For some reason (weather, work, or otherwise) I haven’t been able to really get out and get good bug pictures lately. Actually, haven’t even gone buggin’ this season yet come to think of it. The only pictures I have been getting of insects are of those that come to visit me at my home. Still trying to ID this first one is a Maple-Basswood Leafroller (Tortricidae)…

Next is the Pale Tussock (aka Banded Tussock)…

I particularly like his blue and yellow mohawk.

Still working on this ID too…but to me it looks like a clown fish (thanks to Chris) its a pink-shaded fern moth.

Next is a Phantom Crane Fly

And finally a Caddisfly, most likely in the Triaenodes family, which are the long-horned caddisflies.

This cerambycid (longhorn beetle) is unlike our other native cerambycids in that it attacks healthy, living trees, where as our other natives typically help decompose dying or dead trees. And aside from attacking its name sake, the apple tree, it also attacks cherry, hawthorn, crap crab apple, and mountain ash.

The adult beetles are nocturnal and I found this one at my porch light last night and saved him for a photo op this morning Its not the adults that really do the damage to the trees, its the larvae that feed on the cambial tissue and bore into the heartwood . Too bad they are so charismatic looking and yet so pesty. I wish the bad pest insects actually looked like monsters because I liked him.

Io Moth

Crane Fly

Female Eastern Dobsonfly

Frog

Frog Eye

White-Tailed Buck

White-Tailed Buck and Foxgloves

We’ve had some midnight visitors to our porch light this past week, here are a few glimpses:

Luna Moth

A close up of the antenna. Lunas only live for a couple days and the males use those huge antennae to locate females (which release a pheromone cue) to mate  with.

And a polyphemus moth, which actually remind me of a floppy-eared rabbit:

And a One-Eyed Sphinx moth

We have been pretty busy at work lately, but I have started getting in the habit of taking that camera out of the case again and carrying it with me in the woods. Turns out it does no good in its bag all day, duh.

Next is my all time favorite, the horse fly. I dream of working on them again…sigh.

I totally pancaked a snapping turtle on the way to work last week…but then found another one in the woods laying eggs in the sand and figured I would redeem myself with a nice picture of it:

And just in case you thought that turtle picture was not “buggy” enough for this post, I dare you to take a closer look above the right eye….

Thats right, while the female was busy laying her eggs another female (mosquito) was getting a quick bite because without a blood meal she cannot lay her eggs either. Bet you didn’t know some blood-feeders could get a meal from a reptile.

Hopefully this will be the start of a good season of buggin’.

Ok, not a bug…but a baby kangaroo:

The kangaroo is one of the most bizarre looking mammals and its reproductive process appears equally peculiar. Its tiny fetus compelled to make an unaided march from womb to pouch after only weeks of existence. Here, a 2 week old red kangaroo joey in the pouch. (Photo credit © Hannah James / Pioneer Productions)

As you may know, National Geographic has been doing a series lately called “Inside the Womb”. The series has previously looked at fetal development of human babies, cats and dogs. They have another episode airing in time for Mother’s Day (5/10/2009 @ 9PM ET/PT) profiling a shark, penguin, kangaroo, and parasitic wasp.

From Nat. Geo:

“In The Womb: Extreme Animals explores the extraordinary methods of reproduction and gestation of four different animals: fish, bird, mammal and insect.  Using real-time 4-D ultrasound images, specially created visual effects and fetal imaging techniques, the two-hour special follows unusual developmental challenges in utero: the shark embryos’ nutrient supply transforms into a placenta; the penguins find an ingenious way to keep their eggs from freezing in the Antarctic; the kangaroo fetuses actually leave the womb to finish growing in the pouch; and the larvae of parasitic wasps invade the bodies of other creatures.”

Check out this short, but very cool, video trailer for the parasitic wasp part of the episode:

– Body Invaders” – A parasitic wasp has injected her eggs into a caterpillar — and now they’re ready to hatch: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/feeds/cv-seo/Animals–Nature/All-Videos/Caterpillars-Host-Wasp-Larvae.html

Its not every day that you get the chance to go inside of the host and see what the parasitoids are actually doing in there…so check out the link and watch the show this Sunday.

A friend and colleague of mine, Huai-Ti,  just started a new blog following his research as a PhD candidate at Tufts University. He has been working on insect locomotion for the last 3 years, specifically focused on the Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta) as the model system for learning about soft-bodied locomotion.

Check out his blog and I am sure he would love to answer questions and get some feedback on what he is up to. He is at: http://morphingmorphology.blogspot.com/

My baby sister claims she is sick of seeing the spider every time she checks the site for updates…so time to change to something not so arachnid-like…

Or maybe not. Check out the pseudoscorpion that was wandering my dining room wall tonight.

I really need to upgrade to a new lens…my current long-distance lens is getting on my nerves, but check out this 3-legged deer I saw about a week ago. Not every day you see one of these.

Man, I am really itching for spring and for the insects to start popping.