Tag Archives: New Paltz

When it snows, look for snow flies

It’s going to snow all day here in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, so I thought I’d post a quick note about a snow fly I found years ago in New York. I’m pretty it was a male Chionea scita (Limoniidae), one of 16-18 species north of Mexico. All members of the genus are wingless, and it’s my understanding that they use snow as an opportunity to better find mates. If you have snow, too, I highly recommend looking for them.

Here’s a photograph of a mating pair. That’s all the adults do, I gather. The larvae likely hang out in rodent nests, perhaps eating the fungi that grow on the feces (don’t judge). But that’s just a guess among biologists who study the genus.

If you find one, definitely take a photograph and post to either BugGuide or iNaturalist, sites that can better help biologists and snow-fly enthusiasts track which species occur where. And you can also get an identification from experts on those sites. As you can see from the distribution map on BugGuide, snow flies have never been reported in approximately 20 states, and other countries have similar issues because the flies are so rare. You’d have a few seconds of fame if you could fill in one of these distribution gaps.

And take some closeups of the head region if your camera can do that — there’s apparently a nematode (or its eggs, I’m unsure of which) that can sometimes be found coiled around their necks inside a thin-walled collar. Also take closeups of any missing legs, which is of interest because they have the ability to jettison limbs that begin to freeze as a way to prevent the crystallization from spreading to the rest of the body (nice trick).

If you’re a science fan and live near a post office, consider packing up the specimen and sending it to the folks running The Snow Fly Project. If you are in the snow a lot, sign up for an account at Adventure Scientists to facilitate your collections.

Nature pics from Mohonk Mountain House

Below is a sampling of photographs I took during a June stay at Mohonk Mountain House near New Paltz, New York. If nature bores you please scroll to the end for food pics.


I believe these are sidewalk mites (Balaustium sp.). There were thousands on the flowers nearby, all apparently engaged in eating pollen. There are some species that eat only pollen but I gather from the BugGuide description that the more predatory species may eat it facultatively.

These galls are made a the larvae of Acericecis ocellaris, a midge (fly). The ones in this photograph are pretty drab but the galls can be bright red and white, like targets (example). For more on the natural history, please see Michael J. Raupp’s blog post on the species.

Whenever I’m at Mohonk Mountain House in the summer I spend a few minutes taking photographs of the webs along Lake Shore Path, in the rock face near the wood walkway. They are made by Ariadna bicolor, a member of the tunnel-web spider family (Segestriidae). Sadly, they are nocturnal so I don’t have any great photographs of the spiders themselves (I have only one, in fact). I hope to get some nighttime pics during my next visit.


Caddo agilis

This is Caddo agilis, an adorable little harvestman that looks remarkably like a cuttlefish or, perhaps, an alien. Once I got a search image for these beasties there were everywhere. Apparently parthenogenetic so this is almost certainly a female (a harvestwoman?). Males have been found but are super rare.

American green crab spider (Misumessus oblongus) with captured crane fly

American green crab spider (Misumessus oblongus) attempting to subdue a male sooty crane fly (Tipula fuliginosa). This unlucky fly is also carrying a parasitic mite (Trombidioidea).

Long-jawed orbweaver (Tetragnatha elongata)

This spider isn’t doing anything interesting but I’m including it because it was easily the largest long-jawed orbweaver I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure it’s a Tetragnatha elongata (more details).

Buttercup blood bee (Sphecodes ranunculi) on an inflorescence

I think this is a male buttercup blood bee (Sphecodes ranunculi). This species is kleptoparasitic on fellow halictids. I’d love to know more about why the abdomen is red.

Jagged ambush bug (Phymata sp.) eating a nude mining bee (Andrena nuda)

Jagged ambush bug (possibly Phymata fasciata) eating a nude mining bee (Andrena nuda). It’s awful to have your innards sucked out while paralyzed but an upside, for me, is that otherwise rare and fast-moving insects become easy to photograph.

Edge-striped shield bug (Elasmucha lateralis) guarding her eggs

Edge-striped shield bug (Elasmucha lateralis) guarding her eggs, something I’ve never seen in a bug. It’s in fact so rare that that is how I made the ID. Per Frost and Haber 1944 (as described on p 112, here), females of this species will vibrate their wings if you separate them from their eggs or squish the nymphs. In related and strange news, males of a related species do the guarding (Requena et al. 2010).

Euxesta notata

Spotted root maggot (Euxesta notata), also known as the cabbage root fly. Per the literature you can rear them by collecting rotting fruit and vegetables, especially onions. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Male Hylemya alcathoe (Anthomyiidae)

Male Hylemya alcathoe (Anthomyiidae). There were hundreds in the area, all perched at the edges of leaves, alert for females. Per Alcock 1983, males defend their leaves so aggressively that they’ll take flight to pursue small sticks and stones thrown to pass near them.

This tiny fly was perhaps the highlight of my trip. It’s a millipede-killing fly in the genus Myriophora, and they were hounding a millipede that was cruising around at top speed in an attempt to dislodge them. The flies just rode them around like sandworms on Arrakis, occasionally ovipositing into the gaps between the tergites.

Bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) with damaged calyx caused by nectar-robbing bumblebee

Flower of bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) that has been chewed by a nectar-robbing bumblebee. Once breached, other pollinators use the back door to more easily steal the nectar.

I was introduced to the mountain spleenwort (Asplenium montanum), above, on a nature walk hosted by Dr. Jackie Schnurr. It’s all over the place once you get a search image for it and the kinds of places it grows (cracks in acidic rock faces). Reeves 1974 reports the existence of a subspecies Asplenium montanum shawangunkense, but it’s not registered (yet) in iNaturalist. Per Reeves its range is between Lake Minnewaska and Lake Mohonk. And lacks sori, so definitely be on the lookout if you are in the area.

This beauty is a Pennsylvania toadskin lichen (Lasallia pensylvanica). This lichen features prominently in a 1974 article by Daniel Smiley (of Mohonk fame) and Carl George, “Photographic documentation of lichen decline in the Shawangunk Mountains of New York“. See figure 3 within for a photograph of the location with Albert Smiley for scale.

Common script lichen (Graphis scripta)

Common script lichen (Graphis scripta) growing on a tree. Or at least that’s what I think it is. Species tends to occur on smooth-barked trees such as birch. I found beetle mites on them.

Northern watersnake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) basking at the Lily Pond. Per a book on watersnakes the bulk of their diet is fish, but they also eat amphibians, insects, millipedes, spiders, mollusks, and annelids. I was amazed to learn that they sometimes flick the surface of the water with their tongue to mimic a distressed insect (Gibbons and Dorcas 1963). I love how they always seem to use their bodies as chin rests.

And last but not least, here’s a pic of a charismatic megafauna: a North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum). It looked dazed or half asleep. I wonder whether it might have been injured, perhaps from a fall from a tree while it was grazing on leaves (this happens a lot to porcupines).

Food

Here’s a sampling of the meals I had while staying at the hotel. In related, unsurprising news, I gained weight.

If you’ve been to Mohonk but wondered what the kitchen looks like these days (it was recently remodeled), here are some pics from a tour led by head chef, Jim Palmeri. Last pic features me.

If you need more, a post with last summer’s pics is here. Building and landscape views of Mohonk Mountain House over the past 20 years are here.