October 6, 2024

Wow!  Summer is shot and October has brought in Fall for good, I think.  The Pond's water temperature is hovering at just about 60 F.  This means I'm starting to hold off on fish food, even though the little guys are still eager to eat.   

Let's take a look at some of the creatures out there nowadays.  The Leafhoppers (Bugs) are getting more numerous as Fall comes along.  The first two here are members of genus Eratoneura.  The second one is E. ardens because of the burned-looking marking.  I'm still waiting for info on number 3.  Number 4 looks like a nymph of the Coppery Leafhopper, Jikradia olitoria.

More Bugs!   First seems to be a relative of the Lygus Bugs,  and the second is a Stink Bug.   I  promised a couple of weeks ago to show you mating Drymus unus Bugs, but haven't seen them doing that yet.  Here seems to be a singleton.

Here are some Beetles.   First is the Redbud Seed Weevil.  Its larvae live inside the pods of the Redbud tree (remember it's a legume, like beans or peas).   Second is an Asian Lady Beetle.   Third seems to be a Striped Cucumber Beetle.

Here is something odd.  I don't have a name for it yet.  But it does look like the business end of a European Earwig.

Here is an Augochlorine Sweat Bee (Tribe Augochlorini).  Most of the other Bees this week have been either the Western Honey Bee or the Eastern Bumblebee.  Second here is the Eastern Bumblebee on Panicled (American) Aster.  The third Aster was taken in the back yard and is probably a New England Aster.  I've taken a few more pictures for @elizabeth1607 to help her make sure.

I find that it is easier to take pictures of Barklice (Psocids) if you drag your lawn chair along the bottom part of the North Wall.  (They tend to congregate on the lower part of the Wall.  First here is a batch of eggs, I don't know whose.  Second is a member of genus Trichadenotecnum.  I didn't see many of these substrate-encrusted Nymphs this year, but this is one of the creatures whose nymphs collect local junk on their sticky bodies until time to hatch.  (This is an adult.)  Third is a batch of baby nymphs.

Here is an adult Graphopsocus cruciatus, one of the easiest Barklice to spot.  Second is a nymph developing its wings.  Third seems to be a member of genus Ectopsocus.  Diane Young says it resembles Ectopsocus meridionalis.   Next is the Xanthocaecilius sommermanae we have started to see around here.  Fifth may be Venezuela flavidus.

Let's check out our Flies.  Here again is the Narrow-headed Marsh Fly, Helophilus fasciatus.  It lays its eggs in the Pond, and the babies eat dead matter and keep the pond cleaner.    Second is a very common one (My colleague @stephenluk of iNat says it is a sign of Fall), Cladura flavoferruginea.   It is tiny, but its markings are very pretty.  Oh! Later this afternoon I spotted a mating pair of them!

These Aedes mosquitoes have really been biters this summer.  Next is that Moth impersonator, the Bathroom Moth Fly.  The last two were so small I didn't get them identified.

Let's see if we can find the Froggs (those Green Frogs that I've begun calling Froggy and Froggette).  Aha.  Here is Froggette, looking very fat indeed and smiling her "toothy" smile.  I wonder if she will be laying eggs during hibernation.  The second looks like Froggy.  Neither of them has been out of the water much lately.  I think they know Winter will be coming.  The last one was taken on October 3 and seems to be Froggy.  I'm going to miss them during the Winter. 

The water temperature has been only a bit more than 55 F today.  I think I will have to start holding off on fish flakes.  The Fishes act hungry but they must feel the chill coming.  We're almost a month into Fall already.  I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Well, friends, I seem to have come to the end of a bunch of new pictures for this week.  Hope you will have an enjoyable rest of Fall, and do what you can to help out our planet's successful adaptation.    Love, Martha