain Mint, Queen-Anne's Lace, Parsely, Golden Alexanders, Globe Thistle, Butterfly Weed, Swamp Milkweed, Boneset, Rudbeckia, Rattle Snake Master (Eryngium), Chives, Lemon Balm, Bee-balm, and Yarrow. More information on plants is here.

We rarely have significant outbreaks of Gypsy Moth (Limantria dispar) in Michigan for a couple of reasons which I’ll describe later. Pennsylvania though, seems to have routine outbreaks, especially in the mountainous areas. Gypsy Moth females cannot really fly, so dispersal has to come in other ways. In the US, the two main methods are human-aided and wind-aided. Human-aided dispersal comes about when people travel from outbreak areas to other places, and unwittingly carry egg masses on items such as firewood, nursery stock, RVs, boat trailers, etc. It’s not so much of a biological problem as it is a social problem. If people are aware of this, then most of the time it is easy to spot the egg masses and remove them.

Wind-borne dispersal is a phenomenon more common to the hilly terrain of the eastern US, not flat Michigan. As the larvae hatch and make their way up the trees, they can be blown aloft and land on the next mountain ridge downwind. Therefore, populations can be more mobile than here in Michigan. That’s one of the reasons that these outbreaks can occur in places like Pennsylvania.

Michigan has also experienced a few outbreaks over the years, but they tend to stay localized and more recently, they have become quite the rarity. One of the reasons for the lower numbers in Michigan may be due to the fungus that attacks the larvae and kills them. Entomophaga maimaiga has become established in Michigan, and has severely depleted the populations in SE Michigan. So, the fungus and perhaps the lack of interesting topography here has aided in reducing the Gypsy Moth to local and occasional pest status.

Brian Scholtens organized the UMBS bioblitz, and Dave Wagner from Storrs, CT was the featured speaker on two nights. Dave's enthusiasm for his work on caterpillars was evident, and his book on the caterpillars of Eastern NA is a must-have. Dave and Brian have both been involved with bioblitzes elsewhere, and for a first-time event at UMBS, it went very well. My main duty was to work on the Odonata, and we ended up with 31 species for the Bioblitz period. That's a far cry from an estimated 400+ species of moths that Brian and Dave collected, but it represents nearly half of the 68 Odonata species that I know to occur there.
Progomphus obscurus, the common sanddragon.

One big surprise was that Adrienne collected a female Megachile sculpturata (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), the giant resin-bee, which originated in Asia. That was a great catch, as I didn't know that the bee was in Michigan. We also saw Polistes dominulus there, which means that species has really moved northward.

Bioblitzes are a great way to get organismal biologists together for a weekend, doing the things that we like to do -- go out in the field.

Fireflies aren't flies, but beetles in the family Lampyridae. Rather than reiterate what is already on the web, I'll provide links to some very useful and interesting sites on fireflies. The Firefly Files is a really nice website with lots of useful facts and photos of fireflies. The Minnesota DNR has a fact page. Bioluminescence is an amazing phenomenon, and in nature, it os more common in deep-sea dwelling animals. People often think that the stuff inside light sticks is the same as for fireflies, but it is not! Read about how light sticks work here.

The Wool-carder bee, Anthidium manicatum (Megachilidae) is a Palearctic Megachilid bee that has found its way into the NE US. Unlike most bees, the males are larger than the females, and are territorial. Female bees use the trichomes harvested from plant stems to create small balls of fluff that they use to line the cell walls. I have been watching the bees in my garden for the past 5 years, and this species has been fun to observe. I'm working on a small paper about its behavior in a suburban yard. If you live in Ann Arbor and see this bee in your garden, email me.
Interesting Link: Solitary Bees Home

Although I came up with no records after driving about 425 miles, it means that at least I did look, and where I looked and listened, they were not there. Does that mean that Brood XIII isn't there somewhere? Probably unlikely. I spoke with Dick Alexander about Marlatt's old records, and he believes that some of those records may have been erroneously based on Okanagana (an annual species that looks similar to a Magicicada). I can certainly see how that could happen, back when people were less aware of the differences. The second set of factors is that with all of the agriculture and spraying that has gone on in the last 150 years in that area, it would not have taken too much to wipe out small pockets of Brood XIII - if they were ever there. Imagine emerging after 17 years, only to find that the woods where your ancestors resided is now a cornfield? Whether Brood XIII was really ever in Michigan is not going to be answered definitively. However, I went back and changed the Brood XIII map on our web server so that instead of the range extending into MI, there is now a green question mark, which is about as precise as we can be.

The above Magicicada septendecim photo was taken by me in Ann Arbor when cicadas from Brood X emerged in 2004. This year, Brood XIII Magicicadas are emerging in N Illinois, S Wisconsin, and possibly, in Iowa. The map on our Cicada website shows some emergences in extreme SW Michigan, and according to Tom Moore, an emeritus curator here at the UMMZ, the map is in error, as it contains erroneous records from an old paper by Marlatt (1907). I certainly can understand how bad information stays promulgated in the literature, and it happens all the time. As my friend Dick Alexander has stated, "A bad fact is a horrible thing." (and if I misquoted you, I am sorry...).

What needs to be done is to get modern records. Researchers tend to go to where previous records show emergences. So, if you know that Lake County, Illinois has 17-yr cicadas, that's where you go if you have limited time to do experiments, etc. I don't doubt that there may have been 17-yr cicadas at some point in SW Michigan -- especially inland away from the sand dunes. However, the area has been heavily agriculturized over the past 100 years, and some areas have also gone back to woods. Have small pockets of Magicicada survived? The only way to know is to go and traverse the area and listen. Lacking that... if you live in that area of the state, tell me that you have them and show me the specimens. It would be nice to know, either way. The next emergence would be in 2024. I'm going to be an old man by then.

I photographed this ladybeetle (Coleomegilla maculata)yesterday at Metzger Marsh in Ohio, not far from Toledo. There were thousands of them that must have taken refuge for the winter beneath large piles of rocks that line the road on the way into the marsh. This particular species is one of those that do congregate in large numbers to hibernate for the winter.

One thing about this image that strikes me is how complex beetles are. Look at those hind wings that have to fold just so beneath the elytra - and the elytra have to be held in a way as to not interfere with the flight of the beetle. Pretty remarkable, and its been working for millions of years.

I was just alerted to a new book coming out THIS month. The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger. From what I have seen of this book thus far is very exciting. I'll review it after I have a copy in hand. Another nice item is their Singing Insect CD that will put you in the midst of an August evening with singing orthopterans.

It's nice to see such works coming out by people that understand how to put a guide together for the novices and naturalists out there. We'll all be better for it.

P. vernata, on the other hand, isn't exactly pretty, but it does have an interesting biology. Females are wingless, which means that the males are the moths that we see fluttering around the porch light. Males find the females at night by following a pheromone plume emitted by the females. After mating, the female lays 100 or more eggs on a flap of bark, or bark crevices. The larvae hatch in early May, and become full-grown within a month. Then, they drop to the soil and remain there until late winter, when they pupate, and emerge in March.

Spring Cankerworm rarely becomes a serious defoliator, but there have been sporadic localized outbreaks in the past. It's usually held in check by natural predators and parasites, but when they become a problem, one can place sticky bands around tree trunks to prevent female moths from climbing up the trunk to lay eggs.

So, look upon the Spring Cankerworm as the insect version of the American Robin.

This fall, it seemed that we had very few warm and sunny days -- so when I had a nice weekend day, I was often driving somewhere, and it seemed that this year, I encountered a lot of woolly bears crossing the road -- maybe it was the same cue for them - a sunny day is the day to move elsewhere. This story from the WI DNR is a nice summation about wooly bears.

A specimen of the Isabella moth from the UMMZ collection.

Some good resources about Isabella Moths:

Capture a Bear for the Winter

Nature Things for Kids

Moth Photographers Group

Entomology Note No. 10 - Flying Tigers

I was able to get quite close with my macro lens and take a lot of shots. I don't know if the katydid saw the mantis, but if it did, I am sure it had every reason to sit still, as mantids see motion VERY well. The katydid found its way into the house on its own, but the mantis had been rescued from some birds that were trying to eat it as it flew into the yard. My friends had carefully transported the mantis to their orchid room, and it had only suffered a shortened antenna from the birds. I spotted the mantis along a window frame, and it's the first time I have seen a Chinese mantis -- they are HUGE. I told my hosts how to feed him, and since then I have received an email about how they have fed the mantis various insects (with the aid of a long-handled hemostat), which I am sure has been great fun for them.

I think what this episode tells me more than anything, is that once people are familiar with an insect, and know a bit about it, they want to learn more. I forgot to tell them that katydids have their ears in their legs, so that they move the legs to determine the direction of a sound from another katydid. For females, that's for finding a potential mate that is singing, and for males -- to find out where their rivals are. "It's all about sex", as my friend commented.

Locust borers are members of the longhorn beetle family, the Cerambycidae. The larvae develop in the wood of locust trees, and the adults emerge in late summer. Very colorful, and the yellow markings on the black body are really something. They do sort of blend in with the flowers. The adults look and act very wasp-like, and perhaps this behavior deters predators from catching them. You'll see a lot of honeybees and various species of solitary bees on goldenrod, and make a point to check out the goldenrod and other fall flowers and see what interesting insects you find.

The Exhibit Museum installed a butterfly garden near the front entrance last year, and their work has paid dividends to all the various species of Hymenoptera that visit the flowers there. In early august, I observed and subsequently collected a new state record species of sphecid wasp, Isodontia elegans. Mountain mint is a great attractor for solitary wasps, and that is where I captured two voucher specimens of this pretty thread-waisted wasp.