An exciting mystery for me was the constant presence (July-October) of little armored beetles with big noses.
October 5-15, 2022.
BugGuide.net looked at my photos and identified my beetles asFungus Weevils, (FamilyAnthribidae).
But that only deepened the mystery, as BugGuide agreed with multiple internet resources that Fungus Weevils live on fungi, on decaying organic matter, and under the bark of trees.*
What were fungus-eaters that live on trees doing eating pollen on blooming flowers?
Here are some Fungus Weevils happily foraging in Gaillardia flowers:
You can hear the progression of the season in the sound-track
of this video, from Indigo Buntings singing in July, to cicadas
screaming in August, to katydids trilling in September, to crickets
chirping in September.
I turned for answers to Kansas Arthropods, a Facebook group for experts and enthusiasts. Experts there did independent research and came up with Trigonorhinus limbatus as a likely ID, as T. limbatus is actually a pollen-eater! And prefers plants like Gaillardia in the Sunflower Family! However, a famed entomologist in our FB group also sent me to the beetle group of our national Natural History Museum. That group confirmed Trigonorhinusas a genus, but put a question mark by the species. That was because most of the species in Trigonorhinus are pollen-eaters, with a preference for sunflowers. In addition, the species resemble each other and frequently interbreed.
So even experts could not identify my mystery beetles down to species from photos alone.
Whatever their specific identities, the Trigonorhinus were busily making more:
Trigonorhinus, Male and Female, July 2022
When I encounter these beetles next year, I think it may be easier to remember the etymology of their genus name, Trigonorhinus, than the name itself. Coming from the Greek via Latin, it means "Three-angled Nose." Yes, that nose!! Unforgettable!!
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*Now looking back at my initial sources of information, I see they used the hedge-words "most" to describe the Anthribids who eat fungi and "mostly" to describe fungi as their food source. So they were accurate as far as they went, just not comprehensive--which I am learning is almost impossible to do when it comes to insects!
Is anything more beautiful than Gaillardia pulchella, aka Blanket Flower? Yes! Even more beautiful than Gaillardia alone is the combination of this flower and the butterflies that come to it.
In 2022, butterflies came in waves.
June brought Pearl Crescents, American Ladies, and Wood Nymphs:
In order of appearance: Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos),
American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis),
and Common Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)
July brought Silvery Checkerspots:
Silvery Checkerspots (Closyne nycteis)
July also brought Gorgone Checkerspots:
Gorgone Checkerspots (Chlosyne gorgone), on Gaillardia,
July 16-22, 2022.
Late July brought Sachems. (The males have relatively plain undersides, with a rectangular black patch on the upperside. The females have pale white spots that form a "V" on the underside, with bright white patches on the upperside.) The end of the video below shows a male courting a female. We don't see her say yes, but she doesn't say no, either!
Sachems (Atalopedes campestris) on Gaillardia, July 22-29, 2022.
July also brought a Sulphur, tenaciously feeding, despite the wind:
Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) on Gaillardia, July 11, 2022
August brought a Sootywing, resting on a Gaillardia seedhead...
Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus) Aug. 1, 2022
...while a Common Checkered Skipper came to drink:
Common Checkered Skipper (Pygus communisi) August 19, 2022
August brought Pearl Crescents back to Gaillardia:
Pearl Crescents (Phyciodies pharos), August 18, 2022
September brought even more Sachems:
Sachems (Atalopedes campestris) on Gaillardia pulchella,
Sept. 11, 2022
In October, Sachems continued as the most common butterflies on Gaillardia:
Sachems (Atalopedes campestris) on Gaillardia pulchella,
October 6-19, 2022
The Sachems graced the Gaillardia as long as it kept blooming, which it did until the first hard freeze.
What's ahead for the butterflies that visited Gaillardia, from June to October?
Pearl Crescent: The adults in June and the adults in August were from separate broods--two of the three broods that appear during the summer. The last adults from the third brood will die at the end of summer, but their larvae will overwinter on plants in the sunflower family. Those caterpillars will metamorphose into the first adults in the first brood next year.
American Lady: The adults that appeared in June may be part of either the first or second of two broods. The adults may overwinter, and some cocoons may overwinter, on plants in the sunflower family, especially those in the Everlasting tribe. If they do overwinter, they will be supplemented next year by immigrants from further south.
Wood Nymph: The adults that appeared in June will fly throughout the summer and into October. They will die at the advent of cold weather but their larvae will live on, on grasses, especially Purple Top. The caterpillars will metamorphose and eclose next June.
Silvery Checkerspots: The adults that appeared in July were probably part of the second of three broods. The adults will mate and lay eggs on plants in the sunflower family, especially Black-eyed Susans, and the final brood will die when winter comes. Their larvae will live on throughout the winter, and begin to feed voraciously next spring--to emerge as adults in May.
Gorgone Checkerspots: The ones who appeared in July were probably part of the second of three broods in Kansas. The adults from the third brood will die at the end of October, but their larvae will overwinter on plants in the sunflower family. They will metamorphose early next year, as the first-brood adults will start flying by the middle of April.
Sachems: The Sachems that visited Gaillardia in July and became ever more numerous in late summer and fall will not overwinter in Kansas in any form. Instead, their relatives will start flying in the South and immigrate to Kansas next year. Here they will have many broods, with their caterpillars utilizing grasses as food plants, and new adults becoming numerous once more by the end of the growing season.
Clouded Sulphur: The adults will die at the end of summer but their larvae will overwinter on plants in the legume family, to emerge next year, the first of a succession of many broods that will fly next summer.
Common Sootywing: The Sootywing who appeared in August may be part of either the second or third brood that fly in Kansas. The last adults will die at the season's end, but the larvae will overwinter on their food plants (weedy plants, including pigweed, ragweed, and goosefoot). The caterpillars will metamorphose into first-brood adults as early as mid-April.
Common Checkered Skipper: The Common Checkered Skipper that appeared in August may be part of either the second or the third brood that flies in Kansas. The adults die at season's end, but their larvae will overwinter on plants in the mallow family, and metamorphose into first-brood adults as early as next March.
I knew Gaillardia pulchella (aka "Blanket Flower") was a magnet for bees, butterflies, beetles, and flies, but I was not expecting this sudden eruption from belowground!
This is a swarm of Forelius pruinosus, an ant species that, just like the Gaillardia, is heat-loving and common in the Southwest.
Some members of the colony have gone reproductive, and developed wings in preparation for mating flights.
The whole colony seems excited about the launch. Here is the colony in action:
McDowell Creek, Geary County, KS, June 17, 2022.
However, the prospective brides and grooms seem hesitant. When they reach the top of the flower they sometimes run back down the stem!
Darker species of ant live on Gaillardia or near Gaillardia and venture into the picture frames from time to time. So far they remain unidentified photo-bombers!
July 22, 2022 On the Gaillardia by the barn.
There are also many questions about the what's and why's of the ants' behavior. Lots of mystery here!
Considering that the surrounding prairie and prairie restorations were full of grasshoppers, it was notable that there were very few on the Gaillardia pulchella that volunteered in our front yard and by our barn. In fact, this clip is of the only one I saw during the summer and fall of 2022. The resolution isn't great, but the visitor appears to be a grasshopper nymph, enjoying a Gaillardia snack.
Grasshopper on Gaillardia pulchella, July 7, 2022.
Grasshoppers belong to the insect order Orthoptera. The name combines the Greek words for "straight" and "wing." Orthopterans include crickets and katydids, as well as grasshoppers, all having long hind legs used for jumping.
I did not see any katydids munching on Gaillardia, but in June the Gaillardia patch in our front yard was thronged with katydid nymphs, hunkered down on or near the soil. I saw them only if I approached the plants, in which case they leapt up and down like popcorn popping!
In the clips from late summer and early fall you can hear katydids trilling in the background, and you can hear crickets chirping nearby--but neither kind of Orthopteran was visible on Gaillardia plants.
Bugs in the order Hemiptera are "True Bugs," distinguished from other insects by a rigid, straw-like proboscis and by a life cycle called "incomplete metamorphosis." In other words, True Bugs hatch from eggs as "nymphs," or miniature versions of the adult forms, in contrast to insects that undergo complete metamorphosis, such as butterflies, that go from egg to larva to pupa to adult.
Gaillardia pulchella hosted several varieties of True Bugs during the growing season of 2022.
These green bugs are members of the family Pentatomidae, called "Shield Bugs," for their armored appearance, or (much less respectfully) "Stink Bugs," for the unpleasant odor they can exude when threatened or frightened.
This photo of a female Shield Bug shows a characteristic of insects
in the order Hemiptera (meaning "half wings"). The upper part of
the wings is leathery, while the bottom part is membranous.
Note the black-tipped appendage coming down from her chin.
With it she can pierce the Gaillardia and suck up flower juice.
Here are two Shield Bugs in action! The clip starts with a female Shield Bug feeding on Gaillardia. Then a male Shield Bug scuttles up the stem to join her. He's in a hurry! Audience alert--there's a whole lot of procreation going on.
Green Shield Bugs on Gaillardia pulchella,
September 3, 2022.
Here is a freshly-molted Shield Bug from earlier in the season--with its colored exoskeleton not yet set:
Note the clear membranous "half-wing"
at the tail end of the wings.
Newly-molted Shield Bug, July 17, 2022.
Here is a Small Milkweed Bug (Lygaeus kalmii). These bugs do go to plants in the Sunflower Family (such as the Gaillardia pulchella pictured here)--though, as their name suggests, they are known for feeding on milkweeds and laying their eggs on milkweeds.
With this Hemipteran, the membranous bottom
portion of the wings is black, with sometimes
a white outline, as here. This bug is a seedeater,
among other things, and perhaps that's
why (s)he is sitting on the Gaillardia flowers
that are going to seed, as opposed to the ones
still blooming. July 17, 2022.
Compared to other kinds of visitors to Gaillardia, True Bugs were few and far between. And the ones pictured here appeared each only on a single day.
By watching Gaillardia World, I encountered a species of moth new to me: The Darker-Spotted Straw Moth, aka Heliothis phloxiphaga. This handsome individual came to the Gaillardia by our barn toward the end of the growing season, October 5, 2022:
Here is the Darker-Spotted Straw Moth in action:
H. phloxiphaga, October 15, 2022.
The Greek derivations of the Latin binomial Heliothis phloxiphaga would translate as "One who basks in the sun and feeds on flames." Fancifully, that designation is appropriate in this case, as this sometimes-nocturnal moth is now out in the sunshine and is drinking nectar from orange and yellow flowers that flare out like flames.
Also appearing toward the end of the season was a gorgeous white moth that is still unidentified. However, experts at BugGuide.net guess that this moth is a member of the sub-family Crambinae, Crambine Snout Moths. Certainly to us amateurs, the appearance of this moth makes "snout moth" a logical possibility!
A blue-eyed, long-nosed moth on a Gaillardia seedhead,
October 15, 2022.
In addition, arriving in mid-October was Rachiplusia ou, an Owlet Moth (family Noctuidae). Here is a shaky glimpse of Rachiplusia ou in action:
Another familiar moth that frequented the Gaillardia patch by the barn was Hymenia perspectalis, the Spotted Beet Webworm Moth. It is a Crambid-Snout Moth, Family Crambidae.
The downward pointing "teeth" on the white hindwing band distinguishes
this moth from a look-alike also known as a "Beet Webworm Moth," which
is also a Crambid Snout Moth, but in a different genus, Spoladea recurvalis.
Here is Hymenia perspectalis in action:
A Spotted Beet Webworm Moth (Hymenia perspectalis) takes
nectar from Gaillardia pulchella, October 15, 2022.
Briefly resting on Gaillardia stems was a beautiful Plume Moth (Family Pterophoridae):
The front and hind wings are folded together while the Plume Moth is at rest, forming a "T."
This moth came to Gaillardia on July 27, 2022.
All of these moths showed up in the day time. How I would love to see how many nocturnal moths came at night!
There are so many different kinds of wasps. Why I saw so few of them on Gaillardia pulchella this past summer, when Gaillardia was a magnet for so many other kinds of insects, I don't know.
In June I saw a pair of wasps zig and zag through the Gaillardia in our front yard--but land on neighboring Salvia, a cultivated garden plant in the Mint Family:
June 17, 2022
In July, several species of wasp visited Gaillardia briefly:
BugGuide.net identifies this wasp as a member of the Sub-Family
Eumeninae, Family Vespidae. On the Gaillardia by the barn,
July 23, 2022.
Though wasps are major pollinators, this wasp is sneaking in as a "nectar thief," that is, breaking into the base of the flowers to get at the nectaries directly, while bypassing the pollen-laden anthers, and thus providing no pollination service to the plant.
Another wasp came by on the same day, also a Mason or Potter Wasp, but this one BugGuide.net identified down to the genus Eudynerus.
This one went for nectar in the more traditional way, diving down into the disk flowers past the pollen-laden anthers:
July 23, 2022
And a third wasp also stopped by that day, this one identified by BugGuide.net as a member of the genus Polistes, Umbrella Paper Wasps, Sub-Family Polistinae, Family Vespidae.
Umbrella Paper Wasp, Sub-genus Fuscopolistes
July 23, 2022
None of these wasps returned a second day! Despite Gaillardia's nourishing riches for other insects, Gaillardia flowers didn't appear to have what wasps were looking for.
Experts in the Kansas Arthropods Facebook group tell me that many things can influence wasps' choice of flowers to feed upon, from the match between their tongues and floral anatomy to the many colors which only wasps can see. Wasps also want to keep an eye on their surroundings while they eat so hesitate to bury themselves in flowers.
There are scientific studies showing that parasitic wasps prefer plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), such as Gaillardia--but the wasps above are predatory, not parasitic. So many factors involved!
It's a question carrying over to next year: Are wasps really inclined to avoid Gaillardia? Or did their absence this year represent observer-error or unique coincidences?
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