Upperside occasionally males from the spring brood will be mostly brown. Female forewings are brown or brownish purple to red and the bands and eyespots may or may not be apparent. Hindwings of both sexes are yellow to brownish orange with yellow or orange margins. Each hindwing has a large black and blue eyespot with a white dash in the middle. Wing Span: 2 - 3 1/8 inches (5 - 8 cm). Life History: Adults emerge during late morning or early afternoon, and mating takes place in the late evening. Females lay clumps of eggs on leaves or stems of the host plants. Young caterpillars feed together as a group and move in long "trains" while older caterpillars feed alone. Papery cocoons are spun in litter under the host plant or in crevices.
A common wader in the Southeast.
Cuterebra sp. flies are large, hairy, and characterized by the absence of a functional mouth. Their life span is short, and aimed only at the reproduction of the species. The larvae of several species of the Cuterebra sp. flies can infest rabbits and other lagomorphs. They include Cuterebra buccata, C. cuniculi, C. lepivora, C. abdominalis, C. jelloni, C. ruficrus, and C. lepusculi. The parasitic larvae of these flies can infest human beings and other animals as well, including dogs, foxes, cats, and minks. Unlike with fly-strike, a Cuterebra sp. larva strike is not linked to poor hygiene. Indeed, the eggs are not deposited on skin soiled with urine or excrement, but near the entrance to a rabbit burrow, other lagomorph nests, or near an outdoor rabbit hutch. House rabbits can also be struck by botfly larvae, when a fly enters a home, and deposits eggs in the rabbit's living environment. When the botfly larva emerges from the egg, it will migrate onto a (wild) rabbit, cottontail, or hare. It enters the body of its host through the skin (breaks in the skin or any natural openings), after which it penetrates the mucosa. The larva will migrate further in the body, using the trachea and the abdominal cavity to move to a subcutaneous location. There it will develop a 2 to 3 cm long furunculoid cystic structure, with a fistula (respiratory hole) at the surface of the skin, and swelling of the subcutaneous tissues.
Awesome sighting! Congratulations SteveWaldron!
Wow! Great photos! Bot Flies are amazing...
Thank you, Luis. It was a quite a fascinating little scene. At first I thought the ant was trying to protect it from me (since it kept charging me when I tried to get the camera close). Thank you so much, Juan! I was completely mystified :D
Mapping Nature on Your Smartphone
For the developers at New York start-up Networked Organisms, smartphones are the butterfly nets of the 21st Century. Their tool, Project Noah, lets people upload photos of plants and wildlife around them, creating a map of the natural world and contributing to scientific research in the process.
What kind of beetle? This app knows
Bespectacled scientists of yore would carry around hefty field guides, made up of hundreds of pages of text and photos. But these days, smartphone owners have a lighter option: an app called Project Noah, which aims to help people identify plants and animals as well as collect data from "citizen scientists" about where certain species are located.
Designing ecosystems for talent development
Project Noah enables us to be part of a more focused online community where we can learn more about wildlife around us and contribute to scientific research. It pulls participants into deeper, more meaningful engagement by enabling people to go on “missions” to collectively map changes based on sightings.
A smart way to save wildlife
A modern invention that may also hold the key to saving species in the future. Project Noah is a global study that encourages nature lovers to document the wildlife they encounter, using a purpose built phone app and web community. In addition to the virtual "collection" of species, Project Noah encourages citizen science by linking up with existing surveys including the International Spider Survey and the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.
Dial-a-Class
New mobile applications include a tool called NOAH that lets you take cellphone pictures of bugs and trees and then sends back an identification of the exact type in as little as 24 hours.
