"So have you checked on those caterpillars on the sunflower?" James asked me awhile ago. No, I replied, shaking my head, "I keep forgetting."
James is busy this afternoon, loading up limestone rocks that the city guys have unearthed and left near The Meadow. They're installing new sewer pipes, which is an eyesore right now but (I guess) will be wonderful later on down the road. As our little cousin, Drew, so wisely told James yesterday, when they surveyed the project, "You gotta have a mess first before you can have progress." (He's still amazed at how wise she is for a six-year-old.)
Back to caterpillars. Oh, yes, the silvery checkerspot larvae are absolutely stripping the sunflower. I leaned over and listened. Sure enough, I could hear them all munching! I wonder what's gonna happen when they run out of leaves? Move to nearby lantana leaves? We'll see.
Here's what J.P. Michaud says about the larvae of
Chlosyne nycteis in connection with sunflower crops (Entomology, Kansas State University)
Females lay their eggs in relatively large clusters, often as many as 100. It is also sometimes called the sunflower butterfly because it has a strong preference for the Asteraceae. In Kansas, there are typically two generations per year. Although the first generation lays its eggs too early to be of concern to commercial sunflowers, the flight of the second generation can coincide with the period of crop development. Even large plants can be completely skeletonized by larval feeding, but more damage can occur when egg clusters are laid on young plants in the V4-V6 stage, in which case the entire plant is quickly consumed and larvae migrate to neighbouring plants, sometimes creating a bare hole in the field."
UPDATE–When I showed my son, Patrick, what was left of the sunflower leaves last Saturday (the next day after this post), nearly all the caterpillars had VANISHED! Packed up and left. Vamanos-ed. I still have no clue where everyone went.
Wow, look what I spotted when I was checking on the butterflies up in the live oak–a pair of LARGE click beetles (uh, mating)! "I've never seen those before!" I exclaimed to James. They were feeding alongside the butterflies. I checked on Bugguide.net, and I think they're a click beetle known as Alaus lusciosus. They're really beautiful insects. I was impressed.
"So have you checked on those caterpillars on the sunflower?" James asked me awhile ago. No, I replied, shaking my head, "I keep forgetting."
Back to caterpillars. Oh, yes, the silvery checkerspot larvae are absolutely stripping the sunflower. I leaned over and listened. Sure enough, I could hear them all munching! I wonder what's gonna happen when they run out of leaves? Move to nearby lantana leaves? We'll see.
Our ox beetle (or what's left of him)
We were sitting outside the other night with friends in the back yard, under the live oaks, when I came across these VERY flat tiny bugs. Literally. A few were crawling on James, and I found one or two on me. I'd never seen anything like them before. When I say flat, I mean FLAT. But I didn't get any photos. However, last night, I got a second chance when I spotted one on our bathroom floor. So I snagged some pictures to post. Then this morning, I got on Bugguide.net and decided to do a random search for "flat bugs." Sounded like a good description to me. Lo and behold, there is an ENTIRE family of flat bugs! Honest! It's called Aradidae. And ours appears to be in the genus of Neuroctenus or Mezira. These bugs apparently feed on fungi found under bark, which would explain how some probably fell on us. Mystery solved!
