Bug Bytes

Introducing, the Harvester Butterfly …the only species of butterfly in North America where the caterpillars eat meat. More specifically, Woolly aphids are on their limited menu.

While other beetles are known to make various squeaks and hisses, Bess Beetle adults and larvae can make 14 distinctly different sounds to convey danger to the rest of the family, attract a mate, and enable family communications.

Lemon Ants prefer to build their homes in the stems of the tree species that survive in Devil’s Gardens. As it turns out, this is not a coincidence. In the eyes of a Lemon Ant, other trees not suitable for housing their kin just get in the way and take up valuable real estate. To make their surroundings more suitable for the continued existence and growth of their colony, it’s the Lemon Ants that rub out any rival vegetation.

When choosing a mate, the females within a rather unique family of flies make their decision depending on whether the eyes have it or not.

Here in Montana, we generally see our first Orchard Mason Bees of the season by mid-April. Resembling a large fly, the males of these bluish-green native bees emerge first, waiting patiently for the females to emerge in a week or so to mate.

If you haven’t heard of the Asian Giant Hornet before, you might be more familiar with their other, more sinister, name …the Murder Hornet. As the world’s largest species of hornet, Asian Giant Hornets are fierce predators with a preference for honeybees.

With a body length of about 3 inches, these sizeable dragonflies can travel up to 900 miles. One migrating species that flies below most people’s radar is the Common Green Darner.

While some silk slingers make large, elaborate webs, there’s one species that might at first appear a bit lazy in the web-building department. But what it seemingly lacks in motivation is more than made up for with style.

No, bioscatter is not a gathering of confused biologists. And no, it’s not what happens when you turn on the lights in a cockroach infested apartment. It’s a phenomenon that’s been documented for well over a century, but is becoming more important with our changing climate.

The aphids survive winter in the egg stage and emerge with the return of warmer weather. Surprisingly, all of the hatching eggs produce females. So, with no males in the population, the ladies employ a different reproductive strategy.