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Interesting Peculiar Arthropods in the

Landscape Nebraska Master Gardener Training

March 25, 2015

James Kalisch, Extension Associate Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Know how. Know now.

University of Nebraska Extension educational programs abide with the non-discrimination policies of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the United States Department of Agriculture.

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Strategies for Defense or Offense

Most insects employ a combination of strategies.

DEFENSE & OFFENSE

• Discourage attack by resisting, threatening or injuring a predator.

• Methods may be mechanical, chemical or visual.

• Many of same tactics used by predatory insects and spiders.

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DEFENSE & OFFENSE

Active Mechanical Biting, spiking, stinging, loud sounds

Passive Mechanical Spines, hairiness, hard body

Great Plains Giant Tiger Beetle

Biting is a common defensive response among many kinds of insects.

A number of ant species deliver painful stings to defend their nests.

Red Imported Fire Ant

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Honey Bee

Honey Bee Stinger

Honey bee stings are defensive and inject a potent venom.

Sudden clicking, whirring or loud buzzing startles predators.

Specklewinged Grasshopper

Silverbellied (Annual) Cicada

Yellow Woollybear Banded Woollybear

Predators catch a mouthful of hair, or cannot penetrate thick coat.

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Cecropia Painted Lady Mourning

Cloak

Painful punctures by spines cause predators to drop prey.

Whitemarked Tussock Caterpillar

Caterpillars with urticating hairs are often colorful.

Blake Layton, Mississippi State University

Io Moth Caterpillar

Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar

These caterpillars are known to produce itchy, burning rashes.

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DEFENSE & OFFENSE

Active Chemical Painful, poisonous compounds

injected, secreted or ejected

Passive Chemical Sharp or needlelike spines which

penetrate on contact

Bombardier Beetle,

Brachinus sp.

Patrick Coin

Some ground beetles emit burning fluids when molested.

False Bombardier Beetle,

Galerita spp.

Three-Striped Blister Beetle

Black Blister Beetle

Ash-GrayBlister Beetle

Cantharidin-Induced Blister

Blister beetles secrete cantharidin, which is caustic and poisonous .

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Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Osmeterium

Osmeteria secrete organic acids that repel or harm attackers (ants).

Some people experience severe reactions to the poison released by

the spines and require medical attention. Others experience only an

itching or burning sensation.

Spiny Oak Slug

Slug and saddleback caterpillars have spines which inject venom.

Fecal shields contain oils harmful to ants, and they repel predators.

Sunflower Tortoise Beetle Larvae

Adult

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DEFENSE & OFFENSE

• Frightening or threatening

• Sudden movements

• Startling displays

• Flashing colors or eyespots

• Warning coloration (aposematic)

Visual

Polyphemus Moth

Eyespots and wing patterns mimic owls to frighten day-active birds.

Io moths have deluxe-version eyespots.

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Scarlet Underwing, Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University

A sudden display of bright colors causes momentary confusion.

Virgin Tiger Moth

Scarlet Underwing

Specklewinged Grasshopper

Warning signs are posted to protect us from harm.

Velvet Ant Eastern Yellowjacket

Monarch Butterfly Harlequin Bug

I sting! I sting!

I taste bad! I taste bad!

Ignoring warning coloration can lead to pain and discomfort!

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DISGUISE

• Batesian Mimicry – Insect resembles a distasteful or injurious species

• Object Resemblance – Insect’s body looks like an inanimate or inedible object (rock, stick, leaf)

• Thanatosis – Insect pretends to be dead.

Appears to be something else.

“Ha, ha! If those birds only knew how tasty I am!”

Monarch Butterfly

Viceroy Butterfly

BATESIAN MIMICRY

Red Milkweed Beetle

Sevenspotted Lady Beetle

“Ladybug” Orb Weaver

Spider

Lady Beetles, being distasteful, are the likely model.

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Italian Honey Bee Drone Fly

No wonder that both species are from Europe.

Mark Dreiling (InsectImages.Org)

Eastern Yellowjacket Wasp Red Oak Clearwing Borer

“Clearwing moths are startling in their mimicry of wasps.

Paper Wasp Lilac Borer

Clearwing moths have specific times of activity during the day.

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Picture-winged Fly Jumping Spider

Apple Maggot Fly

Do the flies jerk and rotate like jumping spiders do?

Eyed Click Beetle

Spicebush Swallowtail

Tree Snake

Possible mimicry of tree snakes? What do you think?

OBJECT RESEMBLANCE

Mimicry of feces of predatory birds is a clever twist!

Tortricid Moth, Eucosoma sp.

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What a way to spend the daylight…offensive and still!

Tortricid Moth, Eucosoma sp.

Pupa

A glossy sheen and an irregular shape adds a certain freshness.

Viceroy Butterfly

Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar

A glossy sheen and an irregular shape adds a certain freshness.

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Buff Tip Moth

(Ringwood Biology, UK) Walkingstick

Whether swaying in the breeze or completely still, hang on!.

Broadwinged Katydid

Nearly perfect imitation with bacterial leaf spot included.

Discolored Renia Moth

Resting on the forest floor among leaf litter, which is larval food.

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CONCEALMENT

• Background resemblance

• Natural camouflage

• Obliterative shading

• Disruptive coloration

• Hiding under objects, in nests, cases or other constructions

Do you see what I see?

Slant-faced Grasshopper Handsome Grasshopper

Peppered Moth Large Tolype

Camouflaged prey insects are not often noticed unless they move.

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Tobacco Budworm on Geranium

Business as usual under cover of bright magenta tones.

Cabbage Looper on Pea

Blend in and continue to eat uninterrupted!

Cases of Background Resemblance among

Predatory Arthropods

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Rough Stink Bug, Brochymena sp.

Feeds in trees!

Crab Spider, Misumenoides formosipes

Goldenrod Spider, Misumena vatia

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Jumping Spider, Platycryptus undatus

Masked Hunter, Reduviius personatus

Unicorn Caterpillar

Disruptive coloration and object resemblance work together.

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Disruptive coloration and object resemblance work together.

Unicorn Caterpillar

Concealment Expressions

Rolled leaves on roughleaf dogwood trigger curiosity.

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Leaves are tightly rolled and stitched together with fine webbing.

Leafroller Caterpillar

The perpetrator is exposed along with fecal debris.

Live and dead foliage is enveloped with fine, dense webbing.

Fall Webworm

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Webbing protects caterpillars and discourages natural enemies.

Fall Webworm

Alder Goldenrod

Slimy secretions resemble human spittle.

Nymphs develop within spittle mass and adults are mobile.

Alder Spittlebug

Juniper Spittlebug

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Is this fuzzy mildew on purple coneflower?

A closer look reveals planthopper activity and protective secretions.

Citrus Flatid Planthopper

Nymphs secrete a cottony white substance in which to hide.

Holly Coneflower

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Holly

On holly in Georgia, these citrus flatid planthoppers had company.

Aggressive Mimicry

Hey! Hey! Waddya doin’!!

Examination revealed a green lacewing larva! Clever deception!

Young bagworms form cases made of webbing and host plant debris.

Bagworm

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Bags are protective against predation and house eggs over the winter.

Bagworm

ESCAPE & EVASION

• Sudden or fast escape – running, jumping, swimming, flying, dropping

• Evasive maneuvers

• Wriggling erratically

Fleeing

Bean leaf beetles immediately drop off plants when disturbed.

Bean Leaf Beetle

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Green cloverworms and webworms wriggle and thrash about.

Green Cloverworm

Grasshoppers, leafhoppers, flea beetles and springtails jump away.

Cabbage Flea Beetle Grasshopper Nymph

ESCAPE & EVASION

• Deflection – conspicuous markings, false head, dropping a body part

• Strange body shapes

• Swarming, massing together

• Illusion – Appearing to be larger (orb weaver)

Disorientation & Confusion

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Some arthropods sacrifice a twitching leg to get away.

Harvestman

Grasshopper Nymph

Cave Cricket

House Centipede

Long body filaments are secreted by caterpillars .

Sumac Woolly Sawfly Butternut Woollyworm

Head

Head and tail wagging. Which end is which?

Yellownecked Caterpillar Walnut Caterpillar

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Expendable extensions of the body distract from vital portions.

Giant Swallowtail

Safety in Numbers

• Overwhelming numbers in a narrow frame of time assure that at least some individuals will survive attack or escape predation.

• Insects fused into a group can appear as a single, large organism and intimidate predators.

Feeding in masses affords some protection but diminishes food.

Walnut Caterpillar

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Caterpillars molting together in a single mass at base of host tree.

Walnut Caterpillar

Early-stage caterpillars, and sawfly larvae often mass together to feed.

European Pine

Sawfly Scarlet Oak Sawfly

Mourning Cloak

Butterfly

Mature fungus gnat larvae migrate en masse in serpentine fashion.

Darkwinged Fungus Gnat Larvae

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Mature fungus gnat larvae migrate en masse in serpentine fashion.

Darkwinged Fungus Gnat Larvae

Massive numbers in a short span of time satiates predators early.

Periodical Cicada (17-Year)

Susan Post, Illinois Natural History Survey

Returning May 2015 for a spectacular show at selected state parks! Don’t miss it!

REMINDER!

Schramm State Park, Platte River State Park, Indian Cave State Park

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Don’t miss Brood IV emergence in Late May-June, 2015!

Historical Records (1913-1998)

Cass Cuming Douglas Johnson Otoe Pawnee Sarpy Saunders Source: nebrecs.unl.edu

BROOD IV (2015)

BROOD III (2014)

Extra mesh surrounding young spider gives impression of largeness.

Banded Garden Spider Nymph

All Done!

Questions?