MY FAVORITE INSECTS
Several kinds of unusual and attractive insects in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania are of special interest to me. They have intriguing features and/or life histories. Furry, rounded, half-inch bee flies are active in April when they visit flowers, such as spring beauties, bloodroots, trout lilies and others, on local, woodland floors, to sip nectar from those blossoms. They have a protruding mouth that siphons up the nectar. Some bee flies perch on woodland, soil trails where they fly up when people approach. Spittle bugs are the nymphs of froghoppers that suck sap from grass and other green plants in meadows and on lawns. Each spittle bug produces a froth around its body to keep it moist, and hidden, while sucking sap. The nymphs can be spotted by looking for "spit" on the grass, which is their spittle. Adult eyed click beetles and the caterpillars of spicebus...