A crab spider poses on a golden alexander.


Field Trip Report: Fox Ridge State Park
May 6, 2007

Some nice weather greeted us on our first field trip of the year to Fox Ridge State Park.  We saw a nice diversity of butterfly species for spring (11 species), although no one species was super-abundant.  The most common butterflies we saw were red admirals (which have been common all spring) and clouded sulphurs.

 Our total species list for the day was: spicebush swallowtail, tiger swallowtail, clouded sulphur, orange sulphur, eastern tailed-blue, spring azure, pearl crescent, question mark, red admiral, American painted lady, and silver-spotted skipper.
*If anyone wants to provide more complete information or corrections for any of the below items, feel free to contact the club by email*

All photos copyright Paul V. Switzer. Do not use without permission




Pearl Crescent

These pearl crescents were caught in the act.  The bug world is always at least R-rated!
 
Red admiral
Red admirals seem to be particularly abundant this spring.  This individual decided that a GPBC member's tire was just the place to hide out.



Let's play "find the question mark"!  When a question mark's wings are closed, it can really blend in to the leaves.

Question mark

This is the same individual as the one to the left.  It's a little easier to spot with its wings open!

Yellow-collared scape moth
These interesting, day-flying moths are much more common in the fall (we saw lots at Fox Ridge during our trip here last fall).
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 Silver-spotted skipper
Silver-spots were the only skipper species we saw during our visit to Fox Ridge.


Baby spider aggregation

We spotted this brown wad underneath a piece of grass and didn't know what it was until we disturbed it.  Check out the picture at right to see how we figured it out ---->

Baby spiders!
After being disturbed, the spiders abandoned their ball and scrambled around the web.  After several minutes, they reformed their ball.


Box elder bugs
Like the pearl crescents above, these box elder bugs did not seem too concerned that we were watching them attempt to increase their reproductive success.

Caterpillar with parasitoid cocoon
It's not easy to see in this picture, but just to the left of this caterpillar is a fuzzy, hotdog shaped object.  That hotdog is the cocoon of a parasitoid (perhaps a braconid wasp) that had been eating this caterpillar alive!

Shield bug laying eggs

This female shield bug was found laying eggs on a leaf of grass.
Leaf-footed bug
Acanthocephala terminalis

Tiger beetle

Many beautiful tiger beetles were actively hunting along the roads and other open areas in Fox Ridge.
Poop-mimic moth
Antaeotricha schlaegeri

Like the question mark above, this moth is using color patterns to keep from getting eaten.  Only instead of hiding like the question mark, it pretends to be something that no self-respecting predator would be caught dead eating -- a bird turd.

Blanchard's cricket frog

Just in case you think we ignore vertebrates when we go on our bug outings, here's shot of a cricket frog.  Cricket frogs are very small, so they qualify as bug-like vertebrates and are therefore worthy of attention.


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