Insects on the Homestead - My First Attempt at Insect Identification

I was born and raised in a city. Never spent much time outside with nature. Insects were just considered pests and did nothing but annoy me when I was outdoors. I would have been perfectly content if all insects disappeared and never came back. I didn't realize there were good or bad insects. To me, all insects were bad and unneeded.

The desire to take more control of my life lead me to start growing my own food. As you can imagine, that required me to be outdoors amongst all the insects. At first it was annoying and irritating to have bugs flying and walking all over. But, I quickly learned to live with all the living creatures in my garden. I even learned to identify some of the insects as good insects. I have grown to love the time I spend in the garden, talking to plants, playing with lizards & toads (and sometimes snakes), observing all the animals and insects finding homes in the food forest my husband and I created. It made us feel good to know we are doing our part and have provided a small habitat for all living things.

I always carry my camera or phone with me to the garden, so I can take photos of whatever is in the food forest. This also gives me an opportunity to identify the insects later.

The theme for this week's Homestead Photography Contest hosted by @knowledge-seeker is "Insects On The Homestead".

I will show you photos of insects that are currently in my food forest.

Insects Currently in My Food Forest

Of course I have the usual lady bugs, bumble bees, praying mantis, etc. I did not take photos of those. I took photos of insects that I am not sure about, so I can try to identify later. The names given to each of these insects was done by internet identification and may not be fully accurate. But I think if they are not identified exactly, they are very close.

Gray Hairstreak Butterfly

Gray Hairstreak Butterfly (Strymon melinus)

The photo above shows a Gray Hairstreak Butterfly resting on a calendula flower. There are a lot of these lovely gray butterflies in the garden right now. Apparently, they are one of the most common hairstreaks in North America. Their caterpillars can do damage to food crops. According to InsectIdentification.org:

The caterpillar of Gray Hairstreak Butterfly feeds on the flowers of legumes and member of the hibiscus family. This makes Gray Hairstreak Butterfly an annoying pest to bean farmers. Two to three generations are born in a year which likely aids in their prevalence. They are most active from late spring to early autumn.

Fire-Colored Beetles (Pyrochroidae)

The photo above shows a Fire-Colored Beetles on a calendula flower. It has round, large black eyes that are at the sides of its head and black & orange legs. According to Jim McClarin on Bug Guide,

Male pyrochroid beetles seek out blister beetles, climb onto them and lick off the cantharidin the blister beetles exude. Not only have these beetles developed a resistance to the cantharidin, they use the blistering agent to impress a female of their own species who then mates with them, whereupon most of the cantharidin is transferred to the female in the form of a sperm packet. The eggs the female subsequently lays are coated with cantharidin to protect them from being eaten before they hatch.

Tumbling Flower Beetle, Flower Fly & Flesh Fly

I planted yarrow as insectary plants to attract beneficial insects to patrol the food forest. Insects of all kinds love to overwinter and take refuge in the fern-like leaves. All the blooming yarrow flowers are covered with flying insects of all sorts right now. We identify the tear drop shaped beetle as Tumbling Flower Beetle (also called pin tail beetle). The insect in the bottom left of the photo is a Flesh Fly (I think). I noticed some Flower Flies on the yarrow flowers as well, but was not able to capture them on my camera this time. There are so many more flying insects on the yarrow flowers right now. They are tiny, so I haven't been able to take a good enough photo in order to accurately identify them.

Honey Bee

I know I said I didn't take any photos of bees, but I had to snap this one. It looks too pretty not to share, so here it is. Just a honey bee hard at work. So many of our food crops need to be pollinated in order to produce. With the increase of herbicide / insecticide use and the monoculture method of farming, there has been a serious decrease in the number of bee colonies and bees.

Acmaeodera Mixta

A friend who works at a Department of Wildlife Conservation helped me id this insect.

This is my entry for this week's "Insects on the Homestead" - homestead photography contest.

If interested, you can read more about the Insects on the Homestead #homesteadphotography contest.

All photos come from my food forest
Photo copyright: @thelaundrylady

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