In case you haven’t noticed, it’s stinkbug time again.

In the fall brown marmorated stinkbugs (Halyomorpha halys) invade our houses, squeezing into every crack.  They’re annoying to us but devastating to orchards, farms and gardens where they pierce the fruit and cause necrosis.

These Asian invaders were first seen in the U.S. twenty years ago and caused trouble so quickly that USDA started searching for a biological control agent in the stinkbug’s native range.  The most promising predator was the tiny Samurai wasp (Trissolcus japonicus).

The Samurai wasp injects its own eggs into stinkbug eggs; its larvae eat the egg contents.  According to the StopBMSB website “these stingerless warriors search for and destroy 60–90% of BMSB eggs in Asia.”  A video from the Entomological Society of America shows what they do.

Testing began in 2005 but the approval process takes a very long time. Scientists had to identify the right wasp and prove it wouldn’t destroy native species in the U.S. (Cane toads in Australia are a sad example of poor/no testing.)  Testing was still underway in 2014 when a field survey found samurai wasps in Maryland.

The samurai wasp showed up on its own, probably arriving inside stinkbug eggs in plant shipments from Asia.  An alien inside an alien.

By March 2018 the samurai wasp was found in 10 states — and only where stinkbugs are already a problem.  So far so good.

Read more about the samurai-stinkbug connection in this article in Science Magazine.

(photo of stinkbug by Kate St. John; YouTube video of samurai wasps by Chris Hedstrom, published by Entomology Society of America, 2012)

In autumn I often see round vertical spider webs without a spider in them.  Perhaps they’re the webs of marbled orb weavers.

Araneus marmoreus live around the world in the northern hemisphere, building their orb-shaped webs in wooded areas, especially along stream banks.   When you find the webs they’re usually empty.

If the spider was there, you’d see that it’s only 9-22 mm (.3 to .8 inches) long.  Males are the typical spider shape but the females have large, round, marbled abdomens ranging in color from orange to yellow with purple markings and pale spots. 

“Marbled orb weaver” describes them perfectly.  They’re also called “pumpkin spiders” for obvious reasons.

I’ve rarely seen the marbled female and here’s why:  After she spins her web she attaches a signal thread to the center and retreats to a hiding place where she holds the thread while she waits. The signal lets her know when something hits the web and out she comes.

Where does the spider hide?  The Capital Naturalist tells us in this video.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals. video by the Capital Naturalist)

13 September 2018

Yellow jacket wasps are worse than annoying in September. They’re so attracted to sugar that they’ll fly into your soda can.  Watch out!

On Throw Back Thursday, find out why they do this at: Look Before You Drink.

p.s. This video shows how to trap yellow jackets but doesn’t explain what to do when the trap is full of live yellow jackets.  Watch out!

Did you know that cicadas have five eyes?

Dana Nesiti captured a super-closeup of this cicada and described where its eyes are.

The three orange eyes in the center of the forehead are simple (like ours) with only one lens. The big eyes on each side of the head are compound with multiple lenses.

Why do cicadas have all this equipment? 

“The better to see you with, my dear.”

p.s. What species of cicada is this?  I don’t know but it’s probably one of western Pennsylvania’s common annual cicadas. Here’s a list of four common ones with links to the sounds they make:  What’s That Sound? Cicadas

(photo by Dana Nesiti posted on his Facebook page)

27 August 2018

Two years ago I saw very few monarch butterflies in the southwestern Pennsylvania. Last year I saw more. This year has been spectacular!

Marcy Cunkelman, of Indiana County, PA, has been raising monarch butterflies indoors for at least a decade.  On August 19, she showed us how she collects monarch eggs in her garden, raises the caterpillars, and releases the butterflies.

To prepare for the event she kept one or two days’ worth of newly emerged butterflies in this enclosure. In such a short time she had two dozen monarchs ready to go — the most I’ve ever seen at once!  (Half are out of view, hanging from the ceiling of the enclosure.)

Before releasing the butterflies Marcy showed us the difference between males and females (at top). Males have a black dot on each hindwing. Females do not.

Monarchs migrate to Mexico for the winter so a butterfly from Marcy’s garden may show up anywhere on a 2,400 mile route.  To find out where her monarchs go Marcy applies monarchwatch.org tags, similar to bird bands, to her butterflies before she releases them.  Monarch Watch lets her know where her butterflies are found.

Since she didn’t want to run out of tags, Marcy tagged just four of the two dozen butterflies. Two are shown below.

Each of us released a butterfly but that still left a dozen waiting to go, so Marcy collected the rest in her hands and …

… released them all at once.  Fly away!  (My camera captured the last one leaving at top right.)

If you find a tagged monarch, contact monarchwatch.org to find out where it came from.  Over the years, some of Marcy’s butterflies have been found at the wintering grounds in Michoacán, Mexico.

Learn more from Marcy about raising monarch butterflies in this 2009 video: Monarchs With Marcy Cunkelman, August 2009

(photos by Kate St. John)