An unexpected pleasure this morning was an item on the CBC’s radio programme, Daybreak South. It was about bugs (well, arthropods, actually). Listeners had sent in pictures which were then posted and now entomologist, Hugh Philip, was naming and discussing them. What fun; who would have expected a treatment of bug identification on the radio?
As a tribute to that effort, I post a half-dozen bug shots taken in my yard over the last few days, along with my own tentative identification. Others (even Hugh Philip) are welcome to correct my identifications.
The Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) is common throughout the Province and the butterfly season.
The Bombylius fly (possibly, Bombylius major) is only seen early in the season (April and May).
The bumble bee season is underway. This is possibly Bombus bifarius.
I suspect that this bumble bee is a Bombus melanopygus.
The wasp season is just beginning. The European Paper Wasp (Polistes dominula) is an invasive species that arrived in the Province a decade ago. It makes those open-faced, disc-shaped hives which are particularly interesting to watch.
The closed ball-shaped hives are made by either of our two long-faced wasps. One of the two is the Aerial Yellowjacket (Dolichovespula arenaria).
