Readers’ wildlife photos

Please keep those photos coming in if you can, as they get depleted quickly. Today’s batch comprises insect photos from regular contributor Mark Sturtevant, whose notes are indented. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Here are more pictures of insects taken over a year ago.

The first picture shows an odd – looking group of larvae feeding on wild bergamot. These are tortoise beetle larvae, well known for their habit of carrying a ‘fecal shield’ as a deterrent against their various enemies. They will even wave their repugnant abdomen at you when disturbed. The adult of this particular species (Physonota unipunctata) is shown in the link above.

Speaking of beetles and fecal shields of sorts, the strange object in the next picture is a case-bearing larva of a Chrysomelid beetle. Larvae in the genus Neochlamisus crawl around in a protective case made of their own poo. You can sometimes see their legs or head sticking out, but this one was not cooperating. One again, the link shows the adult beetle. Interestingly, the adults are considered to be caterpillar-dropping mimics (!)

Let’s continue with beetles, as I have an inordinate fondness for them. The next three are all “longhorn” beetles, named after their long antennae, and these species are commonly seen feeding on pollen from flowers. The first two are Typocerus velutinus and Brachyleptura champlaini.  The third photo shows Clytus ruricola, described as a kind of a ‘wasp beetle’ since they mimic wasps. I think it most closely resembles a small potter wasp. Wasp beetles move around rather quickly and erratically, and in doing so they really do manage to look wasp-like.

Next is a picture of a leafhopper nymph that I retrieved from the trumpet vines in our backyard. The picture is focus-stacked from 7 pictures taken by hand from a staged setting. I think the species is Jikradia olitaria.

Leafhoppers are related to insects known as planthoppers. Knowing the difference is a deep dive into trivia, but among the distinguishing traits are these: leafhoppers are a single but large family, and they are powerful jumpers with enlarged hind legs that have movable spines. Their antennae arise in front of the compound eyes. In contrast, Planthoppers are actually a consortium of families. They tend to be laterally flattened, are not powerful jumpers, and what spines they have will be fixed in place. Antennae emerge below the eyes. There are other differences as well.

Anyway, the strange planthopper shown in the next picture is in the Derbidae family, and is called Apache degeeri. I’ve featured it here on more than one occasion, but they are so odd they deserve the attention! Before it flew off, I managed to get in two pictures by hand, while standing, and these were later stacked together to make this one picture. Dumb luck that it worked. The weird ‘mouth’ is really a curly antenna.

Next up is a rather wonky looking caterpillar that is definitely a bird-dropping mimic. I had long ago identified it as the larva of the red-spotted purple butterfly (Limenitis arthemis), but later I stumbled upon pictures of the larva of the viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus), and it seemed identical! This was very strange since the adult butterflies are very different.

I looked into this mystery and learned that the two butterfly species are closely related, and yes, their caterpillars are hard to tell apart and they also feed on many of the same host plants. The species are sufficiently related that they will even form interspecies hybrids in the wild, as shown here. This is very weird to see!

Anyway, after much deliberation I’ve decided this is a viceroy larva, owing mainly to a few extra spikes on the head. But I could be wrong.

The last picture is a group of the above butterflies having a “puddle party”. This is where they feed on muddy ground to imbibe amino acids and salts. An interesting detail about this behavior, which is seen in many butterflies, is that puddle partygoers are usually males. The trace nutrients are transferred to females during mating, and some are incorporated into their eggs.