Cottonwood Gall Aphids (Pemphigus populitranversus)

Posted on November 29, 2016 by admin

Cottonwood Gall

While I was raking leaves off our small “lawn,” my wife (knowing full well the answer would be yes) asked me if I wanted to see a leaf gall. It was formed on the petiole of an Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides). I checked bugguide.net and identified that a Cottonwood Gall Aphid caused the gall. Poplar Petiole Gall Aphid is another common name for this species.

Cottonwood Gall Left hand gall showing transverse split

It is a hollow gall, not quite round, with a transverse split. It occurs along the petiole (the stem of a leaf) just below the blade. I cut a few open and found a waxy substance but no insects. They might have exited through the slit. I opened one more and found the adult aphid.

Interior of Cottonwood Gall L – shed skin R – adult winged aphid

I Googled the scientific name and the phrase “life cycle” and found Roberta Gibson’s informative and fun blog “Growing with Science (The Poplar Petiole Gall Aphid was the “Bug of the Week” in May of 2015.) She explains the aphid’s life cycle. Aphids seldom have straight forward life cycles. They over winter as eggs on Cottonwood twigs. They hatch in the spring and feed on the leaf petioles, causing the plant to produce the gall. Then the insect moves inside. It becomes a winged adult and exits through the slot in the gall’s side. They complete their life cycle on the roots of cabbage, turnips, or another member of the mustard family (Brassicaceae). Another common name is Cabbage Root Aphid. The aphids complete their life cycle by flying back to Cottonwoods and depositing eggs on the twigs or bark.

This is a great time of year to look for galls. Get outside and enjoy Nature. Also, check out Roberta’s blog and website. Even though she is based out of Arizona many things she writes about occur in Michigan.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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Don’t Touch That Beetle: Oil Beetle (Meloe sp.)

Posted on November 14, 2016 by admin

During a recent work session at the Royal Oak Arboretum one of the Boy Scouts found a large purplish-black beetle. It was part of the Blister Beetle group called an Oil Beetle (Meloe sp.). They exude an yellowish oily substance from the base of their legs that forms blisters if it contacts human skin. They placed the beetle in a large plastic cup and the cup’s bottom was spotted with oily liquid when I first saw it.

This genus consists of six species in the Northeastern United States. I am not sure which species this one is. I am happy to know the genus of an insect.

Female Oil Beetle

The females are about twice the size of the males. This female was 40mm [1.5 inches] long and seemed sluggish. They overwinter as eggs and perhaps she had laid her eggs and was reaching the end of her life. This is a flightless, parasitic beetle. The eggs hatch in the late spring and the larva are described as alligator-like. Climbing onto a flower they wait for one of the solitary bees to land and quickly latch on to its back. The Oil Beetle larva rides the bee back to its nest and feeds on the developing bee larva and possibly some of the pollen in the nest. It then pupates and emerges in the fall to mate and lay its eggs.

It is fun to find a new insect in an area that I visit often. You never know what you are going to see when you just get out and look.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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A Parasitic Yellow Jacket

Posted on October 6, 2016 by admin

Yellow Jacket nest in old camper shell

Last summer I killed a Yellow Jacket nest that was constructed in an old camper shell at our cabin. Normally I coexist with the wildlife around me but I had a visitor who was allergic to wasp stings.

Aerial Yellow Jacket closeups

The workers were all Aerial Yellow Jackets (Dolichovespula arenaria). This is one of our native species. The yellow banding pattern on the abdomen is distinctive with a black “V” in the middle of the relatively wide yellow band. The face is almost solid yellow. The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification has a great website for wasp identification.

Parasitic Yellow Jacket

I also found Yellow Jackets that were mainly black and white. These were Parasitic Yellow Jackets (Dolichovespula arctica). This is the only parasitic species in the genus found in eastern North America. It also goes by the name of Dolichovespula adulterina.

Dolichovespula arctica, Dolichovespula arenaria

Parasitic Yellow Jacket – L
Aerial Yellow Jacket – R

D. adulterina is a broader classification and includes D. arctica. Whichever name you use there is still only a single parasitic Yellow Jacket species in Michigan.

Parasitic Yellow Jackets reproduce only in Aerial Yellow Jacket nests. A Parasitic Yellow Jacket queen invades an established Aerial Yellow Jacket nest. It either kills the Aerial Yellow Jacket queen immediately or coexists for a time with her and then kills her. Aerial Yellow Jacket workers raise the parasites’ young. The parasite produces only males (drones) and queens who eventually take control of the nest. Each queen, once they mate, overwinters outside of the nest and then repeats the same process the following year.

I intend to look at Yellow Jackets more closely and hope to find a parasitized nest for further study.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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National Pollinator Week

Posted on June 20, 2016 by admin

“Buzz Inn” bee hotel mounted in my yard, and some occupied “rooms”

June 20-26, 2016 has been designated National Pollinator Week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Our yard is pollinator friendly. We use no insecticides. We provide plants that produce pollen and attract pollinators to our vegetable garden.

This year, we put up a bee hotel now called the “Buzz Inn.” Our plans came from a helpful guide, Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers and Conservationists, SARE Handbook 11, NRAES-186 by Eric Mader, Marla Spivak, and Elaine Evans.

SARE is Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education.

Mason Wasp at nest holes

Mason Wasp

Eleven cells are currently occupied—meaning capped with mud. Five others have already hatched. A Mason Wasp (Symmorphus cristatus) has moved in. They are in the 3/16 inch [4.8mm] diameter holes. We hope other pollinators will move in and use other sizes. The inn’s largest holes are 3/8 inch [10.0mm] diameter. I installed the inn four weeks ago. We may need to add more rooms.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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A Few Michigan Galls

Posted on February 28, 2016 by admin

Gall are formed by insects laying eggs or feeding on a plant. In response to this damage the plants produces growth hormones resulting in abnormal cell development. Galls normally occur during the plant’s most active growth time. Other parts of the plant remain unaffected.

Creeping Charlie Gall on Ground Ivy

Creeping Charlie Gall (Liposthenes glechomae) is a grape-size gall that develops on Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea) which is also called Creeping Charlie or Gill-over-the-ground. The gall is formed when a cynipid wasp lays an egg in the leaf or stem of the plant. If you cut one of these galls open you will find a small white larvae. Cynipid refers to all members in the insect family Cynipidae. The wasp does no real harm to the plant so it cannot be used to control Creeping Charlie. Both the wasp and the weed are imported from Europe.

Hedgehog Gall on White Oak

Another Cynipid wasp gall is caused by the Hedgehog Gall Wasp ( Acraspis erinacei ). It was on a White Oak (Quercus alba) leaf. This is the agamic generation (they reproduce without males). The female generation emerges from this gall and lays her eggs in the leaf buds where they over winter. It is an interesting looking dime-sized gall.

Vein Pocket Gall on Red Oak

The Vein Pocket Gall (Macrodiplosis quercusoruca) is caused by a larval stage of a gall midge in the family Cecidomyiidae. This gall was on Red Oak (Quercus rubra).

Sumac Gall on Staghorn Sumac

Sumac Gall Aphid (Melaphis rhois) is one of the few aphids that cause galls to form. This one was on Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina). Staghorn Sumac Aphid is one of the woolly aphids. The galls are hollow and occur along the leaves.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

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Monarch Resources

Posted on February 1, 2016 by admin

Milkweed Community Title Slide showing clockwise from upper left–Great Spangled Fritillary, Black-sided Pygmy Grasshopper, Monarch, Red-Blue Checkered Beetle

The Milkweed plant community is a fascinating place to just stand around in and watch what comes by. I have a talk “The Milkweed Community: More Than Monarchs (but Monarchs are cool!) on the many members of this community and the following are resources mentioned in that talk.

Websites about Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Watch has a helpful guide for identifying, and growing milkweeds. They also have information on Monarch conservation, biology, and different research projects including their Monarch tagging project.

The National Wildlife Federation’s Monarch Butterfly page is a good source of general Monarch information.

Monarch Joint Venture has general information including great life-cycle information.

“Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) and milkweeds (Asclepias species): The current situation and methods for propagating milkweeds” by Tara Luna and R. Kasten Dumroese. This publication explains the international program underway to conserve populations of Monarchs. It describes the migration of the butterfly and also has information on propagating Milkweed.

Monarch Butterfly Journey North has general information but also tracks the population size and migration of Monarchs

Watch for tagged Monarchs

Websites for Identifying Members of the Milkweed Community

Bug Guide is a site for “Identification, Images, & Information For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin For the United States & Canada.” The Iowa State University Department of Entomology provides this great resource. This is the first site I look at when I identify an insect.

The Herbarium of the University of Michigan provides the Michigan Flora Homepage with keys, range maps and photos of all flowering plants and ferns known in the wild in Michigan.

This site is dedicated to the conservation and identification of Bumble Bees. They have helpful drawings of the color patterns of different Bumble Bee species.

Author in a stand of Common Milkweed

Books for Identifying Members of the Milkweed Community

Brenda Dziedzic. 2019. Raising Butterflies in the Garden. Firefly Books.

Jason Gibbs, Ashley Bennett, Rufus Isaacs and Joy Landis. 2015. Bees of the Great Lakes Region and Wildflowers to Support Them: A guide for farmers, gardeners and landscapers. Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E3282. (An excellent and inexpensive guide to Michigan’s bees. My review can be found here.)

Jeffrey Hahn. 2009. Insects of the North Woods. Kollath+Stensaas. The entire North Woods series is excellent and useful for the entire state of Michigan. (see Larry Weber’s book cited below)

Mogens C. Nielsen. 1999. Michigan Butterflies & Skippers. Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E-2675.

Ba Rea, Karen Oberhauser and Michael A. Quinn. 2010. Milkweeds, Monarchs and More: A Field Guide to the Invertebrate Community in the Milkweed Patch (Second Edition). Bas Relief, LLC. This 80 page book is a great guide for the beginner and it would make a good student field guide for classroom use.

Larry Weber. 2013. Spiders of the North Woods. (Second Edition). Kollath+Stensaas.

Paul Williams, Robin Thorp, Leif Richardson and Sheila Colla. 2014. An Identification Guide: Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton University Press.

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Another Pollinator Book

Posted on December 12, 2015 by admin

Eastern Carpenter Bee

Bees of the Great Lakes Region and Wildflowers to Support Them: A guide for farmers, gardeners and landscapers by Jason Gibbs, Ashley Bennett, Rufus Isaacs and Joy Landis published by The Michigan State University Extension (Bulletin E3282) is a new publication on pollinators. It begins with a short but readable section on “Bees and their biology” and includes descriptions of their nests, and a wonderful photo labeling the anatomy of a bee.
The book contains many helpful hints for identifying bees and was written by people who know the insects. Groups of bees (for example Leaf-cutter, Cellophane, and Mason Bees) are described and then illustrated with high quality color photographs. A section is included on “Wanna-bees” showing Flower Flies, Beetles, and Moths.

Leaf Cutter Bee

The final half of the book identifies native plants that support bees. Color photos show each plant species. Helpful information describing growing conditions, blooming period, height, bee species that use the plant, and recommended companion plants are given for each species. This should prove helpful to gardeners and landscapers as they plan plantings.

Green Sweat Bee

The book is spiral bound and pocket size (3 1/2″ X 5″). It contains 110 pages. Reasonably priced at $10.00, this guide can be ordered from the MSU Extension website. I will be carrying this handy guide in the field next year.

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Good Garden Bugs: A Review

Posted on October 9, 2015 by admin

Good Garden Bugs: Everything you need to know about beneficial predatory insects is a new guide by Mary Gardiner. But, it is more than a guide to identifying and attracting beneficial insects. It also explains the life cycles and unique behaviors of these insects. Although this is not a gardening blog I wanted to call attention to this book because it meets the purpose of this blog which is to get people out and looking at nature.

Wasp Mantid Fly

This book is packed with useful information. The photographs are excellent and aid in identification. Most are taken from the website bugguide.net. I have mentioned this site in previous blog posts and use it all the time. Many of the species are illustrated at different stages of their life cycle. Some life cycles are shown with line drawings. The section on extrafloral nectaries is fascinating. Extrafloral nectaries are “glands found on leaf surfaces and margins, petioles, leaf and flower bracts, and sepals that provide nourishment to natural enemies”. I need to study these more. Another section shows how to build a bee or wasp hotel to provide shelter and nesting areas for these beneficial insects.

Lacewing larva covered with parts of prey and sand

The insects selected for the guide include most of the common insect species and a few interesting but rarer species such as the mantis fly. Using this guide I identified an insect that I photographed two years ago. It is a Lacewing larva. The feather-legged fly is listed (see blog post). A concise introduction to the wasps helped me to sort out that group. A chapter is devoted to insects of the water garden. Spiders, Predatory Mites, Pseudoscorpions, Scorpions, and Centipedes are also included. Bees and Bumblebees are not included because, while they are beneficial insects, they are not predatory.

The author grew up in Michigan and is currently an associate professor in the department of entomology at Ohio State University. This guide is written with the layperson in mind and is accurate without being overly technical. My only complaint is that the scientific names used in this book are not indexed. This guide should prove useful throughout Michigan. Look for it at your local library.
Copyright 2015 by Donald Drife

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My Backyard Insects

Posted on September 22, 2015 by admin

Even after living twenty plus years in our house Nature continues to delight and surprise me. I often observe new insects visiting our yard in Southeastern Michigan. Sometimes they are old friends dropping by for a first visit and sometimes they are complete unknowns. Our yard is planted with insect attracting plants. Crocus (Crocus sp.) and Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) in the spring, Catmint (Nepeta sp.), Borage (Borago officinalis), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum), Spearmint (Mentha spicata), and Milkweed (Asclepias sp.) in the summer. Goldenrod (Solidago sp.), Asters, and Seven-son Shrub (Heptacodium miconioides) in the autumn. We use no pesticides. To make people more aware of what they can find in their own yards we have a talk titled “Insects in your (or at least our) Backyard.” Too many people kill the beneficial insects by broadly applying chemicals.

Hummingbird Moths are day flying moths that look as if they are small Hummingbirds. I often see photos or videos posted on line of “baby hummingbirds.” When Hummingbirds leave the nest they are the same size as the adults. Some species of Hummingbird Moths are reported to beat their wings at over 70 times a second. They visit flowers, feeding on nectar. These fast moving insects are a challenge to photograph.

Nessus Sphinx Moth

Nessus Sphinx Moth (Amphion floridensis) visited our Catmint earlier this summer. Its body is Chocolate-brown with rusty patches. A yellow stripe above the eye and two yellow bands on the body are characteristics of this species. The end of the abdomen resembles a lobster’s tail. The insect is only an inch (2.5cm) long.

Another Hummingbird Moth to visit my yard is the Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). It flies to a flower, quickly feeds, and then speeds on. In order to get its picture I had to predict (or guess) which flower it would visit and focus on that flower. Given the large number of missed shots, I’m glad I no longer use film. Its wings are see through with the edges lined in brown. The one pictured is an older, worn, moth.

Hummingbird Clearwing – L Mydas Fly – R

Another new visitor (or just noticed visitor) is the Mydas Fly (Mydas clavatus). At first glance I thought it was a wasp but, at an inch (25mm) long, it is one of our largest flies. Their abdomens are black with an orange band. The specific name “clavatus” means club-shaped and refers to the distinctive flattened antennae segment of this species.

Eastern Carpenter Bee

Often mistaken for a Bumblebee, the Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) is an important pollinator in our garden. Their smooth, shiny, abdomens distinguish them from the hairy abdomened Bumblebees. Carpenter Bees nest in tunnels that they excavate in soft wood. These tunnels are 3/8 inch (9.5mm) in diameter and eight or more inches (200+mm) deep. They look as if someone has drilled perfectly round holes into a log.

Grass-carrying Wasp

Another pollinator in our garden is the Grass-carrying Wasp (Isodontia mexicana). It is one of the thread waisted wasps, ¾ inch (19mm) long, with see-through reddish-brown wings. Its body has whitish hairs. It nests in existing cavities, sometimes using abandoned Carpenter Bee holes. The female lines the nesting cavity with blades of grass. I am always surprised to see one of these wasps flying through the air trailing a long blade of grass behind them. These species will lay several eggs in the same cavity, using plugs of grass to divide the cavity into sections, each section receiving one egg.

Trichopoda Flies

While watching Grass-carrying Wasps feed on Goldenrod (Solidago sp.) I observed orange abdomened flies that I had never seen before. These turned out to be Trichopoda Flies (Trichopoda pennipes). About the size of a House Fly, they have smooth, orange abdomens, solid colored in the males and black tipped in the females. Their wings are black except for a clear strip along the rear edge. They are one of the feather flies so named for the feather or comb-like structure on the hind legs.

These flies are parasitic on Stink Bugs and Squash Bugs and have been imported from the United States into Europe as a Squash Bug controller. The female fly lays her eggs on the back of a bug. The eggs hatch and the larva bore into the bug and feed upon it. When they reach maturity, they emerge from the bug and pupate in the ground. The adults hatch and the cycle begins again. I am not sure how effective this control is because the bug continues to feed and do damage to the plants long after the eggs hatch.

I never know what I’m going to see in my yard. It is fun just to grab my camera and spend a few minutes looking at what is passing through the yard. Nature surrounds us and I don’t need to travel to a distant woods or meadow to see something new.
Copyright 2015 by Donald Drife

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Rudbeckia Insect Gall

Posted on August 25, 2015 by admin

Green-headed Coneflower

Green-headed Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) also goes by the common names Tall Coneflower, or Yellow Coneflower, or Cut-leaf Coneflower. It is commonly seen in the wild and also in so called “prairie plantings.” It is tall, sometimes reaching 10 feet (2.5m) in height, with yellow disk and ray flowers. The ray flowers are not reflexed. It has a smooth stem and pointed leaf tips.

Green-headed Coneflower flowerheads deformed by Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua

More Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua galls on Green-headed Coneflower

A naturalist friend of mine recently brought me a few galls from her garden in Royal Oak that developed on her Green-headed Coneflowers. It proved to be Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua, one of the Gall Midges. Bugguide.net only had records from Iowa and Virginia. I submitted photos for Michigan. The blog, Field Biology in Southeastern Ohio has an Ohio record. iNaturlist.org has records from Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania being the type location (the place that the original specimens came from). Wong et al lists it from southern Manitoba.

Closeup of gall larva and sectioned Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua gall along with another affected flower.

I’m wondering if this gall is common but overlooked in Michigan. I have checked eight colonies in Michigan without finding any additional galls. This is the only gall I have ever seen on the genus Rudbeckia. If you find this gall you can submit your photos to bugguide.net.
Copyright 2015 by Donald Drife

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The Michigan Nature Guy’s Blog

To get people looking at, enjoying, and understanding the natural world around them.

Category Archives: Michigan Insects

Cottonwood Gall Aphids (Pemphigus populitranversus)

Don’t Touch That Beetle: Oil Beetle (Meloe sp.)

A Parasitic Yellow Jacket

National Pollinator Week

A Few Michigan Galls

Monarch Resources

Another Pollinator Book

Good Garden Bugs: A Review

My Backyard Insects

Rudbeckia Insect Gall