Archivos de Diario para agosto 2021

viernes, 13 de agosto de 2021

Hover Flies: Pollinators, and Predators!

Hover flies (family Syrphidae) are very diverse, and very useful in agriculture. So far our project had made 33 observations, of 15 different species.
Many adult hover flies are striped like some bees and wasps, and they also visit flowers. You can recognize them because they have a hovering flight pattern (like their name). They also have only one pair of wings, while bees and wasps have two. If you get a close look, you can also see that they have large eyes and short stubby antenna. And, they don't sting!

© Bob McDougall, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

Hover flies are especially valued in agriculture because their larva feed on aphids. Looking nothing like the adult, the larva is a legless white / yellow / green maggot. It move about as fast as an aphid, and when it catches one, it sucks all the juice out and discards the empty aphid skin behind it. Yum!

© prairiegirlgonecoastal, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)


© michalinahunter, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

You may also see hover fly eggs. They look like small, white grains of rice, laid on leaves near patches of aphids.

While they are hard to photograph because the move so fast, see if you can spot some in your gardens and fields this week!

Publicado el viernes, 13 de agosto de 2021 a las 10:33 PM por bzand bzand | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

sábado, 28 de agosto de 2021

Wonderful Wasps

Fall means that many of us are noticing wasps showing up around our farms and gardens. We see them joining our picnics, chewing on our overripe fruit, and menacing our beehives. Wasps are often hated, but, despite their picnic disturbing ways, they are very beneficial!
The ones we notice the most are the social wasps, the yellow jackets. While the adults enjoy a sweet treat (and are often seen in flowers), the young of all wasps are carnivores. A nest of a social wasp near your crops will feed hundreds of caterpillars to their larva!
We have multiple species, some nesting in the ground, such as the western yellowjacket.

© Bob McDougall, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Other species create aerial nests, like the bald-faced hornet.

© Bonnie Zand, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

But, there are many more wasps that we tend to overlook! They live solitary lifestyles, often hunting down prey items (caterpillars, leafhoppers, spiders, ect), paralyzing them, and then bringing them back to their nests alive as food for their larva. Because they are not defending communal nests, these wasps are not aggressive, and they are beautiful. The adults can often be found on flowers, where they feed on nectar.

© Jan Smith, some rights reserved (CC-BY)

© Bonnie Zand, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

Finally, we have the really tiny wasps. These are rarely seen, and are easily killed by pesticides. It takes a lot of observation to see the adults, but we can see the work they do! These wasps lay their eggs inside of a pest insect, and the wasp larva develops inside of and kills the pest. Where these benecicals have developed inside aphids, the crispy shells of the aphids remain behind.

© michalinahunter, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

There are so many more wasps that the project has documented, and so many still to be found - please keep adding your observations!

Publicado el sábado, 28 de agosto de 2021 a las 03:56 AM por bzand bzand | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario