Mar 29, 2012


by Lorraine Julien

When looking through my Ontario bugs book recently, I came across some really unusual bugs with strange names. Following is a small sampling of the really odd ones:

The Stump Stabber – (Megarhyssa spp.) photo by Howard Ensign Evans, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org

With a name like this, can’t you just picture this little fellow doing the Ompah Stomp? The Stump Stabber (a member of the Ichneumon family) has a long slender body with daddy long-leg type legs. It flies from tree trunk to tree trunk, all the while rapidly drumming its antennae while running around on the bark, obviously searching for something. Somehow the female has managed to find a wood boring grub deep in the tree. She strains and pushes her ovipositor (an egg-laying apparatus) into the wood and eventually finds a grub larva. Once there she forces a slim, soft egg down the ovipositor tube and into the body of her host (the grub). There the egg will hatch and the Ichneumon grub will proceed to eat its victim from the inside out, leaving essential organs to the last. If you’d like to see one of these in action, I noticed there are videos on You Tube.

Bird-Poop Weevil – (Cryptorhynchus lapathi) photo by Gyorgy Csoka, Hungary Forest Research Institute, Bugwood.org

Weevils are actually a very common type of beetle. As its name suggests, this beetle survives by looking like a small bit of dried-up, black and white bird poop. What a great camouflage! Since birds obviously don’t want to eat their poop, this bug is left alone. This means of survival is actually quite common. In Ontario, most examples of this type of camouflage are moths which hide by day in plain sight, looking like a piece of bird poop on a leaf or branch.

Eastern Kayak Pond Skater – (Limnoporus dissortis) If you’ve spent any amount of time on the water, you’ve probably seen this fellow running around on the water’s surface. Four of their legs are very long and distribute the weight of their slender bodies over a large area of the water’s surface. Pond Skaters search for food in the form of other bugs that have fallen in and drowned or are in the process of drowning. Because Pond Skaters are sucking bugs, they have the same sort of piercing proboscis (long or tubular mouth part) that many of their aquatic relatives possess that allows them to overpower and consume their prey. Eastern Kayak Pond Skaters have wings so many can flit from pond to pond in search of prey. Many of their relatives are wingless and must remain in one area.

Leather Jacket – In reality this is just the larva stage of the European Crane Fly (the Tipulidae family). The larvae are light gray to brown, worm-like maggots up to 4 cm long with a tough outer skin. Adult crane flies look like giant mosquitoes (body up to 2.5 cm long with long fragile legs) except they are harmless compared to mosquitoes. Leather Jackets live in the top layer of soil where they feed on grass roots leaving bald patches in lawns, if they are present in large numbers.

Cow Killer – (Dasymutilla occidentalis) photo by Johnny N. Dell, Bugwood.org

The Cow Killer is a member of a group of bugs called velvet ants. It is not an ant at all but is a female wasp (very confusing). The name “velvet” refers to their dense hair which is usually a bright scarlet or orange (colours can sometimes range from white to black though). The males look more like traditional wasps and they are smaller and less impressive than the females. Cow Killers get their name from their sting – their stings are some of the most painful in the insect world. Their bright colours send out aposematic signals (aposematic simply means any colours that deter predators). Bright colours in nature often indicate that the prey may be toxic. A good example that we are all familiar with is the skunk.

These are just a few of the most intriguing Ontario bugs. Unfortunately, there isn’t room in the newspaper for pictures of all of them but there are lots of pictures online. There are many more weird and interesting bugs which can be the subject of future columns.

Now that spring has arrived and the ice is out of our lake, it won’t be long before the real bug invasion begins. Of course, our beautiful songbirds will be returning, too, to eat the bugs, so it’s not all bad. For the past week, we’ve seen numerous flocks of geese heading northward; resident mallards, mergansers, and a lone muskrat are back swimming in the bay. On a recent warm evening we heard the spring peepers, lots of redwing blackbirds, robins and even a flock of snow buntings just to name a few. Even our resident chipmunk ventured forth from his winter home. I thought I was seeing things when a small turtle crossed Highway 7 near Perth this week. Sure signs of spring!

 

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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