Aster World, Part 6: Bright Iridescent Flies

 Flies came to the asters in droves!   Here are the brilliantly colored Secondary Screwworm Flies (Cochliomyia macellaria):

Secondary Screwworm Flies came 

in great numbers to feed on Hairy Asters, 

Geary County, Kansas, October 6-15, 2021.

These flies are part of the cleanup crew!   The females lay their eggs on carcasses, so the maggots can feed on carrion, transforming decaying flesh into living tissue.  The maggots will also eat necrotic tissue, helping to clean wounds.  These flies are called "secondary" because unlike some other Blow Flies, they will not inflict primary wounds but only clean up existing ones.    They can transmit diseases from one animal to another, but as decomposers they play a beneficial role.

It's the maggots that eat carrion.   Here the adults are feeding on nectar and pollen.

A second species of bright metallic fly also came to the asters in October.   This one looks like the Secondary Screwworm Fly, except the final abdominal segment is bronze, not green, and the thorax is solid green, not striped.   Some think this species is the Green Bottle Fly, also in the Blow Fly family.   Others believe it to be in the Housefly family (Muscidae), due to the modest bristles.  Green Bottle Flies have prominent bristles!   Here is this species in action:  

Shiny iridescent fly, on volunteer Hairy Asters.

Geary Co., Kansas, October 5-20, 2021.

Aster World, Part 7: Beetles

Aster-loving beetles came in multiple shapes and colors!

A Black Blister Beetle munched on the flowers, October 6, 2021:

Epicauta pensylvanicus has an affinity for asters and other plants in the Sunflower Family.

Two brightly colored beetles visited the backyard asters at the same time:

Volunteer Hairy Asters (Symphyotrichum pilosum)

Geary Co., Kansas, October 22, 2021.

The red one is a Convergent Lady Beetle (Hippodamia convergens), and the yellow one is a Spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata).

What are they looking for on the asters?

The Lady Beetle may be looking for tiny insects to eat, though she may also grab some pollen to supplement her diet.

The Cucumber Beetle is a vegetarian and may want to eat the flowers or foliage.

If she fills up on asters she may leave our garden vegetables alone!

The Lady Beetle, on the other hand, is welcome in our garden!

In September 2021, the asters were covered with Leatherwing Beetles, Chauliognathus pennsyvanicus:

Pennsylvania Leatherwings on Hairy Asters, September 22-23, 2021.

The Leatherwings come to the flowers to eat and mate. They lay their eggs in soil, and the larvae are voracious predators, consuming potato beetles, aphids, and many other soft-bodied insects.

Aster World, Part 8: Crane Flies

Here are some Crane Flies that came to visit the asters in our backyard:

Crane Flies feeding on Hairy Asters (Symphyotrichum pilosum)

Geary Co., Kansas, October 2-22, 2021.

Most people have seen the sizeable crane flies, that look like giant mosquitoes. These are a smaller species, in the family Limoniidae, and possibly in the sub-genus Geranomyia--one of three groups of crane flies that have long mouthparts for feeding on flowers. Though these fast-moving insects make for blurry images, we can get brief glimpses of their long proboscises. These remarkable flies bob up and down rapidly while perching and feeding--a lot to do all at once!

Aster World, Part 9: Clouded Sulphurs

Swirling around the asters this year were clouds of Clouded Sulphurs.

 

There may be other species of sulphur butterflies mixed in.  They not only resemble Clouded Sulphurs but may hybridize with them.   

The caterpillars feed on plants in the legume family.   We have lots of those among the wildflowers on our land.   In addition, an alfalfa field is just across the fence!  

Aster World, Part 10: Bees

Common Eastern Bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) are the last bumblebees still flying in the fall, while Hairy Asters (Symphyotrichum pilosum) are among the last wildflowers to bloom.   

Here the two find each other in our backyard:

A Common Eastern Bumblebee forages on 

late-blooming Hairy Asters.

October 8, 2021

Two-spotted Bumblebees (Bombus bimaculatus) were the first bumblebees we saw this season (they were on the Foxglove Penstemon blooming in the spring).  The Common Eastern Bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) were the last, coming to the asters for nectar and pollen.  

Bumblebees are the most important pollinators.  

Honeybees are not native to the US, but many have escaped from managed hives and now make up part of the wild population.   Here is a feral Western Honeybee visiting Hairy Asters in our Creek Field in late September 2021.   Note the yellow pollen ball on her leg:

A Western Honeybee (Apis mellifera) visits volunteer Hairy Asters.   

She is adding to the large pollen ball which she carries on her leg.  

Creek Field prairie restoration, Bird Runner Wildlife Refuge, September 24, 2021.

Here is that bee in action, joined by a sister:

Here is another worker-bee carrying a pollen ball on her leg as she visits volunteer Hairy Asters in our backyard (October 6, 2021):

Western Honeybee, Apis mellifera, 

on Hairy Asters, Symphyotrichum pilosum,

October 6, 2021

European honeybees have been known to push out our native bees.  But from what I've seen, when it comes to Hairy Asters, there's more than enough for everyone.

Aster World, Part 11: Flower Flies

Next to bees, flies are the most important pollinators!  

There is a special category of flies called "Flower Flies," famiily Syrphidae. 

Many species of Flower Fly are bee-mimics.  

Flower Fly Dioprosopa clavata on
Symphyotrichum pilosum
Bird Runner Wildlife Refuge
McDowell Creek, Geary Co., KS
October 2021

But this fall a Flower Fly that is a wasp-mimic, Dioprosopa clavata, visited our volunteer Hairy Asters.

Such a tiny fly!    Such delicate markings!  

Look at that "wasp-waist":  

Look closely at the stems and you can
see why Symphyotrichum pilosum is
called "Hairy Aster."

                                                                           

The wasp-waist fooled me at first, and I thought this visitor was a tiny wasp.  But bugguide.net corrected my mistake.   I should have noticed the huge eyes.   They say "fly," not "bee" or "wasp."  

Flower Flies come in many sizes.   Eristalis stipator is about ten times the size of D. clavata and is a bee mimic.    In fact, I fell for the bee act when I first encountered this species years ago.   But this year I knew what it was! 

Here is E. stipator, resembling a honeybee and visiting our volunteer asters on October 15, 2021:

And here is Allograpta obliqua, mimicking a sweat bee and visiting our asters on October 11, 2021:

Sphaerophoria is another genus of Flower Fly that mimics sweat bees. 

Here is a male of that genus that visited our asters on October 16, 2021:

He too has large eyes, fly-eyes:

Here he is in action, feeding on the flowers and then grooming:

Syrphid flies are also known as "Hover Flies," as they can hover and zip back and forth, like hummingbirds.  

They are important pollinators and plant-protectors.  

The adults need the sugar in nectar to fuel their flights and the protein in pollen to produce eggs.   They travel from flower to flower gathering what they need and incidentally pollinating as they go.    

The females seek out plants that are vulnerable to aphid-infestation and lay their eggs there.   When the eggs hatch, the caterpillar-like larvae consume the aphids, protecting the plants.  In return, the plants provide nectar and pollen for the adults.  

The cycle continues!  

Aster World, Part 12: Wasps

This handsome wasp is a member of the genus Polistes--the "Umbrella Paper Wasps."  Polistes are large social wasps that share a paper nest that hangs upside-down, by a stalk.  Sterile female workers are the first to emerge in the summer.  Fertile females and males appear late in the season.  

This is a male (that curled antenna is the give-away).

   

Here he is in action, on Hairy Asters (Symphyotrichum pilosum).  

Many native wildflowers have already gone to seed.  This late-emerging wasp needs nectar to fuel his search for a fertile female.  Thank goodness for late-blooming asters!

Also depending on late-blooming asters is this wonderful potter wasp, Eumenes bollii.   This is a tiny wasp that packs remarkable shapes and segments into a small space.  Especially striking is the bulbous abdomen:

Eumenes bollii on Hairy Asters, October 2020.

This wasp does not appear often in Kansas.  Bugguide.net includes only two other entries, both from a September, in Cheyenne and Johnson Counties.   The sighting above is the only entry for Geary County and the only one from an October.  

Yet another species of potter wasp came to visit the asters, this one from the genus Euodynerus.  Here (s)he is in action:

Potter Wasp, Euodynerus sp., on Hairy Asters.

October 2021. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

Aster World, Part 13: Common Checkered Skipper and Snout Moths

A gorgeous Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis) came to nectar on the Hairy Asters (Symphyotrichum pilosum) that volunteered in our backyard.   The blue-gray color indicates a male of the species.  

Here is that little guy in action:

One species of Snout Moth that featured prominently on the volunteer asters on our land was the Two-spotted Herpetogramma (Herpetogramma bipunctalis):

The thumbnail shows the two spots on the dorsum that give the species its name.   Their wings make a shimmering robe.  And I love their tinker-toy legs!   Some of these clips clearly show the asters' hairy stems and leaves that give this wildflower species its name--Hairy Asters (Symphyotrichum pilosum).  

Another species of Snout Moth that came to the asters frequently was Hymenia perspectalis, Spotted Beet Webworm:  

Aster World, Part 14: More Moths

This moth's common name is "Dingy Cutworm Moth," so named for the non-descript larva.  But the adult is boldly patterned, clearly not "dingy."  

Feltia jaculifera is a gorgeous, brightly patterned moth

This male (note the furry antennae) is feeding on Hairy Asters,

October 15, 2021.  

In fact, an entomologist with bugguide.net says a better common name would be 
"Bright-striped Dart."  I agree!

Here is the Chickweed Geometer, a moth whose larvae eat wetland plants, such as chickweed and smartweed.  

Haematopis grataria, Chickweed Geometer,
on Hairy Asters, October 2021

This one is a male as can be told by the lush bristles on his antennae!  

He is part of the family of Geometrid Moths (Geometridae), or "Earth Measurers," so named for their larvae's method of locomotion.   The larvae advance by gathering themselves up into a loop and then extending forward, earning the common name of "inch worm."  Each "step" is supposedly one inch.   

Here is a grass moth--long and thin to blend in with the blade of a grass.  This one is yet another member of the Crambid Snout Moth family--so named for the extended mouth parts that look like a "snout."  (S)he doesn't seem interested in sharing asters with a neighboring fly.   Note that two-toned proboscis!

Lucerne Moth (Nomophila nearctica), a Crambid Snout Moth, 

enjoys aster nectar.  October 2021

Now for a member of yet another family, the Plutellidae, or Diamond-back Moths.  Check out that tail fin!  

Plutella xylostella, a Diamond-back Moth,
nectaring on Hairy Asters, October 2022.

Here (s)he is in action:

Flies come and go while this Diamond-back Moth

nectars on Hairy Asters.   But one fly--probably caught

by a spider--remains motionless.