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Dayna’s lilac is blooming gloriously this year and the butterflies have noticed. 
Pipe Vine or Blue Swallowtail (Battus philenor) 
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) 
Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) Some more denizens of the night that came to the black light and stayed until daylight, starting with the moths: 
Polyphemus (Antheraea polyphemus)
There was also a click beetle, 
a pair of mating crane flies, 
another interesting looking fly (that I cannot identify) 
and a wasp, probably an Ichneumonidae (Hopefully I spelled that right – I was too lazy to look it up.) 
The past few days, I’ve had a dragonfly at the pond that I haven’t been able to identify. He was spending all his time on the wing and my eyes aren’t up to making an identification under those circumstances. So I did what any red-blooded wanna be entomologist would – I netted him. He turned out to be a Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura,) a species I found at Corkwood Conservation Area a week or so past and here in the yard a few days ago. Since I had him in hand, I figured I might as well take a few detail photos and here they are: 
I got a bit careless and managed to get the last few segments of his abdomen in shadow. Those yellow spots continue to the last segment. It was very warm tonight, into the 70s, which well above normal for April in the Ozarks. It had the insects out though so I decided to hang the black light and leave it out over night. These were still present this morning and I’ve labeled all of them that I have managed to identify. 
Agreeable Tiger Moth (Spilosoma congrua)
The rest of these I haven’t identified yet. If you happen to know any of them, please let me know. 
It’s Monday, so that means I spent my lunch hour walking around Watercress. I found a few new blooms including American Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia,) 
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) 
and (Lyre-leaf Sage (Salvia lyrata.) 
But the find of the day came from under a log along the spring branch. 
A Rove Beetle for sure, I believe to be Philonthus politus. Bugguide only has widely separated entries from New Egland and Iowa, so their range data is obviously incomplete at this point and Missouri could certainly fall within the species range. |
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