Insects

The Junk Bug and Me

| Flower Roberts

I have looked at these photos of the Junk Bug many times. I clearly remember the afternoon I saw the tiny fluffy mess walking along the deck railing. I was so mesmerized by it that I did not think to take a picture for quite a while.

Junk Bug/ Green Lacewing Larva


The load it carried was many times bigger than its body underneath. The junk pile is the Green Lacewing Larva’s camouflage. It is a hunter and hides under its load so its victims will not recognize it as a threat.

It attaches lichen, detritis and the body parts of former victims onto its back. This is not a random packing either. This camouflage must have balance.

I realized this when the bug moved from a horizontal position to vertical as it crawled down the side of a post. It seemed the pack on its back would cause it to backflip off to plummet to its death, but it took the move in stride.

Balancing a load is the lesson here. Carrying past hurts and future worries is something I have done as an adult. Writing our book about Rose helped me put down those stories I thought I had to carry. Our blog,

seizuremamaandrose.org

has helped continue this process. We got a message of appreciation from another epilepsy mother last night. It helps to turn all that hurt into help for someone else.

I wrote off a huge part of that load. Now I am writing to heal again. Ditching more of my camouflage, so I can move on to the next stage of my development. Just like the Junk Bug eventually dumps its load to become a beautiful and helpful Green Lacewing.

Its time to quit balancing this load and spread my wings and fly.

FLOW

The Junk Bug

| Flower Roberts

I saw this tiny pile of debris trundling along the deck railing.

Junk bug


The trashy pack on its back is made of lichen, leaves and dead bodies.


After it sucks the life-blood out of a victim, it stacks its body parts on its back to use as camouflage.

Junk bug


The messy mass moves along slowly searching for its next meal and fashion accessory.


I have to admit I think they are cute once you get past the extra legs sticking out of its back.

JUNK and FLOW

Hiding in the Siding

| Flower Roberts

This story started with a sting in 2018. My husband was going in and out the deck door while grilling. He felt pain on the side of his flip-flopped foot. There was a red spot that started to swell.

The party paused for Benadryl and ice. We soon discovered that Yellow Jackets were hovering low at the corner by the door. We keep wasp spray on hand for just such an incident. That killed those present, but more arrived to the insect airport.

I looked up various remedies to fix the problem. None worked including sealing to opening. They quit coming and going above the deck and moved their traffic below deck. Mr. Flower even used some gasoline at the point of entry. This flushed some of the flyers inside the basement where Mr. Allergic watches television.

Finally, he rigged up some bottle to blow Sevin into the hole. The airport shut down.

This could have been the end of the story but there has been a new development.

Flower finally got her own television for Christmas. It was installed on the wall upstairs, after years of watching on an old box in a cabinet. The new TV needed to be hooked up to the dish cable that served the downstairs TV. More channels for me! It’s about damn time…

Ceiling tiles had to be moved in the Man Cave. This is when the huge nest was discovered. WOW! Mr. Allergic could have been killed on the couch as he watched his sports and scary movies. We all took turns climbing up on the cabinet to peer into the cavernous darkness using a flashlight.

Insects are amazing. I respect them. I usually leave them alone unless they invade our living space and threaten my family.

This nest is a wonderful work of art and architecture. I am so glad we found it hiding in the siding of the Man Cave.

FLOW

A Girl’s Gotta Eat

| Flower Roberts

I was out chasing flyers today.

I found many butterflies,

dragon flies,

and wasps.

I am glad I spotted this nest before the wasps spotted me.

I was pleased to see a Hummingbird clearwing/Hemaris thysbe in the mix.

Upon closer inspection, the clearwing was not pleased.

It was being eaten by a Green Lynx Spider/ Peucetia viridans.

This is the exact location I find a “Mama Lynx” every summer.

I hope I can witness the making of the egg sac and the hatching of spiderlings again this year.

Spider in the Storm
Steadfast Spider has Spiderlings

Stay tuned for more wings.

FLOWER

Named for Neck Color

| Flower Roberts

I hope this is not an insult to the caterpillars. (“You talkin’ to me woman?”)

They are named for their yellow necks, Yellow-necked caterpillars(Datana ministra)

They appear every year on the same little oak.

I notice because the leaves disappear due to skeletonization. Which is a fancy way of saying everything is eaten but the veins.

I purposely disturb them just to watch them twitch.  They go into defense posture.

The adult moth is called the Yellow-necked Caterpillar Moth.  Ho Hum!

It looks like a rolled brown leaf with a scalloped end.  I have never seen one in person.

The poor moth can’t live down its baby nickname.  Kind of like “Stinky” or “Tootie.”

Flower

Named After its Food

| Flower Roberts

How would you like to be named after your favorite food?

Ms. Chocolate Eclair? Mr. Potato Chip? Mrs. Pimento Cheese?

Well someone named these bugs after their food, Large Milkweed Bug.

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Its Latin name is not much better, Oncopeltus fasciatus. That sounds like a disease!

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I found these on my Butterfly weed which is in the Milkweed family.

Here is an adult on a seed pod.

These nymphs do not have wings yet.

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They are the same color as the Asclepias blooms.

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Is this camouflage? I doubt it.

You are what you eat. These are toxic due to the milk weed seeds that they ingest.

They don’t need to hide.

Flower (Ms. Mongolian Beef)

 

A Darner Darning

| Flower Roberts

I learned something new today all by myself without books or the internet.

I was trying to get a photo of a giant dragon fly.

My daddy calls these “Snake Doctors” which makes no sense to me.

I thought I understood why they had the other name “Darner.”

I thought it was because they were big and straight like darning needles.

I was trying to get a photo of this dragon fly zooming by.

I put my camera on the action setting. I took dozens of blurred photos.

Then I paused to watch it fly back and forth, back and forth, over and over.

There was a pattern to its flight.

An epiphany occurred in the Flower’s brain.

It was not named for the shape of the needle.

It was named for the act of going back and forth like darning a hole in fabric.

Now that I knew this, I waited for it to fly back by.

Here is a  flyby photo of a darner darning.

I love my little life!

Flow

 

 

 

Insect Stalking

| Flower Roberts

I have been out on an insect hunt this week.

I have been looking for newly emerged Cicadas, which I think are beautiful.

Thus far I have only found the split skins/shells

from their molting hanging on the underside of leaves.

I did stumble upon a Mantid in the garden.

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It saw me and quickly skittered to the underside of the leaf.

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I love watching their heads turn.

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I was happy to see this beneficial garden resident.

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Just another reason I do not use pesticides.  I cannot poison my friends!

Flow

 

 

Coffee Scales

| Flower Roberts

I have a Coffee Tree in my living room. I have petted it for two years now.

It has doubled in size due to careful feeding and watering with “banana water.”

I was excited to see little buds forming at the base of each petiole.

Future blooms for the first time!

My joy quickly turned to consternation when upon closer examination

I discovered scale on several leaves and branches.

Scale insect at the base of the leaves.

Those nasty scale parasites had invaded my precious Coffee Tree.

So out comes the Q-tips and alcohol. For another scale massacre.

The dead bodies were appropriately collected in a coffee cup.

I sang my “Killing Them Softly” song as I murdered the flat sticky foe from leaf and stem.

https://floweralley.org/2017/02/11/killing-them-softly-with-q-tips/ ‎

I am happy to report that my Coffee Scales are gone.

I had two other emergencies last week. Stay tuned for these.

FLOW