Another Micro Mystery

One way that I find insects in winter is by scraping off paper wasp nests that have been abandoned by the past season’s generation of wasps, and placing the nests in a transparent container. What usually happens is that one or more kinds of insects will eventually emerge from these nests. Allow me to share one example.

Dibrachys sp.

I started collecting recent, abandoned paper wasp nests (Polistes metricus is the common species around our home here in Leavenworth, Kansas, USA) when I saw a social media post by Sloan Tomlinson (@thatwaspguy on Instagram). He had reared a type of small parasitoid wasp as a result: the eulophid wasp Elasmus polistis. That species is a parasitoid of the brood (larvae, pupae) of paper wasps. Cool. I could add another species to my home biodiversity list.

So many tiny wasps!

I was excited to find, in January of 2022, that this method had worked, as I saw tiny wasps running around inside the container with the old paper wasp nest. Photographing the little creatures, and then cropping those images, it became apparent that what I had was not what I expected. I was left with a mystery that took me awhile to solve, even though I’m fairly good at researching.

I eventually found a journal article chronicling a study of various parasitoids of paper wasps collected from nests in Missouri, the state immediately adjacent to Kansas. In fact, Leavenworth is right across the Missouri River from Missouri. One of the creatures listed was a wasp in the family Pteromalidae. They had only eighty-seven specimens, though. I was looking at hundreds by the time they finished emerging.

Male wasps attempting to mate with a female.

The species name given was Dibrachys cavus. More recently, it has been revealed to be a “species complex,” and has a new assigned name: Dibrachys microgastri. It represents one of *three* species, any one of which could potentially be my creature. Collectively, they are parasitoids of pretty much any insect with complete metamorphosis. That makes it difficult to determine exactly which one I have. Even placing a specimen under a microscope might not be enough magnification for these two-millimeter wasps.

Dibrachys is unusual for a single genus of wasps in having such a wide range of potential hosts. At least some species, or perhaps most, are hyperparasitoids of tachinid flies and braconid or ichneumon wasps that are themselves parasitoids of moth pupae. This makes me wonder if these minions are part of this puzzle that I documented in 2022.

I find unsolved mysteries intriguing, and delight in them even if I never reach any verifiable conclusion. There will always be *something* that defies explanation in the natural world.

This little cobweb weaver spider may have been making a killing, literally.

Sources:Gibson, Gary A.P., John T. Huber, and James B. Woolley (eds). 1997. Annotated Keys to the Genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Ottawa, Ontario: NRC Research Press. 794 pp.
Peters, R.S. & Baur, H. 2011. A revision of the Dibrachys cavus species complex (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae). Zootaxa, 2937 (1), 1-30.
Whiteman, Noah K. and Brett H.P. Landwer. 2000. Parasitoids Reared From Polistes (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae) Nests in Missouri, With a State Record of Elasmus polistis Burk (Hymenoptera: Elasmidae). J Kansas Ent Soc 73(3): 186-188.

New Year’s Insects and Spiders

Happy New Year to my friends and followers! I do hope that you are finding reasons to celebrate, and are getting out into nature. Our local weather here in northeast Kansas, USA, has been unseasonably mild, to the point of nearly breaking high temperature records. Yesterday, January 7, it was sixty-eight degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. Our average historical high is in the high thirties or low forties. Consequently, I have found a few insects and arachnids active in our yard.

Spined Soldier Bug, Podisus maculiventris

A few months ago, one person admonished me for using the word “bug” too liberally, to include other insects, and even other arthropods. Technically, it is a proper complaint, but scientists are not my intended audience here, and the overall goal is to improve public appreciation of every related organism that suffers persecution and disdain. In honor of this person’s observation, I will start by giving examples of actual bugs, true bugs in the order Hemiptera, that I have seen here in January, 2026.

It is surprising how many true bugs overwinter in the adult stage, and will stir themselves “awake” on warm winter days. Among the most obvious are stink bugs. Many people across the United States are familiar with the non-native Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), but I have not yet encountered one this month. Instead, I have been surprised by this season’s population of the Spined Soldier Bug, Podisus maculiventris, a type of predatory stink bug. You read that correctly, this stink bug, along with several other species, preys on other insects. Normally, I see precious few of them, but this past autumn they were everywhere, especially along forest edges.

Stink bug, Banasa calva

Another stink bug I saw recently is Banasa calva, or at least I think so. There are eleven species in the genus in North America, and several of them look identical to this one. Species identification relies on characters best observed under a microscope. This is one of the usual species that feeds on sap of trees and shrubs, but is rarely, if ever, a pest.

Leafhopper, Erythridula? sp.

Leafhopper, Stirellus bicolor

Three-Banded Leafhopper, Erythroneura tricincta

Usually, the bugs I find this late (or early) in the cold months are leafhoppers, family Cicadellidae. They are small enough to be overlooked easily, but I managed to spot at least three different species recently. They are often so wary as to be difficult to approach, flying before you can train a camera or phone on them. Looking on both the interior and exterior surface of our backyard fence, and on the exterior of our house, usually proves fruitful. These insects also feed on plant sap. A few species are major crop, orchard, and vineyard pests because they can transmit plant viruses.

Aphid

I am well aware that many species of aphids spend the winter on alternate host plants, different from the plants that they feed on in warmer months, but I was still shocked to find one that had alighted on our fence. A single species of aphid my differ drastically in physical appearance between its winter and spring/fall populations.

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle

Most beetles stay well-concealed in leaf litter, under bark, and in other nooks and crannies, but lady beetles in particular will surface on warmer days to prowl sun-warmed surfaces.

Non-biting midge

Flies are insects that you wouldn’t expect to be the least bit active, but if you look closely enough, you are still likely to find some. Chief among them are tiny, non-biting midges that defy identification. Even expert midge specialists find them challenging.

Winter crane fly

There are some flies that you can find only during the colder months, and the winter crane flies of the family Trichoceridae are perhaps the largest of them. At least if you measure their lanky leg span of three-fourths of an inch or so. I see them almost daily on the side of our house, our garage, and clinging to the wooden fence. The larvae require moist or wet terrestrial habitats where they feed mostly on decaying vegetable matter, fungi, debris in rodent burrows, and similar niches.

Moth fly, Psychoda sp.

A different moth fly of another genus?

Moth flies are very small and cryptic, and also resemble moths more than flies. Their larvae feed on decaying organic matter.

Frit fly

Another kind of frit fly with different antennae

Another unexpected family of flies I have observed so far this year are frit flies, also known as grass flies and “eye gnats,” in the family Chloropidae. They are almost impossible to spot at only 2-3 millimeters. I imaged several blemishes on our fence before one of them metamorphosed into one of these flies. Ha! They have a variety of lifestyles, though most live as larvae mining the stems of grasses.

F-winged Barklouse

Barklice, in the order Psocodea, are usually most abundant and diverse in late fall, but the only one I have seen so far is the F-winged Barklouse, Graphopsocus cruciatus, one of the introduced species, from Europe. They graze on microflora like algae and fungi on plant leaves, but I usually see them roaming the exterior of our house.

Fall Cankerworm male

Fall Cankerworm female

Moths. Moths! There are several moths that occur as adults in late autumn through early winter. I usually see the Fall Cankerworm, Alsophila pometaria, a type of geometer or “inchworm” moth, in late fall, but it wasn’t until this mnth that I saw both sexes, on the same day. The female moth is wingless, while the male looks like an ordinary moth. The caterpillars are generalist feeders on the leaves of a variety of trees and shrubs. We have several of their known host plants in our yard, so the appearance of the moths is not surprising.

Green-striped Grasshopper nymph

Believe it or not, some grasshoppers overwinter as nymphs (juveniles, immatures), and will poke their heads out of the leaf litter on warm days. The Green-striped Grasshopper, Chortophaga viridifasciata, is one of these.

Smooth springtail, family Isotomidae

Plump springtail, order Poduromorpha

Today, springtails are technically considered “non-insect hexapods” given their primitive physical form, but at one time they were classified as insects. They are generally small enough (under five millimeters) that they escape your attention unless they move. As their name implies, many species jump away when approached. Others do not have the anatomical mechanism to do so, and those are the ones I seem to be encountering now. In some geographic locations you may encounter “snow fleas,” which are actually springtails that can pepper the melting snow at the base of trees and similar situations.

Juvenile long-jawed orbweaver

Juvenile Humpbacked Orbweaver

Spiders can be out and about, too, though they mostly represent juvenile specimens. I managed to spy a young long-jawed orbweaver, Tetragnatha sp., and a “baby” Humpbacked Orbweaver, Eustala anastera, outdoors. I did see a jumping spider on the ceiling of our living room, though, and if I searched thoroughly, I could probably find more arachnid friends.

While I am enjoying the warmth of this winter, so far, I am also concerned about the volatility of our weather from one year to the next. Last year at this time we were buried under snow. The extremes and unpredictability of when the different seasons begin and end does not bode well for the survival of many species. Insects are more adaptable than most, but even they can succumb if they burn their fat reserves ahead of true spring. Take care, friends, let me know what you are finding.

Remembering Moth Week 2025

Yes, I am terribly behind in making public my sightings of insects, arachnids, and other wildlife this year. I finally have my observations for National Moth Week 2025 loaded onto iNaturalist, but I will share some of them here in this post.

Zebra Conchylodes Moth, Eddyville, Kentucky.

Heidi was generous enough to secure us tickets to the Coldplay concert in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, so we spent almost the entirety of the week in that area of the country. We began in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. When we arrived, the weather was rainy and not at all conducive to looking for insects, but it was also the day before the start of National Moth Week.

This Pink-shaded Fern Moth was the first of its kind I'd ever seen.

We stayed at a small rental house near Eddyville, Kentucky, surrounded by deciduous forest. The first night, we simply left the front porch light on, and looked at the few insects that flew in, using the awning over the porch as convenient cover from the showers.

This Lost Owlet moth was also new to me.

The subsequent two nights were better. We put out our blacklight the second night, under the carport by a large metal garage building. The building had its own, motion-activated light, which helped draw more bugs to our sheet. The landscape was still quite wet, however.

Tulip-tree Beauty, a large geometer moth, was common at our lights....

....but harder to see on a tree trunk!

We debated whether to turn on the blacklight for our third and final night in Eddyville, but I decided against it. We did turn on a light over the back porch, though, and that attracted a good number of insects, including moths.

A Posturing Arta moth, posturing.

As we headed south, we entered Tennessee, and stopped at the lovely Cedar Pond Picnic Area. The sun had broken through permanently by now, so there was more insect activity. Around the pond were a couple of overlooks, and at one of those we startled a butterfly off a pile of scat from some mammal’s recent visit. On closer inspection, we noticed there was also a Nessus Sphinx Moth taking advantage of the fresh dung.

Nessus Sphinx moth enjoying(?) fresh dung.

While we were in Nashville, we stayed at a hotel that did not permit us to do any blacklighting. Plus, there was the concert itself. If you have never been to a stadium concert for your favorite band, I recommend the experience. Highly exhilarating, and worth the expense.

Deep Yellow Euchlaena Moth, Giant City State Park, Illinois.

From Nashville we headed west to southern Illinois, an area rich in both biodiversity, and protected natural areas in which to enjoy it. There are wildlife refuges, state parks, and other places that have grassroots support from local friends groups, resulting in excellent maintenance and outstanding sources of firsthand knowledge.

Rosy Maple Moth.

We decided to visit Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge on the way to our destination of Giant City State Park. The visitor center was being remodeled, and it was about to close for the day, but we met a couple who volunteer there. They were friendly, and very helpful. Exploring the exterior of the building, I found a beautiful Rosy Maple Moth, still hanging out by a light it had been drawn to the previous night.

Caterpillars, like this one of a tussock moth, count, too, during National Moth Week. Lower Cache River, Illinois.

Jennifer Randolph, the naturalist and nature center manager at Giant City State Park had invited me to give a presentation on moths for her volunteers and anyone else interested, so we stayed at a cabin in the park for three nights.

The "working" part of our vacation, presenting on moths at Giant City State Park.

The first two nights we set up a blacklight on our cabin porch, and were rewarded with a spectacular variety and quantity of insects. The cabins are basically duplexes (front to back) offering comfortable accommodations for guests, and situated far enough apart that you are not disturbing your neighbors with quiet nighttime activities.

The Bad-wing is actually a real beauty.

On our last night, we set up our lights a fair distance away at a picnic shelter elsewhere in the park. There was a pole light by the shelter that complemented our dim white light and portable blacklight. We did not see many species different from what we had at our cabin, but there were some notable exceptions.

A large and lovely Azalea Sphinx.

On our drive back home, we stopped for a rest, rather randomly, at a Casey’s store in New Florence, Missouri. When I glanced up as we pulled into our parking spot, I could hardly believe my eyes. I blurted out an excited “Oooh, oooh!,” and pointed, wide-eyed, at the enormous female Imperial Moth perched on the wall beneath a light.

Imperial Moth, female.

Moth Week could have ended there and I would have been happy, but we got home to Leavenworth, Kansas in time to set up our blacklight in the front yard for the final night, July 27. A few more species were added, and then it was over.

Unidentified dagger moth, genus Acronicta, Leavenworth, Kansas.

All of my observations can be seen at the hyperlink in the first paragraph of this blog post. Meanwhile, Heidi’s observations can be found here. We almost always see different species, even in the same place. Plus, her photos are usually better.

Linden Prominent moth was a new visitor to our Leavenworth, Kansas yard.

While there is an official National Moth Week, almost any time of the year can be its own moth week. There are still moths flying here in Leavenworth, at least until the first hard freeze. Turn on your porch light and see what lives in your own neighborhood.

Basswood Leafroller Moth, Leavenworth, Kansas.

NOTE: In the current, highly-charged political atmosphere, I strongly suggest navigating friends group websites for recreation areas, national parks, wildlife refuges, and other properties operated by the federal government, to avoid being subjected to biased and irrelevant content. Thank you.

Book Festivals, Royalties, and Other Author Things

Here at the end of September, I am gearing up for the Heartland Book Festival in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, October 11. With your help, we can recruit a legion of new bugwatchers, and change how we relate to other species, and each other. Allow me to let you in on upcoming events, and some secrets of the author profession that might surprise you.

Got my poster, courtesy of Poor Richard's here in Leavenworth, Kansas.

I cannot tell you how excited and honored I am to be participating as a vendor in the Heartland Book Festival. I will be one of only twenty-five authors selected from over two hundred applicants. This is perhaps the first time I have truly felt like a professional writer and author. I am hoping that this is only the beginning. Please recommend to me, in the comments, other book festivals that you have enjoyed, where nonfiction authors are celebrated alongside the novelists.

Speaking engagements are another way for authors to get traction in the marketplace. I will be presenting a talk on spiders for Topeka Audubon the evening of October 7, then another bugwatching presentation for Gardeners Connect on November 11 in Kansas City, Missouri.

There are already dates taken up on my 2026 calendar, too. On January 8, I will be presenting a webinar for Smithsonian Associates. I will announce when tickets go on sale. February 10, 2026, you will find me at the Plan it Native Landscapes Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, where I will present “Beyond Bees and Butterflies: Embracing and Conserving Local Insects.” After that program, I am open to invitations for any other events you may want to suggest.

There is a persistent myth that authors earn much of their living from royalties on sales of their books. This may be true for Stephen King, but certainly not for those of us in niche markets like natural history. What usually happens is that the publisher pays an author a cash advance to begin the book, maybe another once the manuscript is completed, and perhaps another once the book goes on the market. Ideally, brisk sales quickly make up for the advances and the book breaks even. Only after that point do royalties start producing positive numbers. None of my books, to this point, have produced royalties. That is not uncommon, but there is no reason we can’t buck that trend. How do we do that?

Much as I loathe Amazon, the retail giant, posting positive reader reviews there can boost sales considerably. The same can be said for Goodreads, and other such platforms. Book reviews in magazines, newspapers, blogs, podcasts, and social media are also helpful. Thank you for considering.

Invitations to do book signings, or present at conferences and meetings, are always welcome. Obviously, remote, virtual appearances are easiest at this time, when airline travel is undependable at best, Covid is making a resurgence, and clubs and organizations are facing financial hardship due to cuts in federal grants and other sources of funding. That said, if I can string together more than a couple of engagements in any given city, or small region, I will certainly entertain in-person events.

Thank you for all of your moral support, book purchases, in-kind donations, and other help to this point. I hope that I am doing right by you, and that I get the chance to express my appreciation in person at some point.

Bugwatching Book Launch

My new book, Bugwatching: The Art, Joy, and Importance of Observing Insects, had its first event last Saturday at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was well attended both in person and via a livestream, with over 600 individuals registered.

Linda Hall Library is a science library with many historically important holdings. They also create professional quality in-house exhibits, and host speakers on a variety of topics. With any luck I will be invited back to present again. The staff is friendly, and a true joy to work with.

This past Wednesday I was one of the panelists for a Grow Native! webinar, titled “Dispelling Myths of Native Gardening.” Grow Native! is the native plant marketing, and educational arm, of Missouri Prairie Foundation, another excellent organization. I think I gained as much from the other panelists as I gave in my own expertise and experience.

Please consider booking me for your own event, as I have few scheduled thus far. I do have one high profile engagement on Thursday, January 8, 2026, but I am not at liberty to disclose additional information at this time. Watch this space and I will update as I am able.

I apologize for not keeping up with the comments over the last month. I was on vacation, and then had these two programs to prepare for. I am currently caught up, and intend to stay that way. I typically review comments every Tuesday, at the least.

I have been trying to remember to use my phone to take photos, like this one tonight of an immature female Round-tipped Conehead katydid in our yard.

My photos are also severely backlogged. I have become frightened by the potential of losing them in the uploading process (I frequently cannot safely eject the SD card from my laptop, for example). Consequently, I have not uploaded cards in their entirety since mid-September, 2022. I take far too many photos, and that makes the process daunting as well. I wish I was better organized, but this is the current situation. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

My dear friend Alexandra Rose (an oceanographer), and her mom, Pam, have always been supportive of my work.

As we continue to face collective challenges such as the effects of climate change, the rise of authoritarian regimes at home and abroad, and the uncertainties of labor and the marketplace, I wish all of you the best. Please keep up your own ”good trouble,” your art, your science communication, or whatever gives you joy, hope, peace, and confidence.

Accidental Achievement

When we lived in Colorado Springs, I would walk our neighborhood regularly, if not daily, unless the weather was severe. Little did I know that one such constitutional would yield something globally significant.

My photo of the male moth.

On the afternoon of November 5, 2020, passing a vacant lot up the street that I had passed by almost daily, I noticed small moths flying around. Many moth species fly late into autumn, so that alone did not intrigue me. Many moths fly during daylight hours, so that was not unusual, either. Curious me wanted to document the thing anyway, but that was easier said than done. The moths were wary, and quickly disappeared into weeds when they landed, camouflaged.

Finally, one of them landed on the sidewalk, and as I recall a bit of a breeze kept it from taking flight again immediately. Not the best of photos, but I put it on iNaturalist anyway. I wasn’t even completely sure of the family, but I figured something so common would be recognized by an expert eventually.

My iNaturalist entry.

Fast forward to November of 2024, and I receive an email from Andrew Warren informing me that not only was this moth a species new to science, but that it also qualified to be in a new genus. I was shocked. How could something that abundant be completely overlooked until now?

It turns out I had the correct family (Crambidae), but obviously could not have put a more specific name to it. It didn’t have one! The paper describing the moth is now published, and anyone can view it here. I was not at liberty to share this story until after the publication, as a common courtesy to the authors.

Better image of a male, photo © Andrew Warren.

Allow me to briefly summarize, if you do not want the long story in the journal article. The moth has so far been collected between October 20 and November 22. Mine is so far the only record for El Paso County, but it is suspected to occur all along the Front Range, possibly into Wyoming in the north and New Mexico in the south. This is based on the host plant for the caterpillar, which is a grass known as Sand Dropseed, Sporobolus cryptandrus.

The larvae probably feed on the roots of the plant, because the moths have only been found in situations where the dropseed was either mowed or trampled. Seriously. Where the plants are upright, no moths. Sure enough, the vacant lot where I found mine was mowed regularly, much to my dismay until I learned this story.

The female moth, photo © Christian Nunes.

The females of the moth, which now bears the name Coloradactria frigida, are flightless, with heavy bodies and short wings. No wonder I never saw those. They certainly must emit a pheromone to attract the males.

Other known localities for the moth are in Douglas County around Castle Rock, and in Weld County, all in Colorado. Late autumn searching elsewhere should certainly turn up new records.

A mating pair of the moths, photo © Christian Nunes.

The lesson I have learned from this is that you can, and should, never assume anything when it comes to entomology. You do not even have to know what you are doing to make an earth-shattering discovery. We collectively know very little. It is your curiosity that counts. That, and your willingness to share what you find with others. Do the documenting with photographs, videos, and sound recordings, and put them out there. Please.

Source: Warren, Andrew D., Clifford D. Ferris, Bernard Landry, Jeremy Authier, Theo Leger, Julia Bilat, and Christian A. Nunes. 2025. “A New Genus and Species of Crambinae (Pyraloidea: Crambidae) With Brachypterous Females From Colorado, U.S.A.,” Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 79 (2): 73-84.