The Beautiful

I'm going to try to convince you that bug-watching is a source of some of the best beauty on the hoof. Actually this monarch butterfly was snapped at the Kresge Prairie Center behind Norris. But this Great Spangled Fritillary came to the coneflower on my deck. And this Tiger Swallowtail came hungrily to the Tiger Lilies in the front yard. It stayed a long time!



Great. That probably didn't take too much urging. This lovely red and black animal is called a Sawfly, to be exact - the Poison Ivy Sawfly. So that's why I didn't pull up all the poison ivy!! The next black and red insect is the Lily Leaf Beetle. Right, it will destroy your day lilies, your tiger lilies and all the specialty lilies in your yard and its larva covers itself with frass to keep potential attackers away. The third character grows up to be a fairly humdrum bug, the Lygus. Still lovely? Several of its species are pests, but may be controlled by adding some predators to its neighborhood. For instance, there is a wasp that lays its eggs in the nymph and then the baby wasps feed on the nymph from the inside out!



Nobody likes a stink bug, do they? But look at this bright green stinker sitting in the autumn sun. It is so beautiful it doesn't even stink! It is pretty much omnivorous, but has a terrific appetite, which may go to extremes, for fruit (esp peach) and developing seeds and fruit. The black and yellow long-horned beetle on the goldenrod is the Locust Borer - Good if you would like to get rid of some Black Locust trees. If you have never seen one of these gigantic click beetles, you have a treat in store. They love fruit! They are also eager devourers of the larvae of Other Boring Beetles.



The big test for most people is, do you like/admire spiders? They ALL are insectivores. They won't want a spinach wrap. I just showed you the green long-jawed spider. Is it beautiful? How about the orchard orbweaver? Maybe the bigger test is: do you just think wasps are the most beautiful insects in the world? This northern paper wasp scrapes pulp from last year's plant stems to make her nest. This species is also relatively intelligent - in the sense that they can recognize any of their own. And sure enough each of them has a slightly different face. But don't worry - they won't remember that you shook a stick at them. Finally, the marbled orbweaver will eat a godzillion pesky insects during the summer, and probably some nicer bugs too, or even other spiders.



Maybe the bigger test is: do you just think wasps are the most beautiful insects in the world? This northern paper wasp scrapes pulp from last year's plant stems to make her nest. She catches small things and makes a nice puree to place inside her egg cells. This species is also relatively intelligent - in the sense that they can recognize any of their own. And sure enough each of them has a slightly different face. But don't worry - they won't remember that you shook a stick at them. This yellow=and=black wasp is a potter wasp. She will make a tiny clay pot for her babies to grow up in. They are fed on caterpillars. The amazing iridescent blue-green one is called a cuckoo bee or a cuckoo wasp. These guys are so nervous they will quickly zip away if they see a human sneaking up on them with a camera. For some reason, a few of them go into my attic to die.



Bugs behaving badly