August 26, 2011
Location: Elyria Canyon Park, Mt. Washington, Los Angeles, California
Several of the Indian Milkweed Plants growing wild in Elyria Canyon Park have serious Milkweed Aphid infestations, and one especially hard hit group of plants is also covered in black Sooty Mold. See the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resourceswebsite for more information on Sooty Mold.
Indian Milkweed with Sooty Mold
Convergent Lady Beetles, Hippodamia convergens, have begun to feed off of the Milkweed Aphids, though it seems there are far too many Aphids for the few Lady Beetles that were observed. Learn how to identify the Convergent Lady Beetle on BugGuide and read more about the benefits of the native Convergent Lady Beetle on the San Francisco State University Department of Geographywebsite.
Convergent Lady Beetle
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Strange Chute out of garden
Location: Pennsylvania – front flower bed
July 9, 2011 11:59 am
I have these pinkish/red chutes coming up out of my garden with a white bulb on the end in the ground and a black tip (looks like electrical tape) on the top.
I have never seen anything like this and cannot find any references on the net that sound like it.
I do know I found a lot of grub like larvae earlier this spring when I was planting flowers.
Any ideas?
Signature: Dave
Mushrooms we believe
Hi Dave,
We believe this is a fungus, just a fancy name for a mushroom. Perhaps it is related to new much you put down. We will try to contact Lisa at the Mycologista blog to see if she recognizes this organism.
Before I even see this, from the graphic description I bet it’s a Stinkhorn…but, let’s see.
¶ Posted 09 July 2011 § ‡ ° What is this?
Location: Gwynn Oak, MD
March 17, 2011 9:01 am
HI,
I have 3 or 4 of these things in my juniper bush. I am not sure what it is and want to know if they are safe to have on the bush and at my front door.
thanks,
Signature: M. Kelly
Cedar Apple Rust Gall on Juniper
Dear M. Kelly,
Abnormal Growths on plants are known as galls, and many are caused by insects and mites, though there are other additional causes for plants to produce galls. We did a search for Galls on Juniper and we immediately discovered the Cedar Cedar Rust Gall on the University of Michigan Integrated Pest Management for Home Apple Growers web page. You need to scroll down the page to get the information, which includes: “Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae Cedar-apple rust is a fungal disease that spends half of its life cycle infecting apple or crab apple trees, and the other half infecting Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) or other species of juniper (Juniperus sp.). This disease can cause damage to leaves and fruit of very susceptible apple varieties, but is only a minor problem on resistant or partially resistant trees.” There is also a nice photo of the gall on FlickR.
Thank you very much for the information!!!!
I will cut them off and dispose of them and follow up and read the web pages you included in your response. Not that I like it, I can deal with a fungus better than bag worms or other insects.
I appreciate your quick response. 
M Kelly
¶ Posted 18 March 2011 § Galls ‡ ° Story of the fungi, grasshopper and spider?
Location: Pratts Falls in Onondaga County NY
March 4, 2011 2:55 pm
Hi there. I am a photographer in NY. While out to photograph waterfalls (Pratts Falls in NY to be exact) I cam upon this incredibly impressive Bearded Tooth mushroom (Hericium erinaceus). My mom is into mycology so I thought she would find this fascinating. I was not equipped with macro gear so the images are not the best quality but we thought you may enjoy them. On this fungi was what we think is a grasshopper or cricket. We are not sure exactly what it is. But he even had a hitchhiker. A little tiny spider. Again we are not sure what type of spider this is. Perhaps you will have a little info to share on the types of insects they are and might enjoy the uniqueness of this photo. Thank you for any info.
Signature: Tristi
Cricket eats Fungus and transports Spider
Hi Tristi,
Thanks so much for sending us your photo. The insect is a Cricket, and we do not recognize the hitchhiking Spider. The image is so small, it may not be possible to correctly identify the spider. Our research indicates that the Bearded Tooth Mushroom is edible.
Cricket eating Bearded Tooth Mushroom
Jumping Beetle
Location: Hurricane, Utah
December 22, 2010 12:01 pm
I noticed this beetle on my kitchen table, and leaned closer to get a better look. It surprised me by hopping away, just like a flea-so I hunted it down hoping that wasn’t what it was. I found it, and it was not a flea, but a pretty coppery pink beetle. It is 2 mm long. I suspect it was brought in from the river near my house in Southern Utah. (I put it in a jar to get better looks in daylight but by morning it had died.)
Signature: Pam
Flea Beetle
Hi Pam,
This is a Flea Beetle, a member of a subfamily of Leaf Beetles, Chrysomelidae. The fact that you have both a dorsal and quasilateral view aids in that identification because of the enlarged rear femurs are plainly evident. We are currently in the kitchen trying to perfect a recipe for Farfala con Fungi Porcini after consulting with renowned chef and photographer Luca Loffredo, otherwise we would take the time to try to identify your Flea Beetle to the species level based on its physical appearance and range information available online on BugGuide. We did take the time to create a Flea Beetles subsubcategory because of your query.
P.S. We will post the recipe for Farfala con Fungi Porcini if it turns out well.
Flea Beetle
Update: We wonder if perhaps it might be a member of the genus Chaetocnema, based on images posted to BugGuide.
Recipe: Farfalla con Funghi Porcini
Update: Promised recipe for Farfalla con Funghi Porcini.
Thank you for your quick reply, I’d never heard of flea beetles and had fun looking through the other posts. I am experimenting with fudge recipes myself, the Farfala looks tasty, we might give it a try!
Thanks again, and have a good holiday!
Pam
Luciia Clusters
Location: Nova Scotia
November 8, 2010 3:19 pm
My friend snapped this photo of slow-moving flies in clusters on a tomato plant on an August, ”fairly humid” day in Canada (I didn’t know Canada had warmth or humidity). They must be Lucilia (seracata?), but what are they doing?
Signature: Mel the Bug Chaser
Mysterious Fly Deaths
Hi Mel,
We are familiar with single Flies being overcome by a fungus infestation (see BugGuide), but this group cemetery is a bit of a mystery that alas, we cannot immediately research as we have already spent far too much time at the computer this morning and we must attend to a few things before leaving home to teach California college students. Perhaps there will be a comment or two on this posting when we return.
Eric Eaton Concurs
Daniel:
I’m betting it is still fungus-related, but the bottom line is I have no idea. Maybe the person took images a few hours (or a day or two) later, and then the fungal spores would have been visible?
Eric
Parasitic invasion!!
Location: Missouri
November 7, 2010 8:28 pm
Bugman,
I wanted to share with you an extremely poor picture I took…however the content makes it a keeper. I’m sure you get plenty, but this is my first. I believe this to be a parasite infested Lady Beetle. It was pretty much dead, though still moving a bit (probably from the parasites?). Anyway, I’d love to get your confirmation on my suspicions regarding the parasites and also if you have any guess as to what may have infected the beetle. Thanks
Also, I didn’t even notice the parasites until I started editing….as these were shot at around 3:1 magnification, the parasites were too small to see with the human eye (or at least my eyes). If I had known, I would have shot some better pictures…but I just thought it was a dead beetle.
Signature: Nathanael Siders
Fungus on a Ladybug
Hi Nathanael,
We thought this looked like a Fungus that had gotten the best of this Lady Beetle, and when we searched BugGuide we found a section on Ladybugs with Laboulbeniales fungi. BugGuide has a photo that illustrates an especially virulent example with this information: “This is a fantastic photo. The fungus is a member of Laboulbeniales, under the genus Hesperomyces. Almost 100% positive it is Hesperomyces virescens as I do not know of other species that grow on Harmonia. Hesperomyces occurs on all sorts of coccinellids (and a Scymnus from New Zealand), including Harmonia, Hippodamia, etc. As for the rest of the pictures linked here that are on Harmonia, the infections are almost certainly all H. virescens. Would be happy to help in IDs of Laboulbeniales in the future.
Monica Hughes”
That is very interesting. I have never seen anything like this before and thought this might be something similar to the work of a parasitic wasp of some kind. Thank you for the correction on the true nature of this situation and now I have some new interesting things to read up on with the fungus taking over insects.
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¶ Posted 09 November 2010 § Lady Bug ‡ ° white spider with round balls on its joints looks frozen almost
March 30, 2010
We have these in our bulked.. we rarely open it .. and this is what we found … they are alive and crawling, seems to cower from the light.. If you need more pictures I am sure I can try and brave the spiders and take some more..
Pam
Bourne, Ma
Cellar Spider with Fungus Infection
Dear Pam,
Numerous times in the past we have received similar images, and we have maintained that the creatures in the photos were dead and being consumed by fungus. Readers continue to write to us insisting that the spiders are alive. Your spider is the first that actually does look alive, and we can only surmise that it will soon succumb to this fungus infection. We are linking to a similar photo on BugGuide of a Cellar Spider in the family Pholcidae that was infected with fungus. Your spider is also a Cellar Spider. It may be Pholcus phalangioides, the Longbodied Cellar Spider, a common household species. These Cellar Spiders appear to be especially prone to fungus infections, as do many flies. Since it is the final day of the month, we need to select a Bug of the Month for April to sit at the top of our homepage for thirty days. Your letter and photo get that honor for April.
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