Arthropod Mysteries from Camping

    Arthropods never cease to amaze with their incredible diversity. Very often I find "arthropod mysteries" at home or traveling, organisms I can only label with vague title such as "moth" or "bee" or "beetle." Fortunately, there are a lot of knowledgeable people who have been willing to help.

Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica)

    Storytime. The string of mysteries started before we even left for camping. When we were folding up a canopy in the yard there were a few bugs on the roof inside that needed to be removed. This Japanese Beetle had gotten particularly attached to the inside of the canopy and kept flying back between the folds even after the canopy was no longer standing. It took a little while, but eventually it was coaxed onto a leaf, although as the second picture shows, (s)he still appeared to be reaching for the canopy.

    The Japanese Beetle can be distinguished from other shiny green-and-copper-coloured beetles by the 5 white tufts on its underside. It is actually considered a pest to many gardeners, but they typically only live about a month-50 days.

Plume Moth (Pterophoridae)

    This interesting T-shaped arthropod was was spotted on a camping trip. I initially posted this one on Project Noah as "unknown" but then figured out better search criteria. When I went back and added the identity at that same time another user, AshleyT, must have already been offering an ID at the same time, too.
    The plume moth was resting on our camping-buddy's tent and when (s)he flew away, the t-shape of the wings transformed from almost airplane-like (rather, airplanes are more like resting plume plume moths) to quickly beating soft, fanned wings.

Little Wood-Satyr (Megisto cymela)

    This lovely spotted moth was found clinging to the inside of a canopy, trying to make its way out (ironically, the canopy was intended to keep insects from our dinner). A number of little creatures got stuck in there so we frequently had to lead them out, but this little wood-satyr was particularly posed a challenge since I was afraid that I would touch the (eyespotted) wings. Fortunately (unlike the Japanese Beetle) the little wood -satyr was quite cooperative and willing to crawl onto my finger to be taken back to the woods on the other side of the mesh.

Arrowshaped Micrathena (Micrathena sagittata)

    Out of all of the mysterious arthropods, this one was the one that kept me the most puzzled. These spiders were found spinning a web in a car window this summer, and the unknown species has kept be puzzled and wondering for months. We asked two naturalists and they couldn't remember the name (and I don't blame them), so my search criteria was variations of "tri spiked red female smaller black male spider southern ontario long name." It was nowhere in any of my printed nature guides and my internet searches were unsuccessful.

    However, within minutes of posting the photos on Project Noah someone identified the species. Thank you user CindyBinghamKeiser for solving the mystery!

    They may appear to be of a different species given their varying size and colour, however this species displays sexual dimorphism and larger red one is female while the smaller black one is male, presumably her mate.

Anthros and arthros cross paths every day and should you ever feel that you would like a little mystery, try keeping an eye out for invertebrate neighbours. For more pictures from the Pinery see the post A Few Highlights from the Pinery.

References

Canadian Biodiversity Facility. Little Wood-Satyr. 2002. Butterflies of Canada. Retrieved January 22, 2014 from http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/butterflies/species/LittleWood-Satyr_e.php

Iannoti, Marie. Controlling Adult Japanese Beetles in the Garden. About.com. Retrieved January 22, 2014 from http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/a/Japanese_Beetle.htm

Matthews, Deborah. Plume Moths. 2005. Pterophoridae of North America. Retrieved January 22, 2014 from http://www.plumemoth.com/

Bug Guide. Species Micrathena sagittata - Arrowshaped Micrathena. Retrieved January 21, 2014 from http://bugguide.net/node/view/2020

A Few Highlights From the Pinery

     This summer we went camping with another family to the Pinery in Grand Bend. The Pinery is in the middle of the Carolinian forest and is home to the tulip tree. Tulip trees produce intricate and vibrant flowers in the warmer months, and their leaves are actually shaped similar to the silhouette of a tulip. The tallest tulip tree at the Pinery is estimated to be about 80 feet tall, possibly being the tallest tulip tree in Ontario.

     We had the opportunity to speak to two naturalists at the park, (who we will call "A" and "S" in this entry), who answered all of our questions about the park and the variety of species in it. I tried my best to journal all the places we visited and species we saw, but there was such a wide variety that ended up resorting to listing to keep track of it all. 

Here are a just few highlights from the trip:

      We saw a tiger moth with an asymmetrical wing, and a mother grouse with about six or seven little ones walking by the side of the road. We also learned some interesting things about photosynthesis from A. First of all, not all plants photosynthesize. There are at least two species of non-photosynthesizing plants at the Pinery: Indian pipe and cancer root. Also, the reason why some of the middles of Victoria Creeper plants is red is actually to almost attract or funnel more light in shady areas. A also explained that different stalks of Victoria creeper, joined at the roots might even dedicate all energy to one single plant for that individual plants survival because it has the greatest potential.

     On the Carolinian trail guided by two naturalists at the Pinery, we came to a stop and S began telling us about cicadas. When we stopped, a little girl from our group immediately noticed something small and brown on a blade of grass a few meters away and whispered to me, asking what it was. I tried to see but it was half-covered by the grass and I couldn't tell what is was. "Maybe you can ask her once she's finished," I whispered back.

     "... and sometimes, you might even find a cicada's exoskeleton still clinging to a tree trunk," the S said.

     "Like that?" The little girl asked, running over to the little brown dot and picking it up. She did in fact find a cicada exoskeleton with perfect timing. 

     Back at our campsite I also got the opportunity to commune with a small bee-like insect nicknamed "Marshy," who buzzed around for about an hour, and found a mysterious, spikey red and yellow female spider with her smaller, black mate spinning a web in our car window, later identified as Arrowshaped Micrathena (edit: see post Arthropod Mysteries From Camping at http://naturenimbus.blogspot.ca/2014/01/arthropod-mysteries-from-pinery.html).

     These are only a few highlights from our camping trip at the Pinery. If you are looking for a campground with biodiversity but no bears (plus some pretty clean campground washrooms) then I definitely hope you get the chance to experience the Pinery.

Indian Pipe

Cancer Root

(above) Female Arrowshaped Micrathena

(below) Her presumed mate.

White Yarrow

The top of the Lookout Trail

Plume Moth

Emperor Sumac (a poison ivy look-alike)

Field pennycress?

Tiger moth with an asymmetrical wing

White-tailed deer (doe)

Tulip tree (right is a sapling)

Canada Columbine

'Marshy'

Variegated Fritillary

Black-eyed Susan and St. John's wort

Wild turkey

A bent tree

 

Black squirrel

'Sticky' the Green Inchworm

Little Wood-Satyr

Butterfly milkweed

For more spottings visit my Project Noah spotting page (http://www.projectnoah.org/users/MelodyJT).