SOME INTERESTING OCTOBER INSECTS

     Several kinds of interesting insects are still active and visible in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during October, including a few species of grasshoppers, woolly Caterpillars, praying mantises, wheel bugs and spotted lanternflies.  These are larger insects that can be spotted at times by most anyone in farmland and  suburban areas during that beautiful month.   

     I see many grasshoppers of a few kinds, mostly differential, red-legged and Carolina, leaping away from me when I walk along farmland roadsides in Lancaster County during August, September and October.  Those grasshoppers live among sheltering tall grasses and flowering "weeds", where they were not mowed, and consume those same plants.  And many grasshoppers, in turn, are ingested by American kestrels, screech owls, red foxes, toads and other kinds of predators.  

     Being related, all grasshoppers have characteristics in common.  Being insects, they have six legs, the rear ones being larger than the others so the grasshoppers can jump to safety.  All hatch in spring when they are miniatures of their parents.  All are handsomely camouflaged, which hides them among the vegetation they ingest. And females of all species lay eggs in loose soil in October. 

     Differential grasshoppers are one and a quarter inches long and olive-colored.  Their most distinctive feature, however, is the dark herringbone patterns on the yellow femurs of their hind legs.  In October, I see many of these grasshoppers crossing rural roads.

     Red-legged grasshoppers are about an inch long and have red on the tibias of their back legs.  I see many of them leaping ahead of me in the tall vegetation.

     Male Carolinas are visible when fluttering up on audibly whirring wings from roadside plants as part of their courtship in late summer and fall.  Otherwise, this species is invisible because it is the color of dry soil.

     During October, I see several attractive, little woolly caterpillars rippling across country roads in Lancaster County.  They are the larvae of Isabella moths.  They have black bristles in front and back and burnt-orange ones on their middles.  While searching for places to shelter through winter, many woolly bears cross country roads where they are visible.

     Adult praying mantises are about three inches long, and mostly green, which camouflages them among the foliage they lurk in.  They spent the summer preying on small creatures and are ready to mate and lay eggs in styrafoam-like masses during October.  Their front pair of legs are large and modified to grab victims to eat.  And mantises can fly, looking like monsters when on the wing.

     On October 11 of this year, I saw a wheel bug on our back deck and ten minutes later a spotted lanternfly on our front porch in New Holland, Lancaster County.  

     A kind of assassin bug, adult wheel bugs are one and a half inches long, dark-gray, and have a "half-wheel" with "cogs" on their thoraxes.  Each of these true bugs has a long beak they use to pierce insects and suck out their juices.  That beak can also inflict painful stings on people.  

     Nymph wheel bugs are red at first.  But as they grow, they are black with red abdomens; but no wheel until nearly mature.

     Spotted lanternflies are originally from Asia.  It's stated they can cause damage to grape and other fruit crops.  But these attractive, one-inch flies with gray, dark-spotted forewings and red, black and white hind wings seemingly prefer to suck the sap from ailanthus trees, which are also from Asia.  

     We had several spotted lanternflies at home during 2021, but few in 2022.  I think they are pretty when they fly.  And when disturbed, they quickly spring high and fly away. 

     Baby spotted lanternflies are attractive.  At first they are black with white spots.  But as they grow a bit larger, they acquire red bodies with white spots.   

     All these insects are large, interesting and visible in October.  They help make farmland and suburbs more interesting.

        

     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SPRING ON THE UPPER CHESAPEAKE

      I visited the Upper Chesapeake Bay at the Community Park of Northeast, Maryland one afternoon about the middle of March a few years ago, as I had several times in different seasons before that day.  This time, I went there to spot migrating water birds of various kinds.        Because of their high numbers, gulls and ducks were the dominant birds on the ice, and strips of open water among the slabs of ice because of the warming weather in March.  Most of the handsome ring-billed, herring and great black-backed gulls stood picturesquely on slabs of ice.        The attractive, adult ring-billed and herring gulls are mostly gray on top, white below, and look much alike, except the herrings are larger and have a red mark on their beaks, whereas each ring-bill has a black "ring" around its bill.  Largest of these gulls, the stately, mature black-backs have black backs and upper wings and are white below, making a striking, attractive plumage pattern.        All three of thos
Read more

DADDY-LONG-LEGS

     During summer, over the years in southeastern Pennsylvania, I've seen many daddy-long-legs on the bark of tree trunks on lawns, and in parks and woods.  They blend into the color of tree bark well and are difficult to see.  Many people never see them at all until those camouflaged little critters are pointed out by people in the know about them.        Daddy-long-legs have eight, really long, thin legs, but they are not spiders.  But they are arachnids, and related to spiders.  These attractive, little creatures, called daddy-long-legs because of their long legs, have quarter-inch, compact bodies raised on stilt-like legs.  They have two dark eyes and feel the vibrations of birds and other predators with their legs.  But these arachnids have no venom, or silk to make webs.        Daddy-long-legs, like all other living beings, are part of several food chains.  They consume tiny invertebrates and decaying plant and animal materials they find on tree bark.  And, in turn, many of
Read more

FATHER FINCHES FEEDING FLEDGINGS

     While sitting on our back deck to enjoy the lovely scenery and weather during the afternoon of July 21, 2023, I noticed a tiny, red speck in our tall Norway spruce tree on our suburban lawn in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Peering at that red spot with 16 power binoculars, I saw it was a beautiful male house finch feeding three fledgling house finches; his offspring.  Those gray and dark-streaked young birds fluttered their wings vigorously while being fed invertebrates and seeds.  And the wild charm of those birds was decidedly enhanced by the deep-green of the needled spruce boughs.        Those four house finches were a lovely, exciting sight to me.  I know that species of small birds raises young in our neighborhood every summer, including a pair of house finches that hatch offspring on a support under an awning over our deck.  But never before had I watched a father house finch feed his young outside their twig and grass cradle.  And when that male finch flew off the spruce lim
Read more