In Alberta, bug fanciers and enthusiasts have a useful resource in AlbertaBugs, an email list which -
“…is intended to encourage interest in the natural history or identification of bugs in Alberta and neighboring regions. Bugs are any arthropods – insects, spiders, even sowbugs. Postings may include discussion about bug identification, ecology, rearing, collecting, public events, or other entomological communication.”
A recent request for information on books for the identification of Hymenopterans (bees, wasps, ants and sawflies) had a few responses, but the most helpful was provided by David Walter (of Macromite and The Home Bug Garden fame) who indicated that the online web resource, The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification, which provides identification keys to some insect families. This journal is a product of the Biological Survey of Canada, a non-profit organization that coordinates and freely shares scientific research among specialists of Canadian biological diversity.
Currently available at The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification online are the following:
- Tabanidae of Canada, (deer and horseflies) east of the Rocky Mountains 1: a photographic key to the species of Chrysopsinae and Pangoniinae (Diptera: Tabanidae)
- Heptageniidae of the World: Part II (North American mayflies)
- The Bee Flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae) of Ontario, with a Key to the Species of Eastern Canada
- Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the northeastern Nearctic region (Wasps)
- Photographic Key to the Adult Female Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) of Canada
- The Bee Genera of Eastern Canada
- Mecoptera of Ontario (Scorpion Flies)
And, for those with microscopes and a ready supply of dead birds,
This web-based resource and others has been listed on my BugWeb page (see tab above). If you know of any other web-based resources for arthropod I.D , ecology or behaviour, please let me know and I will add it to the list.
Pupa of Zophobas morio
I have been a bit slothful lately, especially in regards to regular blog updates. I need to remind myself that blogging posts need to be timely and at the rate I am going all my posts will be referring back to long past events and experiences. Bug blogging in Alberta must by necessity slow down in winter, but I will try to keep you updated on how I keep myself busy while the world freezes around me. I have not been idol…sorry, idle…but have been busy in a few photographically related areas which includes:
- a trip to the Tawatinaw Valley to scout locations for future outings
- reading on photomacrography and photomicrography
- researching the techniques used by the prime photographers on the web
- practicing focus stacking
- setting up to small aquariums for pet-store inverts to photograph
- planning for a specialization for future bug photography
- reading bug books
- photographing a beetle lifecycle
- developing white studios to support some of the above endeavours
- working on connecting my Nikon DSLR equipment to my microscopes
So I have lots to blog about this winter and I am looking forward to sharing what I have learned.
More coming soon…
Marmorkrebs is hosting the 44th edition of Circus of the Spineless. Go there for boneless edification and delight…
Host sites for future editions can be found at the home page of Circus of the Spineless.
For those who want to get to know their bugs better, Eickwort’s Manual of Insect Morphology has been made freely available online at Cornell University.
George Campbell Eickwort was a legendary systematist and he developed this course with the understanding that knowledge of insect morphology was essential for high quality insect research. For students or enthusiasts, this manual provides a great introduction to learn the correct lab techniques and terminology in order to understand our subjects better. See the preface (pdf) for an introduction to learn more about George Eickwort and his influence in the field of entomology.
Thanks to Roberto A. Keller at the blog Archetype for the heads-up.
Harvestman or Daddy Longlegs
This is a harvestman or daddy longlegs – an adult male Phalangium opilio (Family Phalangiidae, Order Opiliones). The males can be distinguished by the spur or “horn” projecting from the anterior surface of the first cheliceral segment. Opiliones are arachnids but are different from true spiders which are in the Order Araneae. The difference can be seen in the ‘fused’ abdomen (opisthosoma) and cephalothorax (prosoma) of the harvestmen, which appears like a single oval structure. Opiliones also have no ability to spin silk for webs, and they produce no venom.
Because their chelicerae are weak, they feed on soft-bodied prey such as insect larva, aphids and slugs. Unlike spiders, they are capable of eating small bits of food, without the need to first ‘liquidize’ their prey with enzymes.
This species can be found throughout the northern hemisphere and was probably introduced from Europe. It is commonly found in disturbed areas like highway ditches, agricultural fields and urban gardens. This particular specimen was found at the Rampart Creek Campground on the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park, Alberta.
(Thanks to Robert Holmberg, Ph.D. at Athabasca University for identification and information on this species. Sources include BugGuide and Wikipedia. Taken with a Nikon D80 and the Tamron 90mm maco lens on a Kenko Pro 1.4x tele-extender)
For those who have the opportunity, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is featuring a documentary on the family Membracidae – the treehoppers – this Sunday on The Nature of Things.
A scientific adventure documentary, Mini Monsters of Amazonia reveals the astonishing and complex relationships between the Neotropical insects of the family Membracidae – the treehoppers, also referred to as “mini-monsters.” These species and their environments have fashioned the living world in a multitude of living forms beyond our imaginations. Adventuring to the Amazon headwaters, Mini Monsters of Amazonia introduces viewers to these membracids, tiny masters of disguise, strategy and survival.
Evolutionary marvels, membracids have been around for 40 million years, avoiding predators by mimicking leaves, branches or even deadly fungus. Turning our macro lens on these diminutive creatures, most no longer than 6 mm, we see them living placidly, robustly, in groups, with their protectors – ants. A team of “bug” scientists reveals the mating sounds of these minute creatures and the many unique evolutionary traits of the mini monsters. Living amid one of the richest ecosystems on the planet, membracids give vital insight into an ecosystem so mysterious most people don’t even know that it exists.
Read the complete overview at CBC
Premiering: Sunday October 18, 2009 at 9 pm on CBC-TV
Repeating: Thursday October 22, 2009 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld.
Below, an plate from Biologia Centrali-Americanum (1879-1915)
Example of Membracid Diversity
Photo by Fabrice Parais, 15th place
Nikon has released the results of the 2009 Small World competition and the results are outstanding. Featuring photomicrography covering all subject matter from botanical through invertebrates and vertebrates, the winners and runners-up are all well worth seeing. Click Image to enter the galleries.
While camping in the Rampart Creek campground on the Icefields Parkway, I did a bit of rock-flipping. There was sparse pickin’s, but I found these two under one rock. Not disturbed by the sudden inversion of their world, the fly, which had a mantid-like stance, immediately pounced on the winged ant (Formica sp.) I quickly brushed them into my macro studio, which separated them, and they declined to perform after that. But neither flew away either – the ant due to a possible misplaced wing and the fly due to its nature – according to Stephen Marshall’s book¹ the fly, called Tachydromia (sub-family Tachydrominae) is an ant-like predator, and, “Although fully winged, they are reluctant to fly.“, which matches the behaviour of my specimen as well.
(Thanks to James Glasier and Jason Dombroskie at the University of Alberta for helping to ID the wee beasties)
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- Empidid Fly
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- Winged ant
(Nikon D80 with a 50mm F1.8 Zuiko lens reverse mounted on a Tamron 90mm macro lens and Kenko Pro 1.4x teleconverter. Lighting – Nikon SB-600 with wide-angle diffuser. Subjects in white bowl.)
¹ Marshall, Stephen A. 2006. Insects. Their Natural History and Diversity: With a Photographic Guide to Insects of Eastern North America. Firefly Books ISBN-13: 978-1552979006I have just returned from a 5 day trip to the Banff section of the Icefields Parkway. I based myself at the Rampart Creek campground, and the most visible and prolific late season insect there was this hoverfly (Family Syrphidae, probably an Eristalis sp.). Many volunteered for duty by landing on and in my white studio, so I took advantage of them…
Hover Fly
More on my trip will be posted at Voyages Around My Camera and other bugs will be presented here as time permits.
(Nikon D80 with Tamron 90mm DI macro lens on Kenko Pro 1.4x converter. Lighting provided by a Nikon SB-600 flash with a Lumiquest Softbox. All adjustments made in Adobe Lightroom)
Ants in Full Snog
In an effort to practice my macro technique at higher magnifications, I made a bee-line for the garden in search of a suitable buggy subject. I tried the common black ants that nest throughout our garden, but unlike the Lasius sp. I had photographed before, these black ants, although larger, were quite capable of walking up the glossy side of the bowl and escaping. I set out to find a more co-operative subject when I spotted these two ants (most likely Formica podzolica) in an apparent tug-of-war on a stepping stone. With a soft-haired brush, I quickly flicked them into the bowl and then withdrew to the patio to begin photographing them. Their sudden tumble into a white world did not seem to phase them in the least, because they continued to grapple, each seeming unable to gain advantage. They seldom stopped moving, often pirouetting together, a dozen legs skittering on a stage of white. When they did pause, I would quickly try to align the camera on the same plane as their bodies, focus on the eyes and then release the shutter. Of the dozens of shots taken, this is one of the few that have both eyes in focus.
And why are they doing this? It could be the result of a chance meeting of two individuals from different nests. I could find no other signs of battle nearby to indicate that there was an all-out raid going on. Perhaps a Myrmecologist could contribute a possible reason for the tug-of-war that persisted for at least 30 minutes and continued after I released them
And thanks to James Glasier at the University of Alberta for the I.D on this pair.
(P.S. actually, these worker ants are ladies, they just aren’t gentlemen…)
