Butterflies and Insects news and views from around the web

A doctoral student who discovered a new species of bee in Toronto has completed a study of 84 species of sweat bees in Canada. Nineteen of these species are new to science -- never before identified -- including the new Toronto bee, which is actually quite common in eastern Canada and the US. The new research will help scientists track bee diversity, and understand pollination biology and insect social behavior.

Anyone visiting the Tucson Botanical Gardens lately who is disappointed to learn that the Butterfly Magic event begins in October hasn't been paying enough attention to the butterflies that are flying freely around the garden outside of the tropical greenhouse. I tallied twenty-two species over the past month, most of those seen in the last week or so. Here's the list: Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes Checkered White, Pontia protodice Southern Dogface, Colias cesonia Sleepy Orange, Eurema nicippe Dainty Sulphur, Nathalis iole Cloudles...

Observation Notes on the Forest Hopper & Coon Updating the Butterflies of Singapore Checklist A shot of the Coon taken at Endau Rompin Forest Reserve in Malaysia The family Hesperiidae (or commonly known as Skippers ) feature rather unattractive butterflies. They are fast flying, with big eyes and many of them perch with their wings opened in a unique fashion, known only to the Hesperiidae - with their forewings held out at a 45 deg angle, whilst the hindwings are opened flat. A shot of the Forest Hopper taken in Singapore Many skippers are brown, unmarked and no...

You know there's a serious bed bug problem when the bed bug hotline center has to be fumigated for bed bugs. New York City set up a call center for residents to report bed bugs and request information about dealing with the bloodsucking pests. Last week, the call center staff had to call in pest control experts to fumigate for bed bugs, after a lone bed bug was discovered in the office. ... Read Full Post

Ants are not out of their weight class when defending trees from the appetite of nature's heavyweight, the African elephant, a new study finds. Columns of angered ants will crawl up into elephant trunks to repel the ravenous beasts from devouring tree cover throughout drought-plagued East African savannas, playing a potentially important role in regulating carbon sequestration in these ecosystems.

Scientists are using atomic force microscopy to record sounds emanating from inside living insects like flies, mosquitoes and ladybugs.

Some female zebra finches foist a part of their eggs on their neighbors. Scientists in Germany have discovered that in every fifth nest there is one egg that is not produced by its social parents. The female birds act in a very well-targeted way: eggs are being placed in "foster-care" shortly before the hosts commence their own egg laying.

Did you know... A butterfly must assemble its proboscis as soon as it emerges from the chrysalis. A butterfly that can't drink nectar is doomed, so one of its first jobs as an adult butterfly is to make sure its mouthparts work. When a new adult emerges from the pupal case, or chrysalis , its mouth is in two pieces. Using palpi located adjacent to the proboscis, the butterfly begins working the two parts together to form a single, tubular proboscis. You may see a newly emerged butterfly curling and uncurling the proboscis over and over, testing it out.... Read Full Post

A basic requirement for growth and life of a multicellular organism is the ability of its cells to divide. Chromosomes in the cells duplicate and are then distributed among the daughter cells. This distribution is organized by a protein complex made up of several hundred different proteins, called the centrosome. In cancer cells, the centrosome often assumes an unnatural shape or is present in uncontrolled numbers. The reasons for this were previously largely unknown. Scientists in Germany have now investigated the functions of the different centrosomal components and report their findings.

It is always a challenge to select a wasp to profile on "Wasp Wednesday," in part because there are so many to choose from, but also because I don't have that many images of wasps...yet. I was thrilled today (August 31, 2010) to find an unusual and wonderful wasp to profile, right at my workplace at the Tucson Botanical Gardens . Right there inside the tropical greenhouse were flitting little ensign wasps. Ensign wasps of the family Evaniidae get their common name from the tiny, flag-like abdomen that they habitually "wave" as they walk. They have a start-and-stop gait, bobbing their ab...

The malaria mosquito needs more than one family of odor sensors to sniff out its human prey, new research suggests. New research provides striking new evidence that Anopheles gambiae -- the species of mosquito that spreads malaria that infects some 250 million and kills 900,000 people annually -- has a second set of olfactory sensors that are fundamentally different from the set of sensors that scientists have known about and have been studying for the last 10 years.

I found this fuzzy caterpillar on the deck railing at a friend's house in North Carolina. Do you know what it is? If you can identify the Bug of the Week, leave your answer in a comment. You'll find hints in the forum . Next Wednesday, I'll give a cyber shout out to anyone who posts the correct answer. ... Read Full Post

Last week, I spent a few days hiking and sightseeing in Shenandoah National Park. I photographed this sign near the northern entrance to the park. Since March, the National Park Service has implemented a firewood ban in Shenandoah to help combat the spread of emerald ash borer , an invasive insect pest. ... Read Full Post

I admit I might be cheating a little, but today I am re-directing you to my Flickr Photostream for some eye candy. Each of the new images there includes a little bit of information about the creature depicted, and/or the circumstances under which it was imaged. Hope you enjoy. I'll be back soon with additional posts.

Life History of the Studded Sergeant (Athyma asura idita) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Athyma Westwood, 1850 Species: asura Moore, 1858 Subspecies: idita Moore, 1858 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 60mm Caterpillar Host Plants: Ilex cymosa (Aquifoliaceae), and another Ilex species in the nature reserve. Open-wing shot of a Studded Sergeant perching on a branch. A closed-wing shot of a Studded Sergeant revealing the underside of its wings. Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: Forewing cells are open. Above, the wings have white markings set against black ground colour. Each...

Ants are usually regarded as the unwanted guests at a picnic. But a recent study of California seed harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex californicus) examining their metabolic rate in relation to colony size may lead to a better appreciation for the social, six-legged insects, whose colonies researchers say provide a theoretical framework for understanding cellular networks.

During field studies, scientists discovered that the oral secretions of tobacco hornworm larvae contain a particular substance that promptly alters a green leaf volatile in tobacco leaves into an odor attractant signal. With this signal, called (E)-2-hexenal, they unintentionally lure their own enemies: carnivorous bugs. These bugs start their piercing attacks not only against freshly hatched caterpillar babies; they also devour eggs laid by the female moths.

Proponents of organic farming often speak of nature's balance in ways that sound almost spiritual, prompting criticism that their views are unscientific and naive. At the other end of the spectrum are those who see farms as battlefields where insect pests and plant diseases must be vanquished with the magic bullets of modern agriculture: pesticides, fungicides and the like.

Scientists have finally sequenced the entire genome of an ant, actually two very different species of ant, and the insights gleaned from their genetic blueprints are already yielding tantalizing clues to the extraordinary social behavior of ants.

Did you know... The queen honey bee can live 3-4 years, but her biological clock ticks a lot faster than you might think. Just a week after emerging from her queen cell, the new queen flies from the hive to mate. If she doesn't do so within 20 days, it's too late; she loses her ability to mate. If successful, however, she never needs to mate again. She holds the sperm in her spermatheca and uses it to fertilize eggs throughout her life.... Read Full Post

Fungus-farming ants are using multiple antibiotics as weed killers to maintain their fungus gardens, according to new research. This is reminiscent of the use of multi-drug therapy to treat infections in humans. The work has also identified a new antibiotic that could be used to treat fungal infections.

Scientists have sketched a new map of the "evolutionary labyrinth" species must traverse to reach eusociality, the rare but spectacularly successful social structure where individuals cooperate to raise offspring. Their modeling shows that natural selection alone can explain the evolution of eusocial behavior, without the need for kin selection theory.

Fire up the citronella-scented tiki torches, and slather on the DEET: Everybody knows these simple precautions repel insects, notably mosquitoes, whose bites not only itch and irritate, but also transmit diseases such as West Nile virus, malaria and dengue. Now, scientists have discovered what it is in the bugs' molecular makeup that enables citronellal (the aromatic liquid used in lotions, sprays and candles) and DEET, to deter insects from landing and feeding on you.

By comparing two species of ants, researchers have established an important new avenue of research for epigenetics -- the study of how the expression or suppression of particular genes affects an organism's characteristics, development and even behavior.

On the morning of May 8, 2010, I was looking for insects in my immediate neighborhood in midtown Tucson, Arizona. The weather was partly cloudy, and relatively warm as I recall. Walking up a residential street, something hanging from the stem of a Desert Marigold flower caught my eye. Much to my surprise it was a female wasp in the genus Dryudella, and she had prey. Up until this point I had never seen a female in this genus of wasps, members of the family Crabronidae. I had only collected less than half a dozen males in thirty some years. They are not large, and this female was prob...

Late summer and fall is a great time to find spiders - big ones! It's been a while since I've posted a spider for Bug of the Week. So here's your chance. Can you identify this one? If you can, leave your answer in a comment. You'll find some clues in the forum to get you started. Next Wednesday, don't forget to stop by and see if you were right! ... Read Full Post

Researchers have discovered a bug with bifocals -- such an amazing finding that it initially had the researchers questioning whether they could believe their own eyes.

Like a stealth fighter plane, the barbastelle bat uses a sneaky hunting strategy to catch its prey. Biologists combined three cutting-edge techniques to uncover the secret of this rare bat's success.

Fabulous Fraser's Hill A Return Trip to Malaysia's popular Hill Resort After a fruitful butterfly-shooting outing last year at Fraser's Hill, my wife and I decided to organise another trip up the famous Malaysian Hill resort. This time, we sought out my sister-in-law's assistance to book her company bungalow again. As booking was based on a balloting system, we hoped for the best, and were rewarded with an off-peak allocation of the Maybank Lodge from Tuesday to Friday. Gathering the group from ButterflyCircle, the 9 of us drove up in three ca...

Do you have tent caterpillars in your trees now? Fall webworm caterpillars are sometimes misidentified as gypsy moths or eastern tent caterpillars , but both of those species did their damage months ago. ... Read Full Post

A naturally occurring virus in mosquitoes may serve as a "late-life-acting" insecticide by killing older adult mosquitoes that are responsible for the bulk of malaria transmission.

Insects in flight must somehow calculate and control their height above the ground, and researchers have new insight into how fruit flies do it. The answer is simpler than expected.

Did you know... Bed bugs multiply quickly. A single female can lay 500 eggs during her life, and within a few months her offspring can reproduce as well. A few individuals introduced to a new environment can increase exponentially. Depending on conditions, bed bugs can produce 3 or 4 generations in one year. Additionally, bed bugs reproduce most quickly in temperatures between 70° and 82° F, right in the range where most people keep their thermostats.... Read Full Post

Falsely advertising one's fighting ability might seem like a good strategy for a wimp who wants to come off as a toughie, but in paper wasp societies, such deception is discouraged through punishment, experiments suggest.

Butterfly of the Month - August 2010 The Blue Nawab (Polyura schreiber tisamenus) The month of August is an important month for Singapore as its National Day falls on the 9th of August annually. This year is Singapore's 45th birthday, and it was a particularly happy occasion as Singapore came out strongly from the global recession with a double digit GDP growth for the quarter and the year looks bullish for a strong economic performance. Other than a few days of the exceptionally rainy weather spilling over from July, the month was beginning to show some signs of the waning "...

When we venture out on a cool morning, nothing energizes our body like a nice warm drink and new research reveals that bees also use the same idea when they're feeling cold. A new study shows that bees also like to keep winter at bay with a warm drink.

The widening of the Panama Canal currently underway has created a rare opportunity to study the insects that inhabit the plants of environmentally sensitive Central American rainforest habitats. A new research effort there could shed light on biodiversity by documenting the area's host-plant relationships.

A 48-million-year-old fossilized leaf has revealed the oldest known evidence of a macabre part of nature -- parasites taking control of their hosts to turn them into zombies.

I think the first time I saw specimens of the Steel Blue Cricket Hunter, Chlorion aerarium, was in the collection at Oregon State University in about 1979. I remember being somewhat surprised that the species even occurred in that state, but here it was, all impressive in metallic teal. The specimens dated back at least a couple of decades or so, but I hoped I could eventually find specimens myself. This magnificent wasp is frequently confused with the Blue Mud Dauber which I wrote about last week . Both are in the family Sphecidae, and indeed they can sometimes be difficult to tell a...

Every summer I find a group of these white critters in my yard. Do you know what they are? Bug of the Week is your chance to show off your insect identification skills (or practice identifying insects). You have one week to name these insects. Post a comment with your answer here, and next Wednesday, come back to see if you answered correctly. If you need them, you'll find some hints in my forum . ... Read Full Post

Why do some insect-eating plants like sundews keep their flowers so far away from their traps? New research suggests that it isn't a clever trick to keep pollinators safe, it's about getting pollinated.

A combination of fungal spores and chemical insecticides are effective in combating insecticide-resistant malaria mosquitoes. Researchers have shown that the effect of using a combination of both is greater than the sum of using the two methods separately.

You can often tell what opinion the human race has of another animal by the number of aliases we assign to it. Just like the law-abiding citizens of the Old West, we tend to give nicknames to creatures we consider unsavory or downright mean. Such is the case with the arachnids of the order Solifugae. Depending on your geographic location, you may be familiar with them as "camel spiders," "sun spiders," "wind scorpions," or "solpugids." Not that their reputation is entirely undeserved, but these are fascinating and enigmatic invertebrates. Two things are immediately apparent about a so...

Well, this research settles it. I could never be a bee. I've never been a morning person. Honey bees, on the other hand, do some of their best foraging in the first few hours of the day. ... Read Full Post

Life History of the Sumatran Sunbeam (Curetis saronis sumatrana) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Curetis Hübner, 1819 Species: saronis Moore, 1877 Subspecies: sumatrana Corbet, 1937 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 40mm Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Derris trifoliata (Leguminosae) A Sumatran Sunbeam taking a typical perch on the underside of a leaf. A sunbathing female Sumatran Sunbeam on a leaf perch. Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: Above, the wings are orange with black borders. The female is in paler orange than the male and has much broader black borders. On the hindi...

Among insect architects, the Blue Mud Dauber, Chalybion californicum, is not Frank Lloyd Wright. What it does have going for it is a remodeling career. Oh, and a reputation as a fierce enemy of black widow spiders. Blue mud daubers are solitary wasps in the family Sphecidae. Females take over abandoned nests of their cousin, the Black and Yellow Mud Dauber, Sceliphron caementarium. While Sceliphron gathers mud to make her nest, Chalybion carries water to an old nest to soften it and remold it to her needs. The result is a very lumpy version of the normally smooth Sceliphron nest. ...

When plant-eating mammals such as goats chomp on a sprig of alfalfa, they could easily gobble up some extra protein in the form of insects that happen to get in their way. But a new report shows that plant-dwelling pea aphids have a strategy designed to help them avoid that dismal fate: The insects sense mammalian breath and simply drop to the ground.

'Fearless' aphids -- which become accustomed to ignoring genetically engineered chemical alarms in plants and alarms sent by fellow aphids -- become easy prey for ladybugs. That's good news for farmers, according to researchers.

Researchers have begun studying the genetic explanation for how two species of butterflies respond to warming. They are investigating what genes are responsible for the individualized responses, and will use genomic tools to learn which genes are involved when the species is experiencing climate change.

Could a "hot" flower attract pollinators by serving as a reward in a plant-pollinator mutualism? Many flowering plants produce nectar and pollen as rewards in exchange for pollination services by insects and other animals. Interestingly, however, a few plants have flowers that also produce heat metabolically -- so what is the adaptive function of this flower heating?

Despite their tiny brains, bees have remarkable navigation capabilities based on their vision. Now scientists have recreated a light-weight imaging system mimicking a honeybee's field of view, which could change the way we build mobile robots and small flying vehicles.

What Next, MOG? The end of the road for Mandai Orchid Garden? When we read the news that the land lease of the Mandai Orchid Garden (MOG) would end in six months' time, it was with sadness and frustration that yet another venue for nature photography and also a garden that is part of Singapore's heritage and memorable destinations may be gone soon. Mandai Orchid Garden was started in 1951 by the late John Laycock, a founder of the Orchid Society of Southeast Asia (OSSEA), and continued under him until his death in 1960. He purchased five acres of land on whi...

When some fence lizards are attacked by fire ants they "stress out" with elevated levels of stress hormones -- a response that helps the species to flee quickly and survive. The discovery is helping scientists to understand the impact of invasive species on native populations.

Sand wasps have to be among the most industrious of all insects. I was reminded of that back on June 18 when I encountered a female of Steniolia elegans digging a burrow in the middle of the Oracle Ridge Trail on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains just north of Tucson, Arizona. This ornately-marked insect is a member of the family Crabronidae (older references have them placed in the family Sphecidae), a group of solitary wasps. There are collectively fourteen species in the genus Steniolia in North America, all of them western in their geographical distribution. Four occur o...

Beautiful wildflowers might someday be planted in "bee pastures," floral havens created as an efficient, practical, environmentally friendly, and economically sound way to produce successive generations of healthy young bees. The pesticide-free pastures could be simple to establish, and -- at perhaps only a half-acre each -- easy to tend.

Two lines of pest-resistant soybean painstakingly developed. "Sparta -- the Soybean Aphid Shield" is the new trade name for one of the new lines. Researchers tested some 2,000 strains of soybeans against aphids to isolate four with different resistant genes.

I will be starting a new, part-time job shortly at the Tucson Botanical Gardens . My title will be "Assistant Butterfly Curator" for the Butterfly Magic exhibit of live butterflies that runs from October through April. Elizabeth Willott, Curator of Butterflies, will be my supervisor there. I am very much looking forward to learning how to better train and manage volunteers, which will account for most of my duties. I am still actively seeking full-time work online, in media, and museums, but am very grateful to TBG for extending me this offer. I will still have time to continue freelanc...

Life History of the Common Sailor (Neptis hylas papaja) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Neptis Fabricius, 1807 Species: hylas Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies: papaja Moore, 1875 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 50mm Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Calopogonium mucunoides (Leguminosae), Canavalia cathartica (Leguminosae), Aeschynomene americana (Leguminosae), Senna alata (Leguminosae), Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (Leguminosae). A Common Sailor enjoying ripened fruits of the Singapore Rhododendron. A Common Sailor sunbathinng on a cluster of flower buds of the Singapore Rhododendron. Physical...

Rows of tiny raised blowfly corneas may be the key to easy manufacturing of biomimetic surfaces, surfaces that mimic the properties of biological tissues, according to researchers.

Sometimes it is easier to identify a wasp by the prey it is carrying than by the wasp itself. Ned Harris and myself found this wasp at Madera Canyon's White House Picnic Area last week. Ned noticed the grasshopper prey before I did. I was convinced the wasp was another species until I saw it was a grasshopper of the family Acrididae, which told me differently. Here at last was Prionyx thomae. There are seven species of wasps in the genus Prionyx (family Sphecidae) found in the United States. Collectively they range across the entire U.S. and adjacent southern Canada, so there is prob...

European eel larvae are generally believed to initially follow a westerly drift route into the Gulf Stream, but new research results on bio-physical linkages in the Sargasso Sea point to a shorter route towards Europe.

Some North American monarchs born in the Midwest and Great Lakes fly directly west over the Appalachians and settle along the eastern seaboard. This finding is the first proof of longitudinal migration and solves the long-standing mystery of why monarchs always show up later on the east coast compared to the interior. The study also suggests conservation efforts must target the Great Lakes region.

I wanted to find a subject worthy of my 100th post to this blog, and I think I have one: My wonderful friend Abigail Parker. Abby is a highly intelligent and creative woman who has become a very respected authority on lady beetles (familyCoccinellidae) of North America. I finally had the pleasure of meeting her in person in south Texas last month. We had known each other for a long while via Bugguide.net , but it turns out Abigail is very knowledgeable about most natural history subjects. She taught me several birds during the Texas trip. I would not have recognized this Willet, for...

Butterfly of the Month - July 2010 Horsfield's Baron (Tanaecia iapis puseda) The month of July is famous in that it is the only month of the year that was first named after a human being - Julius Caesar in 46 BC. The month has 31 days, and in the northern hemisphere, it is usually the peak of the summer months and is the hottest month of the year. However, in Singapore, like in 2009, the weather has been rather wet - exceptionally wet actually, where floods occurred persistently following some of the wettest days on record. It had some residents up in arms when flood waters i...

I have noticed for a long while that many nature bloggers and photographers dedicate one day a week to a particular type of organism. There is "Fly Day Friday" and "Moth Monday" to be sure, so I have decided to institute my own version of this, which I dub "Wasp Wednesday." This will be a challenge since I don't have many wasp images in my archives. Nevertheless, may I welcome you to the debut of this weekly feature and introduce the Pacific Cicada Killer, Sphecius convallis. Many people are familiar with the Eastern Cicada Killer, Sphecius speciosus, as illustrated by the male specime...

What can you learn from the 120-year-old body of a parasitoid wasp? Using material from museum collections, researchers report that they can tell how males wasps court their females, based on dead specimens.

Pear psylla is a cicada-like pest with a vexing tendency to develop resistance to insecticides. But now, a new weapon could be in the works. Scientists have jointly identified a key component of the female psylla's chemical sex attractant, or pheromone, which could set the stage for luring amorous males to their doom.

Summer just wouldn't be complete without mosquitoes nipping at exposed skin. Or would it? New research may help solve a problem that scientists and pest controllers have been itching to for years. Scientists have developed a way to use nanoparticles to deliver double-stranded ribonucleic acid to silence genes in mosquito larvae.

In the start of a carefully crafted emergency campaign to thwart a pest outbreak that is wreaking havoc on Thailand's vital cassava production, agricultural researchers will release a quarter of a million parasitic wasps in the northeastern part of the country.

A new beetle that could be used to control the invasive weed skunk vine has been identified.

Life History of the Anderson's Grass Yellow (Eurema andersonii andersonii) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Eurema Hübner, 1819 Species: andersonii Moore, 1886 Subspecies: andersonii Moore, 1886 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 40mm Caterpillar Local Host Plant: One plant found in the Central Catchment Area (species ID to be determined). An Anderson's Grass Yellow perching on a fern frond. Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: Above, the wings are lemon-yellow with the hindwing having a thin black border and the forewing having a thick black border which is deeply excavated between vein...

There is one sex-specific gene so vital, its function has remained unaltered throughout evolution and is found in almost all animals, according to new research. The gene, called Boule, is responsible for sperm production and appears to be the only gene exclusively required for sperm production from an insect to a mammal. All animal sperm production likely comes from a common prototype.

For years, researchers worldwide have attempted to create genetically altered mosquitoes that cannot infect humans with malaria. Those efforts fell short because the mosquitoes still were capable of transmitting the disease-causing pathogen, only in lower numbers. Now for the first time, entomologists have succeeded in genetically altering mosquitoes in a way that renders them completely immune to the parasite.

What makes a bee grow up to be a queen? Scientists have long pondered this mystery. Now, researchers have fit a new piece into the puzzle of bee development -- a piece that also illuminates understanding about our own development and aging. The study shows that a key protein in the insulin signaling pathway plays a strong role in caste development among bees.

Much like humans, social insects such as ants and bees behave differently when their mother is not around. Workers are thought to perceive the presence of their mother queen using her unique pheromones. New research in ants has tracked down the elusive queen pheromone for the first time and revealed that workers are capable of developing ovaries in preparation for laying eggs in absence of pheromones.

The minute brains of flies process visual movements in only fractions of a second. Just how the brain of the fly manages to perceive motion with such speed and precision is predicted quite accurately by a mathematical model.

Sewage that overflows into urban creeks and streams during periods of heavy rain can promote the spread of West Nile virus, a study finds. The analysis of six years of data showed that people living near creeks with sewage overflows in lower-income neighborhoods of Southeast Atlanta had a seven times higher risk for West Nile virus than the rest of the city.

Chagas disease affects 10 to 12 million people in Latin America, killing more than 15,000 a year. It is caused by a parasite that roams with only limited control among the rural poor in Latin America. Researchers have found that dogs are important vectors in both the spread of the disease and the potential to help control it, and can make good sentinels for health officials monitoring T. cruzi transmission.

With bed bugs reemerging as a nuisance in some parts of the country, scientists are reporting the first preliminary description of the bug's sialome -- the saliva proteins that are the secret to Cimex lectularius' ability to suck blood from its human victims and escape to bite again with risking a lethal slap. The findings could have medical applications in diagnosing bed bug bites and preventing the itch.

Robber flies are conspicuous denizens of the desert southwest, but are common nearly everywhere. You might be seeing them yourself but simply not recognizing what they are. No wonder. Robber flies, also known as "assassin flies," often resemble wasps or bees more than they do flies. They certainly bear little resemblance to house flies. They don't carry diseases or bite people, either. Instead, they are swift predators of other insects. There are nearly one thousand species of the family Asilidae in North America north of Mexico, but that doesn't mean they have all been discovered y...

Butterfly Bunkers An Outing to Bunker Trail, Panti Forest Reserve, Johor Just as there are swanky restaurants of shooting sites for the upper-crust photographer connoisseur, complete with Peruvian adventures, difficult terrains and stories to tell the grandchildren, there are also the quick fast food getaways into the nearest rainforest just 90 minutes away from the bustling concrete city to get that much needed Nature's quick fix. A quick pit-stop at the famous Johor "bah kut teh" roadside stall for breakfast, four hungry Singapoeans tuck in to a delectable concoction of ...

Life History of the Chocolate Sailor (Neptis harita harita) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Neptis Fabricius, 1807 Species: harita Moore, 1875 Subspecies: harita Moore, 1875 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 55mm Caterpillar Host Plants: Poikilospermum suaveolens (Urticaceae). A Chocolate Sailor sunbathing on a perch in a wasteland. A Chocolate Sailor resting on a perch. Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: On both wings the cells are open, and vein 8 on the hindwing ends on the costa. In the male, veins 6 and 7 on the hindwing are parallel for only one third their length. ...

I like to turn on the porch light at my Tucson, Arizona apartment to see what insects (and sometimes other organisms like Mediterranean Geckos) show up to visit. Well, most of the time I like to do this. Right now it is an exercise in annoyance as the porch light is quickly overwhelmed by tiny true bugs known as "False Chinch Bugs," Nysius raphanus. At only 3-4 millimeters, each individual bug is not terribly imposing. It is the sheer numbers of them that are a nuisance. They fly well and before you know it everything in the immediate vicinity is covered in them: you, your camera, yo...

The Spider and the (Butter)Fly A Tale of Life and Death of a Butterfly Will you walk into my parlour? said the Spider to the Fly, 'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy; The way into my parlour is up a winding stair, And I've a many curious things to show when you are there. Oh no, no, said the little Fly, to ask me is in vain, For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again.* A Yellow Vein Lancer (Pyroneura latoia latoia) feeds on the Bandicoot Berry flowers T'was a bright and sunny morning, and it had rained the whole day before....

Here in southern Arizona it is cicada season. It is fitting that these insects should appear at the hottest time of the year, for their shrill "songs" seem to be the very sound of heat, reminiscent of something sizzling in the frying pan that is the Sonoran Desert in late June. Cicadas are "true bugs" in the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, and family Cicadidae. They have piercing-sucking mouthparts used to tap sap flowing in the limbs of trees and shrubs. Actually, they live underground as nymphs for the bulk of their lives, sucking on sap in the roots of trees and shrubs. ...

Butterfly of the Month - June 2010 Banded Swallowtail (Papilio demolion demolion) As we cross into the month of June and head towards the middle of the year 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, it has indeed been a busy half year for ButterflyCircle. The addition of a long-lost species to the Singapore Butterfly Checklist is one of the highlights so far, and we look forward towards the 300 species mark for Singapore. The summer solstice normally falls on June 21st (sometimes the 20th). In the northern hemisphere this is the day with the most daylight. After this ...

Life History of the Branded Imperial (Eooxylides tharis distanti) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Eooxylides Doherty, 1889 Species: tharis Geyer, 1837 Subspecies: distanti Riley, 1942 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 34mm Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Smilax bracteata (Smilacaceae) A Branded Imperial taking a break on a leaf perch. Another Branded Imperial on a leaf perch. Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: Above, both sexes are dark brown, with black confluent spots on the white tornal patch on the hindwing. In the male, the dorsal area on the forewing and the tornal ar...

Yet another new venture I am involved in is an educational (though still commercial) website, SpiderIdentification.org . It is the brainchild of webmaster Kyle Williams who in the course of building another website on outdoor survival discovered that a great number of people want to know which spiders are potentially dangerous. Kyle posted a recruitment notice for spider experts on Bugguide.net and I hastily replied, along with another spider expert, Mandy Howe. The two of us have been sharing moderator duties in the Forums section of the website since March. The site now offers an FA...

One of the reasons my blog posts were sparse for a few weeks in May was because I was working up articles for the educational website DustMites.org . Yes, I was financially compensated for my research and writing services. Yes, the website is tied to another website for a manufacturer of dust mite mattress covers and related products. I am not promoting the products here. What I do hope is that my blog followers will point out any inaccuracies in the text, and/or give me a nudge if they hear of any new research or information pertinent to updating DustMites.org. This project, likely to ...

Observation Notes on the Variability of the Common Four Ring Aberration or Valid Species? Many butterfly enthusiasts amongst the members of ButterflyCircle often get excited over observations of slight differences in the physical markings and colours of various butterfly species - wondering if it is a new or different species (or subspecies) and even hoping for the possibility of discovering something that is new to science! In urban Singapore, the latter is probably unlikely, because if there is a butterfly species still lurking around in our Singapore forests that is new to science, i...

I owe a big thank you to my friend Joshua Stuart Rose for suggesting that I become friends with Mary Jane Epps via Facebook. Mary Jane ("MJ") is currently a PhD student here at the University of Arizona. She came to know Josh when they were undergrads in biology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She is a wonderful young lady with many talents and an endless fascination for the natural world. I got to meet her in person last week when we made a spontaneous half-day journey up the Mount Lemmon Highway in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. She was due to leave in t...

Life History of the Striped Albatross (Appias libythea olferna) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Appias Hübner, 1819 Species: libythea Fabricius, 1775 Subspecies: olferna Swinhoe, 1890 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 55mm Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Cleome rutidosperma (Capparaceae, common name: Purple Cleome, Fringed Spiderflower). A female Striped Albatross visiting a flower of Bidens alba. Another female Striped Albatross with its upperside revealed. Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: The forewing apex is acute in the male but rounded in the female. Vein 9 on the forewi...

Racing for Butterflies on a Saturday Morning NParks Biodiversity Race 2010 Last Saturday, 29 May 2010, veteran butterfly enthusiast Steven Neo and I were at the Chua Chu Kang Park as arbitrators for the National Parks Board's Biodiversity Race 2010. We arrived at the finishing point of the Biodiversity Race at around 11:00am (the participants were flagged off at 8:30am that morning). I must admit that it was the first time that I've visited Choa Chu Kang Park, and I must say that it's a nice size and has good potential for good butterfly activity. Participants making their submis...

If there is one person in Tucson who has single-handedly made my life here a true joy, then it is Dr. Margarethe Brummermann. We met through that wonderful social network known as BugGuide , when she began posting insect images to that site. There is much more to Margarethe than just insects, though, and I have enjoyed learning about her former adventures while sharing in some of her new ones. Margarethe actually lives just outside of Tucson, west and north of the city in Picture Rocks, on the other side of the Tucson Mountains. She lives in a very nice home with her husband, Randy, a...

A Tinsel Surprise Re-Discovery of the Gray Tinsel (Catapaecilma major emas) A Gray Tinsel shot on Singapore island in May 2010 It was on a hot humid Saturday when ButterflyCircle members Nelson Ong and CK Chng were out on their usual weekend butterfly-shooting outing when Nelson spotted something that he had never encountered before. The small butterfly was perched on a leaf in a forested area near a mangrove habitat and allowed him to squeeze off a couple of shots before Chng took his turn at it. But the small skittish butterfly took off rapidly and made its escape amongst the lush v...

My last entry on cuckoo wasps prompts me to pen (keyboard?) a complementary article on the metallic green solitary bees that are frequently mistaken for cuckoo wasps. Indeed, to the untrained eye they appear essentially identical, so how do you tell the difference? Perhaps the best way to tell cuckoo wasps from those metallic members of the solitary bee family Halictidae is by behavior. Consider this: Cuckoo wasps are seldom found on flowers. Metallic bees are usually quite common on flowers. Both cuckoo wasps and "sweat bees" are fond of the liquid waste products (honeydew) of aphids ...

Gentle Giants of Gopeng On a bloodthirsty hunt for almost mythic dragons* and Rajahs*, I piggy-backed onto the Chirs' family horse (Toyota sedan) and galloped at full speed for Gopeng, all decked out in shiny Canon gear. Gopeng is a town located in Mukim Teja, District of Kampar, Perak, Malaysia. The old town once famous for gold and tin mining is located on the west side of the North-South Expressway stretch of Tapah-Simpang Pulai. Gentle giants of limestone hills and the Titiwangsa Mountains shrouded in mist are visible from the expressway, making the view of the Tapah-Gopeng stretch one ...

Life History of the Short Banded Sailor (Phaedyma columella singa) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Phaedyma C. Felder, 1861 Species: columella Cramer, 1780 Subspecies: singa Fruhstorfer, 1899 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 65mm Caterpillar Host Plants: Cratoxylum cochinchinense (Hypericaceae), Pterocarpus indicus ( Leguminosae, Papilionoideae), Hibiscus tiliaceus (Malvaceae), Chorisia speciosa (Malvaceae). A Short Banded Sailor visiting Ixora flowers. Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: Above, this species resembles various Neptis species in having similar white markings agains...

You would be hard-pressed to find lovelier insects than the cuckoo wasps of the family Chrysididae. They are clad in gem-like colors of emerald, ruby, jade, and even copper and gold. These wasps are small, and stingless, too, making them much less intimidating than other members of the order Hymenoptera. The life histories of these unique insects remind one of a spy thriller or great crime caper. While a few obscure, tiny cuckoo wasps parasitize the eggs of walkingstick insects, most female cuckoo wasps lay their eggs in the nests of other kinds of solitary wasps, or solitary bees, expo...

Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains is one of my favorite places to visit, so I was delighted to join other folks from the Southeast Arizona Butterfly Association (SEABA) for a Mother's Day outing there on May 9. I even learned of additional trails that I was previously unaware of. Thanks to trip leader Gary Jue for a great time. We had hardly gotten beyond the parking lot at the mouth of the canyon when someone spotted this lovely little Marine Blue, Leptotes marina. There were still many wildflowers blooming, but ironically that did not help us find many butterflies. What seem...

Butterfly of the Month - May 2010 Striped Blue Crow (Euploea mulciber mulciber) The month of May is a usually much-anticipated month in the temperate countries, where the first sprouts of greens peep out from the melting snow and ice of the winter months. In Southeast Asia, it is the month of the intermonsoons, as the winds change and weather can get unpredictable - searingly hot for a few days, followed by thunderstorms. A mating pair of Striped Blue Crow May is also the month where we celebrate Mother's Day - a time where we pay tribute to every mother's sacrifices and eff...

Life History of the Quaker (Neopithecops zalmora zalmora) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Neopithecops Distant, 1884 Species: zalmora Butler, 1870 Sub-species: zalmora Butler, 1870 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 22mm Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Glycosmis chlorosperma (Rutaceae). Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: Above, the wings are dark brown. On the forewing, there is a white discal patch which is always present in the female but usually obscure or absent in the male. Beneath, the whitish wings feature a series of dark brown to black marginal spots and a post-discal series of di...

The loyal followers of this blog deserve to be dazzled and amazed much more frequently than the writer has been able to do lately. I sincerely apologize for the time lag and anticipate that things will improve soon. Today I will do a little explaining. I am delighted to report that part of the reason I have been "missing in action" is because I have acquired some assignments that, believe it or not, are actually paying me for online content I am creating. As a co-moderator with Mandy Howe, I'm monitoring submissions to SpiderIdentification.org for a modest monthly wage. I want to expre...

Observation Notes on the Behaviour of Two Genera of Butterflies Gandaca and Arhopala For information regarding butterflies of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore, the book by Corbet & Pendlebury (revised by Col John Eliot) 4th Edition is still by far the most definitive work to date. Although updated in 1991 by Col Eliot, a large proportion of the information contained in the book dates from the early 60's to 70's which were taken from the 3rd Edition of the book - mostly still relevant. The book, aptly named "Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula" 4th Edition (which we refer to as C&a...

The Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute opens its gates to the public on the fourth Saturday of every month (excluding December). This past Saturday I had the chance to participate in the April event, as a guest and helper. SASI is located in Tucson Mountain Park, a scenic enclave located, ironically, west of the city of Tucson. It shares the park with Old Tucson Studios and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, all of which are, sadly, inaccessible by public transportation. An "unimproved" dirt road leads to the headquarters. The facilities include a classroom, library, laboratory, and b...

Life History of the Knight (Lebadea martha parkeri) Butterfly Biodata: Genus: Lebadea C.&R. Felder, 1861 Species: martha Fabricius, 1787 Subspecies: parkeri Eliot, 1978 Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 60mm Caterpillar Host Plants: Ixora congesta (Rubiaceae), I. javanica (Rubiaceae) and one un-identified plant in the nature reserve. A male Knight showing us its underside. A sunbathing male Knight displaying its upperside. Physical Description of Adult Butterfly: The forewing is falcate at vein 6, and is long and narrow, more so in the male than in the female. The uppers...

Last Monday, April 19, I was asked to help at an educational event presented by a local organization known as the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute (SASI for short). Emily Francis, John Rhodes, Barb Skye, and myself entertained four busloads of third and fourth graders from the Hopi Elementary School in Scottsdale, Arizona. We all convened at a ramada (shelter) in Reid Park near the center of Tucson. John Rhodes (pictured above), a retired teacher, furnished many live insects, spiders, scorpions, and other invertebrates from his personal collection. He has some of the healthiest, mos...

Requiem for the Butterflies A dead female Leopard Lacewing floats in a pond at a Butterfly Farm As the controversy over the installation art piece featuring 109 pristine butterflies at the Singapore Art Museum begins to wane, but not forgotten, we would like to feature a final commentary with regard to the use of intentionally killed butterflies for the sake of art. A torn and tattered Red Spotted Duke at a Butterfly Farm - and it's not even at the end of its life yet! Much has been said and done by the members of ButterflyCircle to highlight to like-minded nature lovers re...