All of these come from a new park that I was visiting last summer, and most from a single very good day in it.
In a marsh in this park I came across a striking caterpillar. This is the larva of the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly (
Euphydryas phaeton).
Baltimore checkerspot butterfly caterpillar by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Sticking for a time with Lepidopterans, this is of course a viceroy butterfly (
Limenitis archippus), which are very good mimics of monarch butterflies. Time was it had been believed that viceroys mimic monarchs in a case of Batesian mimicry, where a harmless species is made to resemble a protected species. It is now known that both species are toxic to predators, and that they mimic each other. This form of mimicry is called Müllerian mimicry.
Viceroy butterfly by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
In the same marsh were many sawfly larvae which resemble members of the genus
Dolerus that feed on horsetails. These are wasp larvae that strongly resemble caterpillars. But no true caterpillar has that many pro-legs!
Sawfly larva by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Next are some pictures of a bee-like robber fly. Robber flies are swift predators of other insects, as can be seen here, and it is worthwhile to keep an eye on them since one may get to see a predatory attack. I have seen that a few times, and its always pretty impressive. When a bee-like robber fly is perched in the open, they may be seen to jerkily swivel their head up and down and from side to side. An unusual thing for a fly, but these can do it! I have the impression that this means they are actively looking for something to ambush. This one was doing just that (swiveling its head around a lot), and it did dash off a couple times to go after a passing fly but it was not successful while I was watching. When I later checked back on it, it had secured a fly for a meal. Although I am often reluctant to ID them to species, it is a good match to
Laphria sacrator.
Robber fly with prey by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Robber fly with prey by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
The male damselfly in the next picture is one of the “bluet” damsels. Many of these are difficult to tell apart, but this one looks like the Northern bluet (
Enallagma annexum), although there are a couple other very similar species (waves hopefully to Tony).
Northern bluet damselfly by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Finally, here are some spreadwing damselflies that I don’t think I had photographed before. These are called amber-winged spreadwings (
Lestes eurinis), and they were very common in the woods and marshes of that new park mentioned above. The first two pictures are of males, and I think you can see the one in the second picture has amber-tinted wings. The last picture is of an equally lovely female.
Amber-winged spreadwing by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Amber-winged spreadwing by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Amber-winged spreadwing by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr