Going to ground, part two

Goatweed leafwing butterflies may not be as bright and conspicuous as many other butterflies are, but they do not look much like leaves either.

A goatweed leafwing (Anaea andria) perched on a branch.

At least, they are not very convincing as leaves when they are sitting in trees (which they often are).

A goatweed leafwing butterfly hanging upside-down from a branch.

It is a completely different matter, however, when the goatweed leafwing sits underneath a tree in the leaf litter.  There, it becomes very difficult to distinguish from the surrounding leaves.  To see how well-camouflaged the goatweed leafwing can be, try finding it in the three pictures below!

Can you find the goatweed leafwing?

I promise, there really is a butterfly in each of these pictures.

The butterfly moved.  It might be slightly easier to find this time.

When I was taking the pictures, I had the advantage of seeing the butterfly land and then walk around.

The butterfly moved again.  It should be easiest (but maybe still not easy) to see in this picture.

To see the butterfly locations revealed, go here.  I've edited the photos to make the butterfly pop out from the background.

Going to ground, part one

The butterflies visiting the lantanas were quite conspicuous as they moved from flower to flower drinking nectar.  Nevertheless, if threatened, they could quickly vanish from sight.  As I described before, the cloudless sulfurs often disappeared by flying off into the woods.  However, sometimes they just landed on the grass -- and were gone.  Despite the fact that cloudless sulfurs are yellow, I would completely lose track of them in the grass if I took my eyes off them for a moment (which always seemed to happen when I tried to approach slowly and without stepping in a fire ant nest).

I frequently step in fire ant nests.  Fortunately, if I am wearing my rain boots, I tend to notice the ants in time.  Unfortunately, I am not always wearing my rain boots.

The boldly-colored red admirals could also camouflage themselves on the ground...

A red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) sunning on the ground.

...by closing their wings together and showing only the mottled, brown undersides.

The red admiral with its wings closed.

For the next post, be prepared to put your hidden-butterfly-finding skills to the test!

The caterpillars eat their match, part three

Compared to the orange-barred sulphur butterflies, adult geometrid moths do not appear very active (at least not during the day)...

A pale beauty moth (Campaea perlata).

...and most of them are not very bright or flashy.

A large lace-border moth (Scopula limboundata).

However, geometrid caterpillars can be just as impressive as orange-barred sulfur caterpillars when it comes to blending in with the flowers that they eat.

A purple geometrid caterpillar on purple flowers.

In addition, at least some geometrid caterpillars have the same ability to change their color in order to match their background.  

A pink geometrid caterpillar on a pink rose blossom.

Although many geometrid species feed on other parts of plants (and mimic those instead), there are well over a thousand species of geometrid moths in North America -- including plenty of ones with colorful, flower-eating caterpillars.  See a few more of them here: Geometrid larvae on flowers

The caterpillars eat their match, part two

When they eat the leaves of their host plants, the caterpillars of the orange-barred sulphur butterfly are green.  However, the one that I found was not eating the leaves, nor was it green.

An orange-barred sulphur (Phoebis philea) caterpillar on a Christmas cassia (Senna bicapsularis) flower.  The flower to the right had already been reduced to almost nothing, presumably by the same caterpillar.

Instead, the caterpillar was the same bright yellow as the flower on which it rested -- and which it would soon eat.  The only thing that prevented the caterpillar from blending in with the flower completely was its pattern of black stripes and spikes.

A few minutes later, the flower's style had already been consumed by the caterpillar.

The ugly larvae, part one

Like spittlebugs, tortoise beetle larvae conceal themselves underneath an excretion of the plant material that they eat.  However, since the beetle larvae feed on leaves rather than sap, the end product is not nearly as elegant as the spittlebugs'...

A tortoise beetle larva with its fecal shield raised.

...nor is the process of making their coverings.

A tortoise beetle adding to its shield.

Yet regardless of aesthetic objections, the fecal shields seemed to be quite adequate for the purpose of protecting the larvae, which thoroughly infested the bindweed in the garden without attracting any predators or parasites (as far as I could see).

Three tortoise beetle larvae on a mostly eaten bindweed (Convolvulaceae) leaf.

The spider at the end of the line

A crab spider may hide itself by matching the color of its flower or by constructing a refuge among the petals, but how can an orb-weaver hide on its web?  In an empty web, an orb-weaver is an easy target for its own predators and parasites.  Many orb-weavers avoid this problem by spending the day hidden nearby their webs, but not Allocyclosa bifurca.

Which lump is the spider?

These spiders sit in wait right in the middle of their webs, where they are disguised as part of a line of similarly shaped and colored egg sacs (above the spider) and bundled prey (below the spider). 

A female Allocyclosa bifurca eating prey that had become snared in its web.

Each time I find these spiders, they seem to be doing very well -- with several egg sacs per web and sometimes several spiders on neighboring fronds of the same palm. 

A female Allocyclosa bifurca spider briefly moving out of its hiding spot.

Yet, as successful as A. bifurca's camouflaging may be, it pales in comparison to what related Cyclosa spiders can do.

Unafraid to be yellow

Most of the crab spiders that I find are white.  Not only do I find white crab spiders on white flowers, I also find them on pink, purple, red and blue flowers.  The exception is on yellow flowers, where the crab spiders tend to be a matching yellow.  Therefore, when I found a white crab spider hunting on the very yellow flowers of a goldenrod, I decided to keep track of it for the next few days.

Day 1: A white crab spider on yellow goldenrod flowers.

On the first day that I observed it, the white crab spider was doing quite well for itself despite not matching the color of the flowers.  It had caught a large fly, thus procuring for itself a substantial meal.

Day 3: The spider is pale yellow.

Notwithstanding its previous success as a white spider on a yellow flower, the spider had soon acquired a pale yellow hue.  After another two days, the crab spider had acquired both more yellow and another fly.

Day 5: The spider has caught another fly.

How had the crab spider turned yellow?  The color change was first triggered by the crab spider seeing yellow around it.  In response, the crab spider began to synthesize yellow pigments which it then kept in cells near the surface of its body.  (To return to white, the crab spider could move the yellow pigments away from the surface to be stored until needed again.)

Day 6: The spider is the same bright yellow as the golden rod flowers.

Why had the crab spider turned yellow?  Although the answer seems simple -- to hide from potential prey and predators -- studies of crab spiders have failed to find a benefit from either increased prey capture or decreased capture by predators.  Nevertheless, the metabolic cost of synthesizing the yellow pigments suggests that a benefit must exist (or at least one must have existed until relatively recently).

Pricked by the thorn

Some insects can blend into the background, but only if they pick the right spot.  For the numerous true bugs (Hemiptera) that spend nearly all their time sitting on plants and drinking sap, the best camouflage could be to look like a part of the plant.

A leafhopper nymph (possibly Xerophloea sp.) sitting at a node along a plant stem.

At first glance, I mistook the leafhopper above for a new bud.  Perhaps a potential predator would have been similarly deceived.  However, there was no chance of making the same mistake with this bug:

One of these thorns is not like the others.

The two-horned treehopper (Ceresa diceros) might pass for a thorn on some plants -- but not on this rose bush.  On the other hand, the horns (and the rest of the armor-like "helmet") might be enough to discourage many would-be predators.

The false thorn on this rose bush is a two-horned treehopper (Ceresa diceros).

Explore some more: The surreal treehoppers and The strange origin of the treehopper "helmet"

Labor Day Special

In celebration of Labor Day, I'm posting pictures but leaving the rest of the work to you: find the insects hiding in plain sight!

If you couldn't find the insect camouflaged against the lichen on the rock, try again with this closer view.

If you thought finding the insect above was too easy, here is more of a challenge.  

Could you find the insect sitting on the leaves?  Here is a close up that might help.

If you still want help finding the insects, or if you would like to know more about them, check the Natural Current Events Facebook page later this week.