Bug Night

On Saturday night September 3 Chuck Sexton and I hosted the first ever Bug Night on Lake Creek Trail. With special permission we set up a white sheet on the the side of one of the Town and Country Sports portable buildings, with a mercury vapor lamp and black light hanging in front of it. From about 8:00 PM to 10:30, we attracted hundreds (maybe thousands) of insects of at least 50 different species to the sheet. About 8 people joined us. Before dark Chuck gave us a great introduction to "black lighting" and some of the insect identification resources available.



After sundown bugs started coming in to the lights. Most numerous were tiny midges and mayflies that are common around creeks and ponds because their larval forms are aquatic. Other groups of insects that showed up were true bugs (hemipterans), Ichneumon Wasps, moths, beetles, weevils, katydids, and leaf hoppers. Here are a few that I photographed and and posted to iNaturalist. They are gradually being identified by the iNaturalist user community!

And here are a few more photos:











Huge thanks to Chuck Sexton for his time and enthusiasm, and to Evalyn Hodges, directory of Town and Country Sports for access to their property and electricity after their 9:00 PM curfew!