Alaus oculatus, commonly called the eastern eyed click beetle or eyed elater, is a species of click beetle.
Tag: Insecta
Coccinella septempunctata, the seven-spot ladybird (or, in North America, seven-spotted ladybug or “C-7”), is the most common ladybird in Europe. Its elytra are of a red colour, but punctuated with three black spots each, with one further spot being spread over the junction of the two, making a total of seven spots, from which the species derives both its common and scientific names (from the Latin septem = “seven” and punctus = “spot”).
The Sculptured Pine Borer or Chalcophora virginiensis is a metallic woodboring beetle of the Buprestidae family. It is endemic to forested areas in the eastern United States and Canada. Some authors have synonymised it with the western species Chalcophora angulicollis, but Maier and Ivie (2013) demonstrate that the species are distinct.
The eastern tent caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum) is a species of moth in the family Lasiocampidae, the tent caterpillars or lappet moths. It is univoltine, producing one generation per year. It is a tent caterpillar, a social species that forms communal nests in the branches of trees. It is sometimes confused with the gypsy moth and the fall webworm, and may be erroneously referred to as a bagworm, which is the common name applied to unrelated caterpillars…
Erynnis juvenalis, the Juvenal’s duskywing, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae.
Cutworm Moths and Allies (Noctuidae)
The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, is the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of its clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, wit
The patent-leather beetle or “Jerusalem beetle” (Odontotaenius disjunctus) is a beetle in the family Passalidae which can grow to just over an inch-and-a-half long. They are shiny black and have many long grooves on their elytra. They have a small horn between their eyes, and clubbed antennae. When disturbed, adults produce a squeaking sound by rubbing their wings on the abdomen. This is called stridulation, and is often easy to hear. This is apparently used for…
The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) is an insect in the family Pentatomidae, native to China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Taiwan. In September 1998 it was collected in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where it is believed to have been accidentally introduced. The nymphs and adults of the brown marmorated stink bug feed on over 100 species of plants, including many agricultural crops, and by 2010โ11 had become a season-long pest in orchards in the Eastern United…
The wheel bug (Arilus cristatus) is in the family Reduviidae (literally, “hangnail”), which consists of assassin bugs. The species is one of the largest terrestrial true bugs in North America, reaching up to 1.5 inches (38ย mm) in length in their adult stage. However, males are smaller in terms of their length and width when compared to females. A characteristic structure is the wheel-shaped pronotal armor. They are predators upon soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars, Japanese be
Euchaetes egle, the milkweed tussock caterpillar or milkweed tiger moth, is a moth in the family Erebidae. It is a common mid- through late-summer feeder on milkweeds and dogbane. Like most species in this family, it has chemical defenses it acquires from its host plants, in this case, cardiac glycosides (Weller et al., 1999). These are retained in adults and deter bats, and presumably other predators, from feeding on them (Hristov and Conner 2005). Only very…
Dasymutilla occidentalis (red velvet ant, eastern velvet ant, cow ant or cow killer), is a species of parasitoid wasp native to the eastern United States. It is commonly mistaken for a member of the true ant family, as the female is wingless. The species ranges from Connecticut to Missouri in the north and Florida to Texas in the south.