Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia Axyridis

Day 273: "Something is eating my pussywillow!" Closer investigation gave me the creepin' wim-wams. There were fearsome-looking larvae on several of the leaves, black with orange spots and forked spines, the kind of thing that'd give you a heart attack if you found it walking on your arm. But what were they? I skipped right over the section on ladybugs in my insect books, certain that I'd find it or something related to it on a different page. When that failed, I followed the next reasonable path: I submitted a photo to BugGuide.net, and within 24 hours, one of their experts had identified it as Harmonia axyridis, commonly known as the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle. It was a "ladybug" after all. This morning, larvae (inset) and pupae (upper) were present on the tree.

BugGuide advises that "very few people encountering one (of the larvae) for the first time would recognize it as a 'young ladybug.' It grows to be larger than the eventual adult size." Harmonia axyridis was brought to the US from Asia as a control for aphids, and was introduced in Washington between 1978-1982. According to BugGuide, the adults are highly variable in colour with spots varying from absent to as many as 18 (no help there!). They also mention that they (presumably larvae and adults) will take "exploratory bites" if handled, and I can personally attest to that as far as the adults are concerned. Shortly after I moved here, I found my shower infested with them one morning, and as I was capturing them for release outdoors, I got nipped. Although I had no idea what they were at the time, I realized in that moment that this was no ordinary ladybug keeping me from my ablutions. And now that I know what they look like when they're babies, I'll give them wider berth.

Mobile Home

Day 222: Look into the clear waters of the Mashel River at Eatonville, and you may see evidence of the good work being done by the Nisqually Land Trust upstream. Caddisflies and their larvae are sensitive to pollutants. Their presence is an indicator of water quality.

We called them "periwinkles" when we were kids, not knowing that the term actually applies to a small snail. Possibly someone's parent was misinformed and thus the error was spread to my generation of friends as one of those things learned from peers. In any event, the correction to my lexicon didn't come until I was an adult, and I still use the word in the full knowledge that it's being misapplied. Thus it was that yesterday morning, I went "periwinkle hunting" in Smallwood Park.

Caddisflies are members of the order Trichoptera. There are many species, but all their larvae build cases from small stones and bits of vegetative matter such as this one. Some anchor themselves on rocks and twigs; others are unattached and do their hunting from their "mobile homes." They eat algae, rotting vegetation and even smaller insects. In turn, they are eaten by fish, both as larvae and as adults. The fish are then eaten by fly-fishermen, who know that a well-tied caddis will sucker even the most wary trout. The occasional fly-fisherman may be eaten by a bear, but not sufficiently often to include them in a description of the food chain.

Pristiphora Geniculata

Day 323: The identity of this critter may come as a surprise. Despite appearances, it is NOT a caterpillar. True caterpillars are the immature stage of butterflies and moths. These larvae are in fact those of the Mountain-ash Sawfly (Pristiphora geniculara), a species of wasp and currently the bane of my garden. I should have investigated more closely when I first noticed leaves disappearing from the smaller twigs, but I assumed that the tree was heat-stressed or suffering in response to a pesky Sapsucker's drilling. When a second Mountain-ash (different species) began exhibiting the same symptoms, I took a closer look. Pulling a branch down to eye level, I was surprised when a little yellow "caterpillar" assumed an uncharacteristically defensive stance. Then I noticed its cousins hard at work on one of the remaining leaves.

Mountain-ash Sawfly was first noticed in Washington in the summer of 2009, apparently a European immigrant. At that time, it was confined to Snohomish County, but it has since spread to much of the western portion of the state. There are two remedies for this pest. I will only resort to chemicals as a last resort, preferring to go with my father's tried-and-true method: removal and burning of each infected twig or branch showing evidence of the insects or their egg cases. The trees will have to be monitored again next spring because I'm bound to miss a few.