Phymata Stood Out during the Drought Summer

This Phymata nymph is on the disk flowers of
Echinacea purpurea.  He appears to smile,
and I smiled to see him!  Creek Field, July 2018.

This handsome Phymata struts his stuff on a
Rosinweed leaf.  Creek Field, July 2018.

 So many plant species were inhibited by the drought in the summer of 2018--not bothering to bloom or even appear at all. However, others responded to the dryness through extra production of blossoms--as if they might never get the chance to reproduce again.   Three species in that latter category were Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium), and Snow-on-the-Mountain (Euphorbium marginata), all in our bottomland prairie restoration here on McDowell Creek, in the Flint Hills of Kansas.  

Check out the enlarged femur on this
charmer's front leg!  "Phymata" means
"swollen"--a good description of that muscular
front leg designed for grabbing prey. 
Creek Field, July 2018.

And on every blooming plant, there was a Jagged Ambush Bug!  The presence of Jagged Ambush Bugs (Phymata spp.), and other carnivorous insects, is an indicator of a maturing prairie restoration, so I was happy to see them.   I only hope there were plenty of prey-insects to sustain them and allow them to reproduce successfully.  

Jagged spines and juts
Snagging sunlight turned to meat
by unwary bugs.

Bee Balm Bistro 1: Three Wasps Walk into a Bar....

On July 15, 2018, this very large wasp came to dine at the Bee Balm Bistro.  Isn't (s)he a beauty?  Check out that yellow belt and those smoky-blue wings!

Thanks to bugguide.net, I learned that this visitor is  Euodynerus crypticus, a mason wasp.

Nesting in small colonies, E. crypticus digs a vertical burrow in the ground, sometimes bringing water from elsewhere to soften up the soil.  The eggs are laid in individual cells, sealed off with clay, and furnished with caterpillars, which provide a ready-made meal for the larvae when they hatch.  This species specializes in the caterpillars of skipper butterflies.... 

Despite having started out life sipping caterpillar innards, this adult E. crypticus obviously likes the nectar which Bee Balm has to offer!

At that same time several individuals of a second species of mason wasp came to sample the libations at the bistro.  

This wasp is resilient.  (S)he comes right back after being shoved away by E. crypticus.  


A braconid wasp also came for the bistro's food and drink.   Maybe she is also looking for a caterpillar or beetle on which to lay eggs.  

  

Echinacea Eatery, Part 1: The Perils of Pollinators!

I took this video in hopes of helping with identification of the butterfly which I found nectaring on Purple Cone Flower next to McDowell Creek.  I didn't even see the predators until I got home and put the clips on my computer.   In the first two clips, you can see a Jagged Ambush Bug (Phymata sp.) in the lower right hand side of the disk-florets.  (You can tell Phymata by their conglomeration of shapes and enlarged front legs--green in this case!)  

Next, a crab spider appears (Misumenoides formosipes).  I can't believe that with the naked eye I didn't even see the spider stalking the butterfly!   The butterfly (turned out to be a Silvery Checkerspot) leaves just in time.  However, the final clip shows other, smaller insects moving around inside the flower disk.  The spider's day isn't over yet.

Both the Purple Cone Flower (Echinacea purpurea) and the Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) like moist prairies and streamsides.  Despite the drought, E. purpurea is flourishing and numerous, not only in the stream buffer where this drama took place, but throughout the prairie restoration in our Creek Field.

Restaurant Rosinweed, Part 1

 This gorgeous beetle--Flat Headed Baldcypress Sapwood Beetle(Acmaeodera pulchella)--was perched on the just-opening flowers of Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) in our Creek Field prairie restoration on July 17, 2018.   

(Thank you, bugguide.net, for the identification!)

The larvae feed on cypress, locust, and hawthorn.   By far the most likely host plant for this individual was one of the numerous Black Locust or Honey Locusts along McDowell Creek.

The adults feed on shrubs, trees, or--as here--flowers!

In fact, this one had his head buried in the blossoms to the point that I never got a chance to see if it really is "flat."








I was struck by the differences between his thorax and wings--and the strange perforations in his wings.  His wings look porous--like Triscuit crackers.

He has a look-alike cousin (Acmaeodera mixta) that apparently can be distinguised only by the colors on the wing tips.  A. pulchella's are all black; A. mixta's are mixed with yellow.

Milkweed Metropolis Part 3

Look at how many creatures come to take the sun's energy, converted by the milkweed into pollen and nectar,  into themselves!  (And in the case of male Tachinid flies, they also come to meet the ladies.)   

This is Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca),blooming in our Creek Field, on June 18, 2018:

Compare the above with a neighboring plant, where the buds haven't opened yet.  Since the nectar isn't available, it's pretty quiet:  

Halloween Pennants on Ragweed Stalks in Prairie Restoration

I found these striking orange dragonflies in the toe of the Creek Field, on July 11, 2018.

My field guide quickly identified them as "Halloween Pennants"--so named because of their orange color and their habit of perching at the top of a plant, with wings and abdomen extended like a pennant in the breeze.  Their Latin name is Celithemis eponina.  

The two I found were perched atop last year's ragweed stalks, and they had all they could do to keep from blowing away in the wind, banner and all.

I was happy to find them in the prairie restoration!   They lay their eggs in water, and for that they could use McDowell Creek, just a wingbeat or two away.  The newly hatched larvae are aquatic and carnivorous.  But the adults need to eat flying insects, and to get flying insects, you need a variety of plants.  I am happy that even in this drought year there is water in the creek and a variety of blooming plants in the Creek Field.  

Since I am finding adult dragonflies in the Creek Field, I am eager to see if I can find their aquatic larvae in the creek!  

Eastern Amberwing in Creek Field

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The red-orange stigmata on the wings are striking!

This is the tiniest dragonfly I've ever seen!  

It is a male Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera), clinging bravely to a seed of Shepherd's Purse, in the toe of the Creek Field.  

The wind was fierce!

Amberwings eat even tinier flying insects and lay eggs in still parts of bodies of water.

Some years McDowell Creek is churning and swirling--no still parts.    Though our current drought is cruel to so many creatures, it has slowed down the creek and created many quiet puddles--just right for Amberwings.  

This clip shows my little guy hanging onto Shepherd's Purse, pumping his abdomen and waving his wings.   Amberwings are wasp-mimics: presumably, the threat of being stung makes predators back off!  But I'm not sure if we're seeing his wasp-imitation or just a wind-whipped balancing act!