northeast-flora-and-fauna

This was 1 of the Margined Leatherwing Beetles on yesterday's Hemp Dogbane . They are 1 of our more commonly seen soldier beetles , a family of beetles considered to be somewhat related to fireflies : Both are longish beetles with relatively soft elytra (the mostly protective outer wings) compared to the typical beetle. Both grow from larvae that prey on invertebrates like snails, slugs, worms, and some insects. But AFAIK none of the soldier beetles exhibit any bio-luminescent traits. The Margined Leatherwing Beetle - like its Goldenrod Soldier Beetle cousins [1] - is generally considered to be a beneficial pollinator as adults [2]. June 3, 2023 at John Clyde Native Grassland Preserve Photo 300859635, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Supporting their relatedness, the Goldenrod Soldier Beetle is sometimes called a Goldenrod Leatherwing Beetle while the Margined Leatherwing Beetle is sometimes called a Margined Soldier Beetle. [2] Their predatory days may not be...

The "fly" terminology can be misleading. Lots of critters with "fly" in their names aren't true flies at all. Flies are insects with only a single pair of wings, differentiating them from the wasps/bees, the moths/butterflies, and the dragonflies/damselflies (among others). And unlike beetles where the 2nd pair of wings have evolved into wing-protecting elytra , the 2nd pair of fly wings have evolved into rotational sensing  halteres , enabling especially acrobatic flight. Here are a few of the non-flies with "fly" in their names. dragonfly != fly, dragonfly == odonate July 28, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 148654312, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) lanternfly != fly, lanternfly == bug July 28, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 148654536, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) butterfly != fly, butterfly == lepidopteran July 28, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 148654418, (c) jpviolette, some rights r...

Yesterday I talked about the Dogbane Leaf Beetle as one of my favorite beetles, but there are other contenders. Here's a firefly, probably in the Photinus genus . And in my area, the most common of these is the Common Eastern Firefly . And yes, despite their common names of "firefly" and "lightning bug", these insects are neither flies nor true bugs but are a type of beetle. Identifying these guys in daylight (at least down to the species) is difficult. My book Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs (by Lynn Frierson Faust) relies a lot on seeing their flash pattern and color. If this is a Common Eastern Firefly, at night I should see a flash that lasts long enough to look like a Nike swoosh or the letter J, and this should repeat every 6 seconds with a mostly yellow color. Other species may have different colors (green or orange aren't unusual) and a different flash pattern. But seeing one in daylight makes the ID less reliable. My book states "Fra...