Bug Bytes

Eastern Tent Cats Hatch

Astronomical spring is marked by the vernal equinox. I mark "entomological spring" when overwintered Eastern Tent Caterpillar (ETC) moth eggs hatch. That's why I always collect a few egg masses in late winter and hold them outside (in the shade) so I can monitor for this supernal event. It began happening today at around 12:00 p.m.
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Authors
Joe Boggs

Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Eradication Program in Ohio Scores a "Win"

Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) is potentially the most devastating non-native pest to have ever arrived in North America. The beetle kills trees belonging to 12 genera in 9 plant families. This includes all native maples, a preferred host. Successful eradication is essential to avoiding a catastrophic loss of trees on a scale never before seen in the U.S.
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Joe Boggs

Burrowing Crayfish Rise

The rise of "mud chimneys" produced by Burrowing Crayfish has long been one of my favorite harbingers of spring. I've recently observed several of these mud edifices peaking just above turfgrass in southwest Ohio. While none had yet reached catastrophic lawn mower blade-bending size; spring is definitely in the air.
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Joe Boggs

Act Now to Manage White Pine Weevil

White Pine Weevil is one of our sneakiest conifer pests found in Ohio. Females spend the winter out of sight cooling their six heels in the duff beneath their pine or spruce targets. As temperatures warm in the spring, they climb their hosts to feed and lay eggs in the terminals. Sap oozing from small holes in the terminals is a calling card of this weevil.
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Joe Boggs

That May Not Be Snow on Those Alders!

BYGL reports become sparse at this time of the year with cold temperatures suppressing our subject matter. So, I was surprised last Thursday when I got an e-mail from John Martini, University of Cincinnati's Landscape Architect, with an image taken by UC Planner Joe Willging showing collections of white fluffy material on the branches of an alder (Alnus sp.).
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Joe Boggs

Fall Leaf Drop Reveals Calico Scale

Calico Scale spends the summer as crawlers attached to the main veins on the underside of leaves. Detection can be a challenge with crawlers distributed on foliage throughout the canopy. However, as fall approaches, the crawlers move onto stems where they spend the winter. Clusters of crawlers coupled with blackened stems are key diagnostic features for detecting a calico scale infestation.
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Joe Boggs

Terrapin Scale on Sycamore

I posted a BYGL Alert last week extoling the virtues of one of my favorite native trees, American Sycamore [see, Ode to the Buttonwood Tree, October 18, 2017]. I came across a soft scale that I had never seen before on sycamore while taking pictures to illustrate the Alert. I would have included my find in the Alert, but it took me a while to settle on an identification.
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Joe Boggs

They're Heeeere!

Boxelder Bugs were included along with several other notorious nuisance insects in my BYGL Alert titled, Fall Home Invaders are Poised to Enter (Sept. 30, 2017). They may have been poised then, but the bugs are now visiting homes en masse in southern Ohio. Indeed, I visited a home on Wednesday that was literally buggy with the bugs.
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Joe Boggs

Delayed Woolly Bear Crawl-About?

Bristly "woolly bear" caterpillars commence their annual crawl-abouts in search of sheltered winter quarters in the fall; it's usually sometime in September in Ohio. They may be found on sidewalks, walking trails, roadways, or on the walls of homes and buildings. However, insects are sometimes made most noticeable by their absence.
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Authors
Joe Boggs