Dear Evolution,
What's with all the freaky-looking bugs?
Sincerely, me
Midge #2
Emerged from galls collected here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66309947. Preserved in vial 92
Some very unlucky sawfly larvae. On Carpinus caroliniana.
Found on Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). The wasp wasn't active, it didn't move/forage at all unlike other parasitoid wasps I've worked with, which makes me think the wasp found its host and was waiting for the monarch to transition into a chrysalis.
Thank you to the podcast "When parasitoids attack!" by Brains On Podcast and the interview with Carl Stenoien from the University of Minnesota.
ID tentative; improvement welcomed.
On White Snakeroot, being eaten by a jumping spider (134688751)
Multiple individuals flying near to and in/out of R. triloba stems (nest, I assume).
I hadn't remembered the golden color of this species so beautifully adorning the meadow.
I've seen a similar one in Europe: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95081650
Face convex, scutellum with tubercules, orbital setae short, distance between apical scutellar tubercules greater than their length -> only one species in the East. Clausen & Cook 1971