Monthly Archives: May 2011

Crazy Eights

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Charley Eiseman

When Noah Charney and I give a presentation about invertebrate tracks and sign, we like to spend a little time staring at the outside walls of the venue and see what we can find there.  The wall at yesterday’s talk … Continue reading →

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A Flurry of Emergences

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Charley Eiseman

I had four different insects emerge (or try to emerge) yesterday, and I think I’ll just show them all here rather than make four different posts. First, to follow up on my last post, another Tischeria quercitella mine yielded an … Continue reading →

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Leafminer Parasitoid

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Charley Eiseman

The image across the top of my blog is a leaf mine of Tischeria quercitella (Tischeriidae), a moth, in an oak leaf.  The whitish area is the mine, and the brownish streaks are excrement* smeared on the underside of the … Continue reading →

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Bee Burrows

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Charley Eiseman

About the same time that I first saw the feather-legged orbweaver’s web in the stone wall by my back door, I noticed some little burrows in the sandy soil between the stones.  Some of them were simple, roundish, 2 mm … Continue reading →

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Spider vs. Spider

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Charley Eiseman

Recently a feather-legged orbweaver (Uloborus glomosus) set up its web in a space in the stone wall by my back door.  These spiders aren’t very common in New England in my experience–I had to go all the way to Mississippi … Continue reading →

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Early Leafminers

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Charley Eiseman

On a walk in the Mount Holyoke Range on April 18, I came across a patch of golden ragwort (Senecio aureus) with many linear mines in the young leaves.  These are the only leaf mines I have seen so far … Continue reading →

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Scrub Oak Swellings

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Charley Eiseman

On March 19 I walked up a hill in my town called Mount Lincoln.  When I got to the top I remembered why I never go there; like many high points around here it is denuded by an access road, … Continue reading →

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Goldenrod Ball Galls

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Charley Eiseman

Some of the most familiar galls in eastern North America are the spherical ones on goldenrod, which are caused by a fruit fly, Eurosta solidaginis (Tephritidae).  (Tephritid fruit flies have nothing to do with the tiny “fruit flies” common in … Continue reading →

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