Friday Harbor | Bugging You From San Juan Island

Tag Archives: Friday Harbor

We don’t just have covid here, BETTY BOTFLY VISITS SAN JUAN ISLAND. Another reason to Wear that Mask!

Posted on July 7, 2020 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

I made a video of one of my favorite insects you will see here in the San Juan Islands. This is a bumble bee mimic, but it’s not a bee at all. It’s a fly. Not only is it not your ordinary fly, it’s a fly with a very interesting life cycle that requires a host. This particular host relationship has evolved between the fly and our local black-tailed deer. It’s not feeding on the deer because these adult flies don’t even have mouthparts to eat. Their sole mission is to reproduce and they need an incubator for their “babies.” If you see a deer and notice it coughing, watch the video to find out why. **Edit *** Update to post… I misspoke in the video and state that the fly oviposits onto the deer which is incorrect. The eggs actually hatch inside the fly body and the fly larviposits onto the deer muzzle. Either way it’s got to be pretty terrifying to the deer! 🦌

Cephenemyia apicata 07.07.2020 video by Cynthia Brast-Bormann

*Cephenemyia ap*icata 07.07.2020 photo by Cynthia Brast-Bormann

*Cephenemyia apicata*
San Juan Island, WA
07.07.2020
Photo by Cynthia Brast-Bormann

Cephenemyia apicata San Juan Island, WA 07.07.2020 Photo by Cynthia Brast-Bormann
Cephenemyia apicata San Juan Island, WA 07.07.2020 Photo by Cynthia Brast-Bormann
Cephenemyia apicata San Juan Island, WA 07.07.2020 Photo by Cynthia Brast-Bormann
Cephenemyia apicata San Juan Island, WA 07.07.2020 Photo by Cynthia Brast-Bormann
Cephenemyia apicata San Juan Island, WA 07.07.2020 Photo by Cynthia Brast-Bormann
Cephenemyia apicata San Juan Island, WA 07.07.2020 Photo by Cynthia Brast-Bormann

Uncategorized

The House Pseudoscorpion (Cheliferidae cancroides)

Posted on March 3, 2020 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

I got the coolest picture of a bug on Friday!

House Pseudoscorpion (*Cheliferidae cancroides*)
2/28/2020
San Juan Island
photo by T. Santora

House Pseudoscorpion (*Cheliferidae cancroides*)

This little creature was photographed on February 28, 2020 by Trever Santora on San Juan Island, WA.

It’s a Pseudoscorpion! Found on the windowsill of his house and no larger than a tiny sesame seed, I believe it to be an immature House Pseudoscorpion (Cheliferidae cancroides).

Keep an eye out for these. They’re quite harmless to humans and can’t sting or bite you. Pseudoscorpions are predacious and beneficial because they eat other organisms that are pests. Some live in birds’ nests and eat the mites that can build up and harm nestlings.

Since they don’t have wings and can’t fly, pseudoscorpions move around by phoresy. That means they’ll hitch a ride on someone who can! Not just birds, but bees, wasps, and flies can also provide a free lift.

Check out https://bugguide.net/node/view/728962 for more information.

Thanks for reading 🌻

Harmonia axyridis, The Asian-Spotted Ladybird Beetle

Posted on June 27, 2019 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

I found this weird little creature stuck to a leaf on a rose bush by the picket fence in front of the San Juan County Land Bank office on Monday, June 24, 2019 when I walked down Argyle and rounded the corner onto Caines (does anyone on the island actually use street names? Where the heck is Caines, right?)

Brought it home because I couldn’t resist the mystery of figuring out what it might be. What on earth are those spiny things at the end? Is it some sort of pest insect?

After taking a few photos, I did what drives my husband crazy sometimes. I left the leaf with this little spiny-ended thing on the table, in a cup, without a lid. Yep. Just like when I left the really fat deer tick I had on my desk. The one that laid eggs…that hatched when I wasn’t paying attention. This is when it’s really handy to have sticky tape nearby, otherwise you have to vacuum every 10 minutes for about a month to finally sleep at night without feeling like things are crawling all over you and burrowing into your skin. This link should take you to my facebook page post about “Big Bertha.” https://www.facebook.com/buggingyoufromSJI/posts/2375866245969416

This morning, after my cat got me up with incessant meowing right in my ear, I sat down at the table with a cup of coffee. Millhouse (the cat) isn’t supposed to be on the table, but when my husband isn’t around, anything goes! He was staring something down that was m.o.v.i.n.g! Fortunately, I reacted faster than he did. I tipped over the little medicine cup I’d put the leaf in to thwart this little creature’s attempt at a fast getaway.

Asian Spotted Ladybird Beetle (Harmonia axyridis)
July 27, 2019
San Juan Island, WA

Carefully sliding a piece of paper under the cup, I could see it looked like a ladybug. Ladybugs come in different colors, with different spots, and there are quite a few species one could encounter on San Juan Island. This beetle goes by an assortment of names. It’s often referred to as the Multi-colored Asian Lady Beetle or sometimes the Halloween Beetle because in some places they show up in large numbers at Halloween! 🎃😱

This beetle’s scientific name is Harmonia axyridis (The Asian-spotted Ladybird Beetle). It was imported to the United States as early as 1916 to help control pests as a biocontrol agent. While “Miss Harmonia” eats aphids, thrips, and scale insects (and manages these pests fantastically in soybean crops), she isn’t native and these pest insects aren’t all she eats. Asian-spotted Ladybird Beetles also eat native coccinellid beetles (native lady bugs) and even butterfly eggs. In the winter, she can bring her friends and invade your home. When handled, the ladybird beetles can excrete a stinky defensive chemical from their leg joints. This makes removal of large numbers of them from inside homes somewhat problematic. You don’t want to have them discharging this awful odor that will linger….all…winter!

Newly emerged adult *(Harmonia axyridis*)
June 27, 2019
San Juan Island, WA

Another unfortunate consequence of importing these beetles is their love of wine grapes. 🍇 🍷 Asian-spotted ladybirds will eat grapes and then the grapes end up contaminated with an awful smell lingering on them. While I personally don’t drink wine, I know lots of people do and they’d be very unhappy if it tasted like essence of ladybug…a twist on a new aromatic bitter perhaps!

Did I squish her? Nope. I put her in the tree near our bird feeder. It’s possible she will become part of the food chain. While not all birds eat these beetles, some do. Insects and arachnids like robber flies, dragonflies, ants, various ground beetles, and cellar spiders also eat them.

If you see them, should you squish them? That’s up to you and how confident you are that you’ve identified it correctly. I wouldn’t want to mistake a helpful native ladybug as an invader. I recommend that instead of buying ladybird beetles at the garden store to release in your garden you establish native habitat to attract and support native species of ladybugs.

As I looked a bit more into the literature about Harmonia axyridis, I was intrigued with the publication of some research about the biochemistry of the liquid they secrete. It has been found to have strong antimicrobial action against strains of bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. This fluid has even been examined for its action against malaria. Perhaps these beetles don’t belong in the garden, but in your medicine cabinet instead.

empty pupal case
Asian spotted Ladybird Beetle (*Harmonia axyridis*)
July 27 2019
San Juan Island, WA

References and further reading

Uncategorized

Enchoria lacteata

Posted on April 1, 2019 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

Enchoria lacteata

Enchoria lacteata (Packard) is a relatively small moth with forewings measuring only 0.9-1.1 cm in length. Adults have a remarkable zig-zag pattern on forewings made up of various shades of brown and buff. They are diurnal (daytime) fliers and emerge from late February to May. Sightings are often in grassy areas or edges of moist woodlands. Larval host plants are various species of miner’s lettuce, Claytonia (Portulacaceae). Check out the following link for more information on miner’s lettuce. It’s edible! https://www.ediblewildfood.com/miners-lettuce.aspx

Enchoria lacteata crawling onto my pruning tool.

Enchoria lacteata between my work glove and pruning tool

References:

POWELL, JERRY A., and PAUL A. OPLER. Moths of Western North America. 1st ed., University of California Press, 2009.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/46115

http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7403

Itchy-Scratchy!

Posted on October 30, 2018 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

Just in time for Halloween! Yesterday I was using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) at Friday Harbor Marine Labs. I got to take some really cool photos but in order to use the SEM, your specimen has to be dried out. Well, I had some specimens that are really tiny and very delicate and they weren’t dried out because it is a complicated process that takes a certain chemical called Hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS). Also, drying out your specimen for viewing under the SEM renders it useless for viewing under a light microscope and you’ve lost the ability to preserve it in a collection.

So I’m going to share how I took images of some of my specimens at home with a pretty old compound microscope, an iPhone, and a clip-on macro lens from Amazon. First, I’ll tell you a bit about the compound microscope image posted here. This specimen is in the genus Damalinia, most likely the exotic chewing louse, Damalinia (Cervicola).

Chewing louse Damalinia spp

It lives on black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) in Washington, Oregon and California, and has been indicated in what is called HLS (Hair-loss syndrome). They build up in large numbers on deer at certain times of the year. One factor thought to contribute to this is lack of adequate nutrition in the deers’ diet, particularly an absence or deficiency of Selenium.

In a nutshell, these lice can reproduce at high numbers in vulnerable deer (typically old, young, and those with weakened immune systems due to nutritional deficiencies or internal parasites). The lice cause extreme itching, irritation, and hair loss. The deer respond to the itchiness by excessive licking and grooming. Why hair loss? Well, these lice are called “chewing lice” because they munch on hair, skin fragments and secretions, and in some cases will feed on blood from skin wounded from scratching. It’s a miserable condition to have. This is what a deer looks like that is suffering from HLS caused by the chewing lice.

Photo by Brian Murray https://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/health_program/hairloss/index.asp

Here is a larger version of my photo. It’s not as clear as I’d like, but I’m certainly going to practice to improve. Happy Halloween and I hope you don’t spend the night scrrraatching in bed!

Chewing louse Damalinia spp.

Further reading and references:

Protocol for drying insects with HDMS: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/ppd/entomology/HMDS.html

Link to Amazon clip on iPhone lens set ~

Robinson, J. (2007). Transmission of the chewing louse, Damalinia (Cervicola) sp., from Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) to Rocky Mountain mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus) and its role in deer hair-loss syndrome. Masters Thesis. Oregon State University. https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/1v53k0068?locale=en

Roug, A., Swift, P., Puschner, B., Gerstenberg, G., Mertins, JW, Johnson, CK, et al. (2016). Exotic pediculosis and hair-loss syndrome in deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations in California. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, 28(4), 399-407. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1040638716647154

Maude, R. J., Koh, G. C., & Silamut, K. (2008). Taking photographs with a microscope. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 79(3), 471-2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2843439/

Smartphone Microscopy by Annie Morrison. Youtube.

Spider Sleuthing in the San Juans – Day 9 – How to get that spider out of your bathtub!

Posted on October 28, 2018 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

Eek there’s a spider in the tub!

Eek! There’s a spider in the bathtub! Do you really want to turn on the water and drown it? Hopefully you are not nodding your head “yes,” but instead finding courage to overcome your arachnophobia and finding a tiny bit of compassion. Just take a deep breath. Get a towel, or a cup and a card, and find your brave inner self to save this poor little eight-legged individual to live out its life. Say this mantra with me….”Be NICE to spiders!” Then say it over and over and over to yourself. It will make you a much more confident person. You can tell your friends and co-workers about how YOU got a spider out of the BATHTUB!

At my house, the number one threat to spiders is my cat. Millhouse is determined his job is to be spider exterminator. He squashes them. He used to eat them! Once he ate one. He fainted. I had to rush him to the vet. He revived on the way. The next time, he bit one and spit it out. I don’t know if the spider was foaming from being punctured or if the cat was foaming because well….maybe cats foam at the mouth sometimes when they eat something they shouldn’t. In any case, he’s evolving his kill techniques. Now he eats too much cat food and uses his massive body weight (he thinks it’s muscle) to flatten them.

I’m on the other side. My job is to save them. It was a good thing I saw this one before Millhouse did. You see, Millhouse loves to drink his water out of the bathtub. I have to leave the water dripping for him. That’s why you’ll note the stain on the tub. It’s from hard well water. One day I will scrub off the yellowing, but for now, pretend it’s not there.

The first thing I recommend to get the spider out is to grab something like a hand towel or a plastic cup and some sort of paper (mailer, index card, envelop, etc.). I used a towel. Watch my video and see how easy it is! The spider isn’t going to bite you. It just wants OUT of the tub. Probably it was thirsty. See my post from October 27, and you can read all about how to give a dehydrated spider a drink. At this point, it needs your help. It is stuck. The sides of the tub are too slippery for it to crawl out. It’s really easy! Here goes…

The general idea is to be extremely gentle. You don’t want to injure the spider. Keep chanting your mantra…”Be nice to spiders!” Over and over and over!

Safe!

See! It’s not that hard. The spider didn’t attack me. Isn’t it so cute! By the way, this spider is a Hackelmesh weaver (Callobius severus) https://bugguide.net/node/view/7018 . I checked later today and it has crawled off somewhere. Happy to escape the cat!

The lone wolf at my door! Tarentula kochii a.k.a. Alopecosa kochii

Posted on October 27, 2018 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

Here’s a clip of my little Wolf Spider, Tarentula kochii a.k.a. Alopecosa kochii (ID credit to Rod Crawford at Seattle’s Burke Museum). He ever-so-kindly responded to my email query for help. According to Rod, this spider is “a local native wolf spider and somewhat uncommon and rare.” I found it in the doorway two days ago (10-23-18) and worried the cat injured it, but as you can see, it is moving a little. After examining it carefully, it looks uninjured, but possibly suffering from another spider bite…recent molt…or dehydration. I attempted to get it to drink some water using a tiny syringe but was unsuccessful…or perhaps too late. I also got some great advice on the correct way to give spiders a drink of water from Rod, who says: “For future reference, the way to give a spider a drink is to rest the mouth area (under the front of the “head”) directly in a drop of water.”

If you are interested in learning more about this species of Wolf Spider, here are some links to check out:

https://bugguide.net/node/view/1490575

Click to access A42-42-1990-17-eng.pdf

Revenge of the Mantids

Posted on October 9, 2018 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island One comment

clip mantis Check out my story about praying mantids on San Juan Island! They’ve been a victim of hyper-sensationalism. Seriously. Read my article before you squish one.

https://sanjuanislander.com/news-articles/environment-science-whales/environment/28146/revenge-of-the-mantids

Merlin.mantid

Let me know if you have questions about these or other insects you come across! I’m always interested and do my best to answer emails. Thanks!

Lophocampa roseata (Rosy aemilia)

Posted on October 2, 2018 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island 3 comments

I spent a good part of the day combing through my insect photos from the past 9 years. There are thousands. Finally, I found the ones I was searching for. I credit Victoria Compton on San Juan Island, WA for helping me out on this one. She sent a photo the other day to my email with a caterpillar and had suggested an ID. Not only was she correct, but in ID’ing the caterpillar, it enabled me to match up one of my adult moth photos that had been sitting around nameless since 2016. The photos I found today were of the same caterpillar that had been a mystery to me since 2013. It’s a nice “aha” moment when you connect the dots! Below are the pics for you to see.

Lophocampa roseata Photographed July 10, 2016 San Juan Island, WA

Lophocampa roseata larva Photographed October 6, 2013 San Juan Island, WA

This is a Tiger moth in the family Erebidae, subfamily Arctiinae. The scientific name is Lophocampa roseata (also known as the Rosy aemilia). It was first described by Francis Walker in 1868. They are found in Western Oregon and Washington as well as in Southwestern B.C. and are associated with habitats of conifer forests and maple trees. The sources I checked list them as somewhat rare and Natureserve lists them as “critically imperiled.” So, I guess we have another beautiful Lepidoptera on San Juan Island to care for along with the Marble Butterfly!

***Critically imperiled Tiger Moth. Please post/email photos if you live in San Juan County, WA and come across one in the adult or larval stage. Thanks!

Lophocampa roseata larva Photographed October 6, 2013 by Cynthia Brast San Juan Island, WA

Lophocampa roseata larva Photographed September 26, 2018by Victoria Compton San Juan Island, WA

Helpful links:

http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Lophocampa+roseata

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/224121-Lophocampa-roseata

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Lophocampa-roseata

https://bugguide.net/node/view/247272

*Lophocampa roseata larva*
October 27, 2019
Three Corner Lake Road

*Lophocampa roseata* pupal case
Pupated 10-29-19

Lophocampa roseata larva
Found wandering in search of pupation site – October 27, 2019
San Juan Island, WA

Carl the Crab Spider (Coriarachne brunneipes)

Posted on April 29, 2018 by BUGGING YOU FROM San Juan Island Leave a comment

My mother used to read a book to me when I was a small child called Be Nice To Spiders! The little boy in the book brings a spider (named Helen) to the zoo in a matchbox because he isn’t allowed to keep her in his apartment. When the zookeeper opens the box, Helen escapes and sets up residence in the animal cages where she helps all the animals by eating the flies that make them miserable.

This story was one of many experiences I enjoyed that set me up for a lifetime of observing invertebrates and their behaviors. Today, I am sharing about a small crab spider I found in our house this week. It took me all week to identify it, but I persisted and even managed to keep the little guy safe from Millhouse. Millhouse is the resident cat. He likes to eat spiders. That’s another story and a good one, but I’ll save it for next time.

Today, meet “Carl” the Black Crab spider, also known more formally as Coriarachne brunneipes. Black Crab Spiders are classified taxonomically in the family Thomisidae (Crab Spiders), genus Coriarachne, and species brunneipes. They are found ranging across the Western U.S. from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast…and in my case, on San Juan Island, WA. 98250! The Black Crab spider is relatively small in size. About 1.9 cm or equivalent to the diameter of a penny if you include its leg span (see photo below from Wednesday, April 25, 2018).

(Coriarachne brunneipes)

You can also see in my photo that Carl is missing a leg! 3 + 4 only equals 7 and spiders have 8 legs! Maybe Millhouse DID do something to this spider after all!

I left Carl to go about things on Wednesday after taking this photo. Seems like I remember seeing him scurry towards the crack under the baseboard and safety from the cat. Thursday, my new “friend” was on the ceiling in the sunroom. I nearly stepped on Carl on Friday. He was back on the floor, skittering towards the baseboard along the wall again.

Coriarachne brunneipes

Saturday, Carl was on the table in the sunroom. I decided to take a few more photos and I also decided that Carl might be getting hungry since I haven’t seen anything suitable for him to eat in the house. Also after reading about this species of spider, I understood it was possible he came into the house accidentally on some wood and might like it better if he was outside, but it was cold and rainy on Saturday, so I fixed him a nice spider hotel room for the night. He liked the view from the “balcony.” Sorry Carl, no room service available!

Coriarachne brunneipes

On Sunday after it warmed up a little, I took Carl down to our orchard. It was easy to coax him onto a twig. I held him up against a low branch on the apple tree and up he went. There was a veritable feast waiting for him in the apple tree. Tiny little morsels just the right size for a spider!