Tag Archives: insects

Something Blue

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One of the most striking plants in our prairies this time of year is pitcher sage, also known as blue sage (Salvia azurea).  It’s tall, of course, but more importantly, as the surrounding prairie is dominated by green-becoming-gold grasses and big yellow flowers, pitcher sage stands out simply because it is starkly and unabashedly blue.

A few weeks ago, I posted a photo of a bee that specializes on pitcher sage, but there are many more insects commonly seen on the plant.  Last week, I spent about 45 minutes in our Platte River Prairies, photographing pitcher sage and as many visitors as I could.

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I initially pulled my camera out because there were several monarch butterflies flitting around a patch of pitcher sage.  While chasing them around (and, as always, being thankful no one was watching me), I came across quite a few other insects – some of which I managed to photograph.

A sulphur butterfly (and a second partially shown at the bottom left) enjoys pitcher sage.

Anthophora walshii (a digger bee) is a species I see on pitcher sage frequently, and this was just one of several hanging around a single patch of flowers.

This moth was nose deep.

Several skipper butterflies were around, including this sachem skipper.

Not all the insects were feeding on pollen and nectar.  I’m not sure what this plant bug was doing, but there it was.

This blister beetle was feeding on the flower itself.

This monarch was so distracted by the nectar of pitcher sage, I took this photo from about a foot away with a wide angle lens.

One more monarch…

In addition to being tall, striking, and beautiful, pitcher sage is also pretty good at withstanding drought.  During late August of 2012 – a year of extreme drought, pitcher sage stood out against a background of brown dormant grass, blooming just like it does every year.  Not only did it provide some welcome color when many other plants were wilting, it gave all the insects pictured above, and many others, something to eat when they needed it most.

What a great plant!

Photo of the Week – July 13, 2018

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You know how you can look at something for years and still not see every aspect of it?  I was walking through Lincoln Creek Prairie this week, stretching my legs after photographing for my square meter project, when I came upon a couple big patches of Illinois tick clover (Desmodium illinoense).  There weren’t any active flowers on the plants, and I was about ready to move on after just a quick glance when I spotted something white along one of the stems.  Upon a closer look, I could see it was a moth, and it seemed to be plastered up against the plant.

This white moth seemed to be stuck on the stem of this Illinois tick clover plant.

As I inspected the moth more closely, it was clearly dead, and appeared to be essentially glued to the stem.

Here is the same moth, photographed from a different angle. Here you can see the abdomen stuck to the stem, and the mess it apparently made as it struggled to escape.

Now, I’ve known that tick clover plants (and especially their seeds) can be sticky, but I always ascribed that to the tiny stiff (and sometimes hooked) hairs covering them.  I sure wouldn’t have thought those hairs could catch and hold an insect.  However, as I looked more closely at the hairs on this plant, there were little tiny droplets of clear sticky fluid at the tip of each hair.  How can I have spent 25 years or more looking at prairie plants and not noticed that?  I looked online and in my copy of the Flora of Nebraska book and didn’t find any reference to those droplets in either place, but surely other people know of this.  I’ll have to look harder.  In the meantime…

…as I looked at nearby plants, I saw lots more dead or dying insects glued to them.  The most common of those were lightning bugs, followed by Japanese beetles.

Lightning bugs were the most abundant of the insects I found stuck to tick clover stems. I must have seen at least 20 within a few minutes.

Japanese beetles (invasive species) were also a common victim of the sticky tick clover plants. This one appeared to have become stuck on a leaf, so I guess it’s not just the stems that have adhesive qualities.

I’ve written before about insects getting stuck to the bracts beneath thistle flowers and discussed the possibility that the sticky bracts helped keep ants and other non-flying nectar thieves from stealing floral resources.  Do tick clovers do the same thing?  If so, why haven’t I noticed?

This little gnat (midge? something else? I can’t see the antennae) was the smallest insect victim I found.  If you click on this photo you can zoom in and see the droplets on the tips of the hairs.

This mosquito lost its life when it apparently tried to take a rest break on this tick clover plant.

This picture-winged fly was still struggling when I found it.

I’m really curious to know if others have noticed insects losing their lives to tick clover plants, and whether or not it happens with other Desmodium species.  Does the plant produce the sticky droplets of liquid throughout its growth period, or just when it is flowering?  WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

Thanks for any help.