A Funky Fly, a Cool Caterpillar and a Miniature Mantidfly

It's been a good summer for finding insects that aren't necessarily uncommon but one doesn't encounter very often, such as this offbeat fly with its long antennae, pointy proboscis and hunched back. Photographed at the Menzel Centennial Nature Reserve northwest of Napanee, as its appearance suggests it is indeed a Beefly, family Bombyliidae, genus Lepidophora. And according to this key by the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification there is only one member of this genus in Ontario – Lepidophora lutea.

More commonly known as a Scaly Bee Fly or Hunchback Beefly, the adults eat nectar but the larvae are kleptoparasites of Vespid and Sphecid wasps, eating the contents of the cells.

The lime green larva of the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) is about the length of a pinky finger and it stands out like a sore thumb in a photo. But it's quite nicely camouflaged when hidden on its host plants, members of the Carrot family such as Dill, Fennel or in this example Queen Anne's Lace. This looks like a fourth instar caterpillar and should be ready to pupate soon.

To ensure getting a picture of an adult butterfly rather than a wasp it's best to capture and raise the caterpillar, as swallowtail larvae are often parasitized by ichneumonids such as Trogus pennator. The wasp lays its egg inside the caterpillar, and the wasp larva matures within the caterpillar, allowing it to pupate before eventually killing it. Is this one visiting the Queen Anne's Lace for a drink of nectar, or hunting at the most likely site to find a victim?

A friend found this small Mantidfly – looks like Dicromantispa sayi – on her flowers near Lost Channel Road. With a length of about 12 to 13 mm, it's only about half the size of its paper wasp mimicking cousin Climaciella brunnea.

Mantidfly adults are predacious but before attaining adulthood they undergo hypermetamorphosis, a process explained in detail in a fascinating article appropriately titled "Mantidflies: Chimeras of the Insect World" at Life, et al. And according to the fossil record Mantidflies were already masters of their bizarre lifestyle at least 44 million years ago ... Spider-boarding Insect preserved in Amber.

Ah yes ... Oneness, Identity and Unity with Mother Nature ... Singularity, Sameness and Solidarity with the Swallowtails ...

Maybe it's the relatively warm winter and spring weather we've had, or perhaps it's due to other factors, but there's a real bumper crop of butterflies this year. In addition to the recent population explosion of Red Admirals there's also an abundance of other species ... Question Marks, Mourning Cloaks, Baltimores, and – relative newcomers to our area – Giant Swallowtails (Papilio cresphontes).

Butterflies can often be seen sipping at mud puddles, bird droppings, rotten fruit or carrion, looking for minerals and amino acids.

They can become so absorbed in their business that they barely notice what's happening around them, and this Giant Swallowtail didn't take flight when I held up it's wing to take a photo of the underside.

The insect shows no fear of me whatsoever as I move my hand closer ...

... and closer ...

I was able to pick this normally skittish and difficult to approach insect up off the sand, and it continued to contentedly imbibe the moisture and perspiration from my fingers.

Butterflies are often attracted to perspiration, and in the past few years I have had many of our local lepidoptera taste test me on warm, sunny days, like the Compton Tortoiseshell back in mid-March. But some butterflies aren't so easily tempted, and I was able to make close contact with this Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) not because it fell for my charming personality or sweet scent, but because it was stunned due to a misadventure with a passing car.

There were over a dozen Tiger Swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) sharing the beach with the Giant Swallowtails. It seems that their instincts for survival are better honed than those of their larger cousins, because, alas, I was unable to "tame" any of these butterflies ...

A digital capture of the essence of late spring and the beauty of the world around us – a Giant Swallowtail nectaring at Viburnum triloba, more commonly known as Highbush Cranberry.