Journal archives for July 2019

July 10, 2019

Mystery Insect

While leaving (retreating from) a tick-filled spot out in the Long Island Pine Barrens, this weird little thing ran across my path. I only got a few shots before it disappeared into the leaf litter, but from what I was able to get I could tell that this was something I've never seen before, both in life and on the internet. It seems to look vaguely like a Cockroach or Termite (Blattodea) but I can't tell. Does anyone know what this oddity is?

Edit: Mystery solved! It was a False Bombardier Beetle larva

Posted on July 10, 2019 08:08 PM by astrobirder astrobirder | 1 observation | 0 comments | Leave a comment

July 14, 2019

Seaside Aphids

Today's adventure took me to a bay in one of Long Island's barrier islands. I didn't get too much in the water besides some Blue Crabs that chased me for some time (Canada Geese of the sea). The same was true on land, where there were only 10 or so species in a small strip of saltmarsh, but I picked up some odd Aphids almost coating some Carolina Sea Lavender. Some further research identified them as an undescribed and very poorly known species in the genus Staticobium, which had never been recorded in North America until recently. It's unknown if the Staticobium in North America are a new species or a known species that was either always present or recently introduced. Hopefully I can get some specimens (if I can figure out how to preserve them) in hopes of at figuring out some part of this mystery.

Posted on July 14, 2019 03:34 AM by astrobirder astrobirder | 3 observations | 3 comments | Leave a comment

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