Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Field Guide to the Insects of Morning Side Park Part 4

Sphecius specious feeding on some sap/resin from an elm tree.


Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera):

82. Nomophila nearctica

Beetles (Coleoptera):

83. June Bugs (Cotinis nitida) *Green and gold forms; Gold form was observed hovering over a patch of dry grasses, Several Green forms were observed darting/hovering through green grasses. ^^
84. Rove Beetles (Staphylinidae) *Ocypus olens? 
84a. VERY tiny unidentified rove beetle earlier in the year
85. Unidentified Ground beetle larvae

Bees, Wasp, & Ants (Hymenoptera):

86. European Hornet (Vespa crabro)
87. Bald-Faced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata)

True Bugs (Hemiptera):

88.  Tibicen tibicen (chloromerus)

Spiders (Araneae):

89. Woodlouse Hunter (Dysdera spp.) *Cannot be sure if it's Dysdera crocata or D. erythrina they were smaller and orange-ish then the others I have seen over the years which might've been erythrina

Monday, August 13, 2012

Cicada Mania #2



Finally after multiple attempts of trying record their gorgeous songs on video I have finally been successful. 

YES!

Well I can definitely say that today was something else with the cicadas. I heard TONS and found a whole bunch of exuviae everywhere. And the burrows..........lots of holes in the ground of where they emerged. I didn't find any adults but I did find a nymph that unfortunately never made it to adulthood for whatever reason.

I cannot wait to go back to see more hopefully. I want to catch on in emergence someday. God that would be so breathtaking!! *.*

Even in death they're adorable!! Look at that face! *.*

Found this poor thing on the ground along with burrows and exuviae. I wonder what happened? One of it's legs was taken off somehow as there was this green gel around that area. 

Now I hope to catch one of these badboys in emergence........but how? What I would need to know is what time of day/night does Tibicen tibicen (chloromerus) emerge? I also suspect that we have Tibicen superba as I've seen one flying through the city a couple of weeks back and I've been hearing different calls that AFAIK aren't T. tibicen (chloromerus). I'll have to look into this a bit more.

But I've just realized that I have no idea on what would be a good time to perhaps catch one in emergence.....can anyone elaborate?

I'd appreciate it immensely.

I had stayed a bit longer today on purpose to find potential mothing areas. I dare say there's quite a few porch lights that I would like to check what moths may come there. But I don't know if it would be at risk to my personal safety because unfortunately they're nutcases out there. >_<

That and the park closes at 10:00PM and I was there until 8:00PM or so.......and from what I observed on my terrace at least the moths don't come out until 11:00PM - 12:00AM.

So that's something I'll have to figure out a bit later......safely of course. As long as I get my precious safe and sound I'm happy.

Long time no see yeah? ^^ Working on filling in post. The butterflies and bugs have been wonderful.