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Recent Posts
Do you know your plants?
For my Leafminers of North America project, I periodically need help identifying hostplants I find in my travels. You can peruse photos of them at iNaturalist. Thanks!
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Meta
Tag Archives: Ichneumonidae
Hazelnut Sawflies
It’s normally a little disappointing to find an ichneumon wasp in one of my rearing containers, since that generally means I failed to rear whatever insect I was trying to rear. So when this one appeared yesterday… …I braced myself … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Arge, Arge willi, Argidae, Betulaceae, Corylus, hazelnut, Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, larva, parasitism, parasitoid, sawfly, Tenthredinidae, wasp
4 Comments
Celebrating Silky Willow
Simply not mowing the lawn, and welcoming whatever plants decide to grow in its place, has done wonders for the biodiversity of our yard. But we have also welcomed gifts of native plants from friends, and today I’d like to … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ant, Caloptilia, Caloptilia stigmatella, cocoon, extrafloral nectary, Formicidae, genitalia, Gracillariidae, Ichneumonidae, larva, leaf mine, leaf roll, moth, Nematinae, parasitism, parasitoid, Phyllonorycter, Phyllonorycter scudderella, Platygastridae, pupa, Salicaceae, Salix, Salix sericea, sawfly, silky willow, Tenthredinidae, Thrinax, Thrinax dubitata, wasp, willow
5 Comments
Acorn Plum Galls (and friends)
Hey, this blog now has over 1000 subscribers! Thanks everyone for your continued interest in my esoteric natural history investigations. I’m still slowly working my way through the photos I took last summer, during which one of my several jobs … Continue reading
Posted in Unsolved Mysteries
Tagged acorn, ambush bug, Amphibolips, Amphibolips quercusjuglans, Ceroptres, Crabronidae, Crossocerus, Cynipidae, Fagaceae, gall, gall wasp, Hymenoptera, ichneumon wasp, Ichneumonidae, inquiline, larva, Lepidoptera, moth, oak, oak plum, parasitism, parasitoid, Phymata, predation, Quercus, Quercus ilicifolia, Reduviidae, scrub oak, wasp
6 Comments
52 Wasp Pickup
Back on April 7, Noah stopped by to get some eggs and some seeds for his vegetable garden. Just as he arrived and Julia was walking up to meet him, she spotted a caterpillar with a tiny wasp on it. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Braconidae, caterpillar, chalcid, cocoon, Cotesia, Eulophidae, Eulophus, Euplectrus, Hymenoptera, hyperparasitoid, ichneumon wasp, Ichneumonidae, Itoplectis, larva, Lepidoptera, Leucania, Microgastrinae, Noctuidae, parasitism, parasitoid, wasp
10 Comments
Ten Years Later
Since we have ten fingers and ten toes, I suppose it’s worth mentioning that it was ten years ago today that Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates was first published. People are often surprised when I tell them that … Continue reading
Posted in Unsolved Mysteries
Tagged Bucculatrix, cocoon, Gelis, Hymenoptera, ichneumon wasp, Ichneumonidae, Lepidoptera, moth, parasitism, parasitoid, wasp
8 Comments
Backyard Bowerbird
This morning I heard some bluebirds twittering outside the window, so Julia and I took the cue to go out and clean out the nest boxes. The bluebirds’ nest from last year was a dense mass of pine needles and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bird, bird sign, bluebird, Braconidae, cocoon, egg sac, house wren, ichneumon wasp, Ichneumonidae, Lepidoptera, Malacosoma, Mimetidae, Mimetus, nest, pirate spider, Polysphincta genus group, spider, tent caterpillar, Theridiidae, tree swallow
13 Comments
Interlopers
I’ve been making sporadic progress in sorting through my backlog of photos, and I’m now exactly seven months behind. April 13 saw the conclusion of a story that began with my collecting this scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia) leaf in early … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Cameraria, caterpillar, Fagaceae, Gracillariidae, Hymenoptera, ichneumon wasp, Ichneumonidae, inquiline, larva, leaf mine, Lepidoptera, moth, parasitism, parasitoid, Quercus, Quercus ilicifolia, scrub oak, wasp
5 Comments
Cocoon Within a Cocoon Within a Cocoon
The diamondback moth (Plutellidae: Plutella xylostella) is a European species that is now found all across North America, the larvae feeding on various plants in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). Apparently it’s considered a pretty serious pest, but I’d take it … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Brassica, Brassica oleracea, Brassicaceae, broccoli, Campopleginae, cocoon, Cryptinae, Diadegma, diamondback moth, Hymenoptera, hyperparasitoid, Ichneumonidae, Isdromas, Isdromas lycaenae, larva, leaf mine, Lepidium, Lepidium virginicum, Lepidoptera, moth, parasitism, parasitoid, peppergrass, Plutella, Plutella xylostella, Plutellidae, pupa
3 Comments
Marsh Marigold Menagerie
In the spring of 2013, I wrote about the four-toed salamander surveys I was conducting at the time, which involved crawling around in swamps all over northwestern Massachusetts. On June 1, the last day of the survey, Julia tagged along, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Aphidiinae, beetle, Braconidae, Caltha palustris, Chloropidae, Chrysomelidae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Drosophilidae, Elachiptera, Ephedrus, fly, frit fly, fruit fly, ichneumon wasp, Ichneumonidae, larva, leaf beetle, leaf mine, marsh marigold, Megaselia, Megaselia limburgensis, Neurateles, new species, Orthocentrinae, parasitism, parasitoid, Phoridae, Prasocuris, Prasocuris boreella, pupa, Ranunculaceae, Scaptomyza, Scaptomyza pallida, Sciaridae, scuttle fly, Zygoneura, Zygoneura calthella
15 Comments
Life and Death on Mt. Greylock
This past weekend I attended my third Berkshire BioBlitz. At my first one in 2011, I barely left the parking lot at the summit of Mt. Greylock and photographed 166 different species of insects and arachnids. This time, Julia and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged aphid, Berkshire BioBlitz, BioBlitz, blueberry, chalcid, Diptera, Fagaceae, Figitidae, fly, gall, gall midge, hover fly, ichneumon wasp, Ichneumonidae, larva, Membracidae, oak, ovipositor, parasitism, parasitoid, predation, Quercus, sawfly, Syrphidae, Torymidae, treehopper, Vaccinium, Vaccinium angustifolium, wasp
11 Comments
BugTracks 