Author: Jim Cane

Jim Cane studies nesting, foraging and population dynamics of native non-social bees and their roles as pollinators, mostly in the Americas, through the USDA Bee Lab in Logan, Utah. His agricultural studies have focused on bees that pollinate blueberries, raspberries, alfalfa, squashes and almonds, in addition to the pollination needs of prevalent Great Basin wildflowers for farming and wildland restoration. When not working, he enjoys dogs, reading, cooking, contra dancing, hiking, birding and botanizing.
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Gall Insects

Rabbit Brush Galls
made by a tephritid fly Aciurina trixa
Image courtesy and Copyright Jim Cane
Fly identification courtesy Gary Dodson

Does Utah have more Gauls than Caesar conquered? Certainly not Gaulish peoples of the ancient Roman Empire, but yes, galls of the vegetal kind we have aplenty. Galls are small protuberant growths on plants that are induced hormonally by insects, nematodes, and microbes. For its resident juvenile insect, the gall is a sort of edible fortress.

Some plant galls made by insects persist into winter, when they are more apparent to the naturalist’s eye. Looking at just rabbitbrush, you can find a menagerie of galls shaped like peas, pineapples and spindles that were formed from leaves, buds and stems. No growing tissue is immune to galling. The morphology of a gall is often diagnostic for the species of juvenile insect within. Gall-making insects are all tiny and include gall midges and tephritid flies, cynipid gall wasps, various nondescript moths, and any number of aphids and their kin.

One aphid causes the unsightly brown galls on branch tips of blue spruce, a bane to homeowners. Another aphid forms the pea-shaped galls that swell leaf petioles of aspens and cottonwoods. On sagebrush can be found a leaf gall whose soft surface surpasses that of a puppy’s ear. Oaks and willows host a remarkable diversity of galls. One oak gall was formerly used for tanning leather and making inks because it is rich in tannic acids. The Hessian fly is of grave agricultural importance today because its stem galls weaken wheat stems, causing them to lodge over.

Tephritid fly Aciurina bigeloviae
galls on Rabbitbrush
Image courtesy and Copyright Jim Cane
Fly identification courtesy Gary Dodson

But these are exceptions; most galls are of little or no ecological or economic importance. For that reason, most galling insects remain understudied by all but a handful of passionate specialists. Finding plant galls is easy, and once you begin to notice them, you will find it hard to stop. There is no guide to Utah’s plant galls, but we list several starting references for you on our web site.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy and Copyright Jim Cane
Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society
Additional Reading:
Sagebrush Gall made by the fly Rhopalomyia pomum, https://bugguide.net/node/view/200946
Robert P. Wawrzynski, Jeffrey D. Hahn, and Mark E. Ascerno, Insect and Mite Galls, WW-01009 2005,
University of Minnesota Extension, https://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/dg1009.html

Willow Cone Gall Midge
Image Courtesy and Copyright Jim Cane

Field Guide to Plant Galls of California and Other Western States by Ron Russo
ISBN: 978-0-520-24886-1 https://www.amazon.com/California-Western-States-Natural-History/dp/0520248864
Gall, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall (Accessed Dec 2010)
Gagné R (1989) The plant-feeding gall midges of North America. Cornell University Press, Ithaca
https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Feeding-Midges-North-America-Comstock/dp/0801419182

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Ladybird Beetle Migration

Ladybird Beetle
Courtesy US NPS.gov
Sally King Photographer

Migration brings to mind the exhaustive flights of migratory birds or the treks of large herds of hoofed mammals. But some insects migrate too. You may be aware of the story of migrating monarch butterflies and their mountain home in Mexico. But did you know that some of our familiar ladybird beetles of nursery rhyme fame also migrate? They really do “fly away home”?

Both in the larval stage and as adults, many species of ladybird beetles feed voraciously on aphids. Their fondness for aphids and scale insects has made them a very popular biological control agent. In 1887, a group of Australian species was imported into California to deal with an Australian scale insect that was devastating the citrus crop. These ladybird beetles were the first exotic insects to be introduced into North America for use as biological control agents. Within a year, the citrus crop was saved.

Ladybird beetle larvae hatch in the spring and devour aphids for about a month. They then pupate and soon emerge as adults. If there are insufficient aphids to feed these adults, they fly away, migrating to overwintering sites in the mountains. There they eat pollen to build up fat reserves. Ladybird beetles use the wind to loft their migration; waiting for a strong breeze in the correct direction before departing. As winter approaches in their mountain retreats, they congregate in the thousands, aided by the release of an olfactory attractant. If you are lucky in your mountain travels, you may come across one of these amazing masses of bright red beetles.

Come spring, they will mate, take wing and descend to their lowland aphid feasts, thus completing the cycle.

Our theme music was composed by Don Anderson and is performed by Leaping Lulu.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.
Credits:

Photos: Courtesy US NPS Sally King Photographer,
https://www.nps.gov/band/naturescience/moreinsects.htm
Text: Linda Kervin & Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society
Theme Music: Don Anderson & performed by Leaping Lulu,
https://www.amazon.com/Trout-Berry-Wasatch-Stomp-Corinth/dp/B0014ORPCM

Additional Reading:

Peter J. Marchand, Autumn: A Season of Change (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2000)

https://www.amazon.com/Autumn-Season-Peter-J-Marchand/dp/0874518709

Arthur V. Evans & Charles L. Bellamy, An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996)

https://www.amazon.com/Inordinate-Fondness-Beetles-Arthur-Evans/dp/0520223233

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Botanical Velcro® aids seed dispersal

Burdock Flower
Courtesy & Copyright 2009 Jim Cane

The splendid blooming meadows of summer are fulfilling their reproductive imperative now as they mature and disperse the fruits and seeds that resulted from pollination. Plants can’t walk or actively fly, so to disperse from the mother plant, seeds need to catch a ride. Wild gourds bob down flooding arroyos, thistledown floats on the wind, and red barberry fruits hope to catch the eye of a hungry song bird.

Certainly the most annoying means of dispersal is employed by seeds that stick in fur and socks. Some like cheatgrass are driven home by sharp barbed seeds that poke and hold like the porcupine’s quill. Others form evil pointy burrs, like those of puncturevine, that can flatten a bicycle tire. And then there is burdock. This European weed infests moister disturbed sites in Utah. Its burrs cling tightly to hair and clothing.

Burdock Hooks
Courtesy & Copyright 2009 Jim Cane

Sixty years ago, the Swiss engineer, George de Mestral, became intrigued by the seed heads of cockleburrs and burdocks. They had entangled his dog’s fur and stuck to his pant legs during a montane hunt. How did those burrs cling so steadfastly? Aided by a hand lens, you can see what de Mestral saw: ranks of hook-tipped bristles that snag clothing and fur. Burdocks inspired de Mestral’s invention of Velcro, whose patented nylon bristles are hooked over just like burdock’s and latch on just the same. When next you are beset by burdock burrs, inspect one closely and admire the inventiveness of nature. Then please terminate its dispersal by placing it where the seeds of this weed can’t germinate and grow!

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.
Credits:

Photos: Courtesy & Copyright Jim Cane

Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

Velcro ® brand is a registered trademark of Velcro Industries B.V. www.velcro.com

Velcro USA Inc. Celebrates 50th Anniversary, (Press Release)

Invention of Velcro ® brand Fasteners, Fastech of Jacksonville, Inc., https://www.hookandloop.com/extra/inventionnew.html

Greater Burdock, Arctium lappa L. NRCS Plants Database, https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ARLA3

Seed Dispersal, Missouri Botanical Garden, https://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/seed.html

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Utah’s wool-gathering bees

Audio:  mp3 Listen to WildAboutUtah

Fluffy contents of the reed nest
of a carder bee
Courtesy & Copyright Jim Cane

Do you grow the ornamental plants called “lamb’s ears” or rose campion in your flower gardens? These plants produce dense mats of buttery soft woolly leaves. That leaf fuzz is avidly sought by so-called “carder bees” of the genus Anthidium. In textiles, carding is the mechanical process of combing through the fibers of cotton or wool to align them before spinning. The female carder bee has multi-toothed mandibles that she uses to shave the leaf hairs, gathering the fluff into a ball to bring back to her nest.

Lamb’s ear leaf shaved of some of its hairs
Courtesy & Copyright Jim Cane

Carder bees nest solitarily in aboveground cavities, typically an old beetle burrow in deadwood. Each female lines her tunnel with the carded plant hairs. Onto this fluffy pillow she assembles a provision of pollen mixed with nectar, which constitutes the food mass soon to be eaten by her progeny, one provision per larva.

Carder bees are stout, round, relatively hairless bees marked in black and yellow. We have several species, the largest being a European escapee that is associated with lamb’s ears. The female’s nesting biology is distinctive enough, but it is the male’s behavior that you will notice first.

Male carder bee at lavender flower
Courtesy & Copyright Jim Cane

Male carder bees are aggressive, territorial suitors. They spend all day in flight, tirelessly patrolling lamb’s ears and garden flowers, particularly culinary sage and Russian sage. Males dart at all carder bees of either gender, as well as other like-sized bees. They pounce upon and wrestle these unsuspecting individuals to the ground. If it is a female of their species, they will endeavor to mate with her. Such is the brazen courtship of male carder bees. Look now for these wool gathering bees in your gardens before summer bids us farewell.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.
Credits:

Photos: Courtesy & Copyright Jim Cane

Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

Anthidium_manicatum, BugGuide, BugGuide.net, https://bugguide.net/node/view/7744

Anthidium_manicatum, Discover Life, Polistes Foundation, https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Anthidium+manicatum

Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum), Solitarybee.com, Paul Betts, (March 2018, website no longer functioning)