Dogbane beetle

What: The end of summer is the time of the insects! I've been watching the dogbane sprout up new shoots, flower, and finally go to seed over the past three months. Because they're a particularly noxious plant (toxic to almost all vertebrates and many vertebrates - they're related to milkweed which is infamous for its implications for monarch caterpillars), they have insects specialized to feeding on them. Similarly, koalas, which exclusively eat the poisonous leaves of eucalyptus, is specialized to eat one and only one thing. The koala's evolutionary trick was to find a way around the defenses of something so toxic that doesn't have any other predators and then exploit that weakness. So too with the dogbane beetle (Chrysochus auratus). Dogbane is a notorious weed in the midwest, largely because it doesn't have any natural pests that control its population.

On the photo at the bottom, I had actually moved it to a milkweed leaf right next to the dogbane where I found it. There were a number of milkweed aphids on the underside. Once the beetle had crawled to the underside of the leaf it kept stomping its feet and then would fly a few inches to a new spot. It seemed really perturbed by the significantly smaller beetles. After about 30 seconds of "torment" it flew to another leaf.

Tortoise beetles

What: A few years ago I was looking through Audobon's guide to insects and I came across a photo of a tortoise beetle. They're hilariously improbable looking animals, somehow a cross between a lady beetle and an adorable, cartoonish turtle, and I immediately wanted to find one. I had to wait, and it wasn't until last year that my patience was rewarded. When I spotted it I dashed inside to grab my camera and when I came back it had vanished. Last week I was out at Rock Point at the marching band meadow, which is just full of milkweed, and I spotted an amazing type of tortoise beetle. It was a metallic silver, not very camouflaged on the underside of the milkweed leaf. As soon as I got close it popped off. I spotted a few more and the same thing happened every time.

I've been transplanting milkweed (Asclepias sp.) and intermediate dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum, apo=away from, cynum=dog, like canine, in reference to its toxicity to dogs and cannabinum in reference to its similarity to hemp for use in making cordage) to my front yard for a couple of years now (it's my fiber garden). Yesterday while hanging out on my front yard I spotted a mottled tortoise beetle (Deloyala guttata) on our morning glory vines. Mottled tortoise beetles are common on morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea, in the same genus as sweet potato) and its relatives (in the family Convolvulaceae). I grabbed my camera and took some shots and the below video of the little guy taking flight. 

A couple minutes later I was showing Zac the milkweed seedlings when I spotted another!! tortoise beetle. This one, a golden tortoise beetle (Charidotella sexpunctata), quietly deposited a chunk of frass (the entomologists delicate word for bug poop), and after a minute flew off. 

Ecological notes: Tortoise beetles are part of the leaf beetle family (Chrysomelidae). On the whole this group superficially resembles lady beetles. They're strict vegetarians, both as larvae and adults, and are often host specific to their food of choice. They over winter as adults, and as I noted above, when disturbed will just drop off the plant. I've seen this repeatedly with the simple and charismatic milkweed leaf beetle (Labidomera clivicollis), a common leaf beetle that feeds on the toxic sap of milkweed and has the exact same coloration as a monarch butterfly; if it shows up in my fiber garden I'll be sure to post a photo. Larvae will cover themselves in fecal matter to hide from would-be predators - not sure I'd go hunting for piles of poop.

Where: My frontyard.

June bugs

What: Just in time for the end of June, I heard this June bug (Polyphylla sp., poly = many + phylla = leaf referring to the many "leaves" that fork out at the tips of its antennae) before I spotted it. I finally found it tucked into the ground, head up, butt half in. When I rediscovered the same individual it was again nearly vertical, but this time more submerged with its abdomen in the ground and head barely above. The beetle itself is rather large, about an inch long and almost half that around. Its elytra (hard coverings beetles have over wings) were a dullish brown with irregular speckling that seemed more from wear and tear than genetic programming. When it made its noise, it sounded more like a wounded baby mouse than an insect. It made the sound in response to my footsteps and when provoked (i.e. poked with a blade of grass) it repeated the noise. Seems like an odd defense, and made me wonder what other defenses it had to back up the aggressive noise. A little research unearthed some anecdotes of pets going after these large insects then requiring vet visits for swollen faces. So the sound must be some sort of deterrent rather than mate attractant.

I watched the beetle to figure out how it made the noise and it appears as though it makes it by puffing out its abdomen and then sucking it back in, rubbing the top of it against its wings as it does to make a scratchy noise. Pretty wild.

Ecological notes: Males have very robust enlarged feathers on their antennae for picking up whifs of the female pheromones. This one, with much smaller antennae was most certainly a female. Most of the beetle's life cycle is spent underground as large white larvae with yellowish to orange heads - hard to miss. The females lay their eggs in the soil, which makes me wonder if the defensive posturing of the female was her actually defending her egg-laying territory from an intruder (me).

Where: My backyard (maybe yours too?)

Other notes: Heard my first cicada of the year today!