ENT532 Fall 2024: Observing Insects at Tudek Park Butterfly Gardens

Today I came to the Butterfly Gardens at Tudek Park with the goal of finding a praying mantis. Nearly all of the spring flowers are brown and crisp, but one thing remains and covers nearly the whole garden area: goldenrod. I walked around these goldenrod fields and found many insects (pictures on ScholarSphere). There were many ladybugs reproducing and many aphids out and about. I managed to observe a ladybug larva eating an aphid. The field was riddled with carpenter and honeybees, which is so interesting to me because I feel like I've never seen this many carpenter bees in Texas before. Speaking of bees, there was a swarm of small metallic bees at the base of some sunflower stems. The sunflowers were dried and crisp, but on the leaves and stem, I found an ant roaming around the broad leaf, a snail underneath a leaf, and I watched a jumping spider drink from where the base of the leaves attach to the stem. It was interesting because the way the leaves attach at the stem acts like a bowl and serves as a water source for arthropods. Finally, as I was nearing the end of my observations, I spotted a large Chinese mantis just standing on the stems of some goldenrod. I watched her for a while, but all she did was sit there, maybe waiting for prey. At the Great Insect Fair, everyone kept asking why the mantis we had there was brown, and I didn't know what to tell them. It turns out they can molt into shades of brown and green depending on their environment. I ended up catching a different fully green mantis as the voucher specimen for this observation. Finally, I want to note that a field of goldenrod facilitates many heterospecific insect interactions. I wonder what sort of information these insects gain through these interactions. From a bee perspective, would you visit flowers with other insects present? Does this impact foraging decisions at all?

Files

Metadata

Work Title ENT532 Fall 2024: Observing Insects at Tudek Park Butterfly Gardens
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Marie Muniz
License CC BY 4.0 (Attribution)
Work Type Image
Publication Date September 15, 2024
Deposited September 17, 2024

Versions

Analytics

Collections

This resource is currently not in any collection.

Work History

Version 1
published

  • Created
  • Updated
  • Updated Description, Publication Date Show Changes
    Description
    • Today I came to the Butterfly Gardens at Tudek Park with the goal of finding a praying mantis. Nearly all of the spring flowers are brown and crisp, but one thing remains and covers nearly the whole garden area: goldenrod. I walked around these goldenrod fields and found many insects (pictures on ScholarSphere). There were many ladybugs reproducing and many aphids out and about. I managed to observe a ladybug larva eating an aphid. The field was riddled with carpenter and honeybees, which is so interesting to me because I feel like I've never seen this many carpenter bees in Texas before. Speaking of bees, there was a swarm of small metallic bees at the base of some sunflower stems. The sunflowers were dried and crisp, but on the leaves and stem, I found an ant roaming around the broad leaf, a snail underneath a leaf, and I watched a jumping spider drink from where the base of the leaves attach to the stem. It was interesting because the way the leaves attach at the stem acts like a bowl and serves as a water source for arthropods. Finally, as I was nearing the end of my observations, I spotted a large Chinese mantis just standing on the stems of some goldenrod. I watched her for a while, but all she did was sit there, maybe waiting for prey. At the Great Insect Fair, everyone kept asking why the mantis we had there was brown, and I didn't know what to tell them. It turns out they can molt into shades of brown and green depending on their environment. I ended up catching a different fully green mantis as the voucher specimen for this observation. Finally, I want to note that a field of goldenrod facilitates many heterospecific insect interactions. I wonder what sort of information these insects gain through these interactions. From a bee perspective, would you visit flowers with other insects present? Does this impact foraging decisions at all?
    Publication Date
    • 2024-09-15
  • Added Creator Marie Muniz
  • Added IMG_4012.JPG
  • Added IMG_4016.JPG
  • Added IMG_4020.JPG
  • Added IMG_4027.JPG
  • Added IMG_4029.JPG
  • Added IMG_4034.JPG
  • Added IMG_4041.JPG
  • Added IMG_4047.JPG
  • Added IMG_4049.JPG
  • Added IMG_4051.JPG
  • Added IMG_4054.JPG
  • Added IMG_4062.JPG
  • Added IMG_4063.JPG
  • Added IMG_4064.JPG
  • Added IMG_4067.JPG
  • Added IMG_4070.JPG
  • Added IMG_4075.JPG
  • Added IMG_4079.JPG
  • Updated License Show Changes
    License
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
  • Published
  • Updated
  • Updated Work Title Show Changes
    Work Title
    • Observing Insects at Tudek Park Butterfly Gardens
    • ENT532 Fall 2024: Observing Insects at Tudek Park Butterfly Gardens