· by wearegonnafindout.bsky.social ·2d ago · view on bsky.app ↗

Got a veritable I Spy situation going on this morning at the swamp milkweed 🕵️ What do you see? 🌱🌿 #nativeplants 🐞🕷️ #invertebrates #insects #spiders #bugsky 🦀⛵ #Maryland 🌎

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A photo of pink flowering eastern swamp milkweed. There are four species of invertebrates on it, at least.

#bugsky #ecoregion65 #insects #invertebrates #maryland #nativeplants #spiders

5 comments — live from bluesky

jtkindt · 1 · 1d ago

Is that a lacewing egg on a stalk at the lower left of the first picture? That will definitely help the lady beetle control the aphids when it hatches.

Erin 🌱 · 0 · 1d ago

Yup! I think I have more lacewings than ladybugs.

Laurel Oldach · 1 · 1d ago

Do the ladybugs help with those little orange bugs? I have a really bad infestation on my milkweed, and I can't keep up by just squashing them!

Erin 🌱 · 4 · 1d ago

The little orange bugs are oleander aphids, and yes, ladybug larvae eat them. I don't see a lot of ladybug larvae though, just the occasional adult. I worry the aphids eat the eggs 🤦 I've never manually squished them before but I might start, because they keep targeting the seed pods in particular!

Laurel Oldach · 1 · 1d ago

Fair warning: they will turn your fingers as orange as if you'd been cooking with turmeric. (Luckily, easier to wash off.)

Erin 🌱 · 0 · 1d ago

😂 noted, thanks

H · 1 · 1d ago

be careful of these guys -- they blend right in when they're in a sea of oleanders. Aphidoletes aphidimyza, an aphid-eating midge. Their larvae look like tiny orange worms.

Erin 🌱 · 0 · 1d ago

Oh wild. Good to know!

Erin 🌱 · 1 · 1d ago

This is a non-native ladybug according to iNat. I see many more of them than native ones, but I never get swarmed so they are not high on my personal non-native invasive problem discuss l species list.

Erin 🌱 · 0 · 1d ago

I think there's a milkweed tussock moth under that leaf (see second picture, bottom right) but I was not able to confirm 😭

Erin 🌱 · 8 · 1d ago

Found two more creatures and a different life stage of one of the initial ones taking a more thorough look around the patch. 🌿🐞 #invertebrates #bugsky

Lina · 1 · 1d ago

I was wondering what the little bright speck was, I had no idea lacewings laid eggs like that!

Erin 🌱 · 1 · 1d ago

They're so cool and weird 😊

Erin 🌱 · 1 · 1d ago

there are also ants of course. these little milkweed pollinating ants are like the bug equivalent of grasses, though: I am not convinced I will ever be able to differentially ID them so it does not seem reasonable to count them

Kay on the Prairie · 1 · 1d ago

Ooooh almost missed the crab spider

Erin 🌱 · 0 · 1d ago

Definitely easier to spot in the second pic