New to me bug
Mar 24, 2019 22:09:11 #
First time I have found a Creeping Water Bug. Pelócoris femoràtus.
Next a Belastoma sp.
I think belted skimmer naiads.
And best. Two young Stenocorus odorata.
And a grass shrimp, a damselfly naiad, Rana tadpoles, a mudminnow, Umbra pygmaea and more. I need to sort. So, pictures. Not all macro.
It was a productive day on Eastern Shore. Tuckahoe Lake.
Bill
Next a Belastoma sp.
I think belted skimmer naiads.
And best. Two young Stenocorus odorata.
And a grass shrimp, a damselfly naiad, Rana tadpoles, a mudminnow, Umbra pygmaea and more. I need to sort. So, pictures. Not all macro.
It was a productive day on Eastern Shore. Tuckahoe Lake.
Bill
A first for me
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Belastoma sp.
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Dragonfly naiad. Belted Skimmer?
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I believe the smallest turtle in NA.
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The collection
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Mar 24, 2019 22:49:21 #
Mar 25, 2019 00:27:01 #
This is fun! I have never seen a creeping water bug. That is one of those 'I know it, it's on the tip of my tongue' critters. Your turtles are of course baby snapping turtles. Cute and easy to hold in the hand now...
Funny too that your little serving cups are exactly what I use.
Funny too that your little serving cups are exactly what I use.
Mar 25, 2019 01:13:30 #
Mar 25, 2019 01:26:06 #
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
This is fun! I have never seen a creeping water bug. That is one of those 'I know it, it's on the tip of my tongue' critters. Your turtles are of course baby snapping turtles. Cute and easy to hold in the hand now...
Funny too that your little serving cups are exactly what I use.
Funny too that your little serving cups are exactly what I use.
Water is warming. Lots of activity. The turtles are common musk turtles, but yes they snap at a finger. Sharp beak. These about 20 mm.
Everything I caught today except Rana tadpoles is predacious. Cups free and useful. Chinese carry out trays for shallow aquariums , seed starting and terrariums.
Bill
Mar 25, 2019 09:46:10 #
Bill, fantastic job! Truly enjoy watching your collection process and I learn something every time you post and from your responses. I can't imagine turtles that small either so that's an amazing find in itself. Keep hunting and sharing.
Mar 25, 2019 10:59:48 #
Wow, what a haul, your family is growing like mine but with more diverse creatures. Nice images.
Mar 25, 2019 14:35:08 #
Great series. Used to call the naucorids "toe-biters", their bite is quite painful, as with the belostomatid. Worse than a honey bee! Had many a great time mucking around in ponds!
Mar 25, 2019 14:47:10 #
relbugman wrote:
Great series. Used to call the naucorids "toe-biters", their bite is quite painful, as with the belostomatid. Worse than a honey bee! Had many a great time mucking around in ponds!
Do you know Wye Mills or Tuckahoe?
Bill
Mar 25, 2019 21:05:43 #
relbugman wrote:
Great series. Used to call the naucorids "toe-biters", their bite is quite painful, as with the belostomatid. Worse than a honey bee! Had many a great time mucking around in ponds!
My Mom would not bat an eye when I came in after being in the swamp on a Saturday.
Leave the animals and muddy clothes on the porch and take a bath(in qoutes).
The good life.
Bill
Mar 25, 2019 21:09:40 #
EnglishBrenda wrote:
Wow, what a haul, your family is growing like mine but with more diverse creatures. Nice images.
If I put all but the turtles in one container, in a week there would be a fat Bellistomatid.
Any arguments?. Bill
Mar 25, 2019 23:39:52 #
relbugman wrote:
Great series. Used to call the naucorids "toe-biters", their bite is quite painful, as with the belostomatid. Worse than a honey bee! Had many a great time mucking around in ponds!
Typing on my cell phone. Arms not long enough to see clearly at my age.
The necrotic nature of true bug bites and a sting is different in a major way. ( my caveat, been wrong before). A sting injects a venom. Defense?
The bug injects the anticoagulants to allow it to eat. It just HAPPENS to be poisonous. Deionized water is poisonous. Effects of bee sting gone in two or three days. I got a Reduviid bite, a wheel bug, bite. Two weeks plus. Neurotic.
Bill
Mar 26, 2019 01:51:28 #
newtoyou wrote:
First time I have found a Creeping Water Bug. Pelócoris femoràtus.
Next a Belastoma sp.
I think belted skimmer naiads.
And best. Two young Stenocorus odorata.
And a grass shrimp, a damselfly naiad, Rana tadpoles, a mudminnow, Umbra pygmaea and more. I need to sort. So, pictures. Not all macro.
It was a productive day on Eastern Shore. Tuckahoe Lake.
Bill
Next a Belastoma sp.
I think belted skimmer naiads.
And best. Two young Stenocorus odorata.
And a grass shrimp, a damselfly naiad, Rana tadpoles, a mudminnow, Umbra pygmaea and more. I need to sort. So, pictures. Not all macro.
It was a productive day on Eastern Shore. Tuckahoe Lake.
Bill
I am not up to photographing anything at this hour. Well, maybe the sky, but it is cloudy.
I have been an active collector of wee beasties for sixty years or more. Ignorantly caused the death of many. Deliberately caused the death of thousands. If it crawled, creeped, slithered, swam, jumped. You get the point. So. Spring is here. Outdoors at last. Make the most of it. Bring em home alive is the best way to macro. How? The point of this ramble (besides tired and unable to sleep).
Containers. Chinese carry out. Condiment containers. Zip lock bags. Peanut butter jars and others. NO GLASS.
A box of rubber gloves. Not needed, but you will appreciate them. One hand at a time. Your preferred hand. Do not reuse. Too cheap. A shrimp net for aquatics. Today's subject. Netting and piling debris and dead plants from pond edges was my method. Some turtles are out of hibernation in February. Insects always active to an extent.
Rotting weeds raise water temp. Solar gain raises water temp. Shallows by nature are warmer. I put piles of debris at water's edge, spread it a bit, and look for movement. Leave it but re- spread as you collect more.
Throw it back when done. DO NOT put numerous specimens in one container. Condiment containers, a bit of water and a lid. Every specimen I collected yesterday, about twelve, was predacious. One big fat bug would have made it home.
All will go into an aquarium set up with local Flora and fauna, when photoed. Then survival of the fittest will take over. My bets on the Belastoma. When more clement weather sets in, narrow sandy to muddy stream banks hold many Carabididae beetles and others. Flooding with water washes them into view.
If a seine is staked across a stream, then you go upstream and wade back, kicking gravel as you go, Mayflies, stoneflies, fish flies, and beetles and bugs and critters to no end.
I do not know the value of this info to others. As I collect, I will publish if there is interest. Many arthropods have such a specialized life, they are rarely seen. A good example are the Waterscorpions. Nepidae. Ever seen one, anyone. Or a cockroach, Cryptocércus punctulàtus. You will almost never unless you look for them IN THE RIGHT HABITATS.
Mar 26, 2019 01:56:09 #
relbugman wrote:
Great series. Used to call the naucorids "toe-biters", their bite is quite painful, as with the belostomatid. Worse than a honey bee! Had many a great time mucking around in ponds!
One of these days, this phone, to the moon, Alice. Neurotic should have been necrotic.
Bill
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