When Trees Weep

 Entomology, Insects, Natural History, Photography  7 Responses »
May 112011
 

A few days ago I was walking through the University of Guelph Arboretum taking some down time and trying to get back into the photography groove when I noticed a peculiar sight…

 

Tree weeping sap covered in insects

The trees were weeping, and dozens of flies were lapping up the sweet, sweet tears! Since there were several of these patches on two nearby trees (my tree bark ID skills are severely lacking, I’m a leaf man) and the wet marks were 4 to 10 feet off the ground, I felt it was a safe guess that it wasn’t a territorial marking (unless the UofG men’s basketball team was having a summer camp…), and last I checked I wasn’t in Fangorn Forest, so I did a little detective work to discover the story behind the sadness.

Closer inspection revealed these curious holes:

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker holes drilled into tree bark

My first thought was to scan for long-horned beetles (Cerambycidae) or perhaps metallic jewel beetles (Buprestidae), but after seeing nothing but flies and wasps, I took a closer look and noticed that the holes only pierced the bark, and not the xylem (aka sapwood). It dawned on me that what I was looking at was a tricky, sticky lure set by a bird I’d seen plenty of times before in the Arb; the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius). This crafty woodpecker will cause superficial injuries to a tree, and then sit back while the sap flows free. The bird will then return to the tree and pick off the insects which are feeding on the sap, as well as some of the sap itself! Clever bird…

Pretty cool biology, so I took the opportunity to see what sort of insects were at risk of becoming an early spring brunch for the hungry sapsucker.

I observed a few butterflies when I first approached the trees, but they quickly flitted away, not to return while I was there. I’m by no means a Leper (i.e. a Lepidopterist), but I think they may have been Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta, Nymphalidae), which are one of the earlier butterfly species to be found in Southern Ontario.

There were a number of hymenopterans taking advantage of the Saturday afternoon bounty including many Ichneuomoid wasps and this fuzzy female:

Andrenid bee eating tree sap Andrenidae

This andrenid bee (Andrenidae) seemed quite content to sit and lap up the sugary sap running down the tree bark, not caring when I moved in and out trying to get a decent photograph of it’s amazing hairdo.

Tenthridinidae wasp eating tree sap with a calliphoridae and muscidae fly

While the bee was busy enjoying a solitary meal, this sawfly (Dolerus unicolor, Tenthredinidae) was more than happy to share the sap with a couple of calyptrate flies (a blowfly [Calliphoridae] on the right and what I believe to be a Muscidae at the top). In fact, the calyptrates made up the vast majority of the insects visiting the tree, in some places packed so tightly you couldn’t see the tree for the flies!

Blow fly Calliphoridae sponging up tree sap

The sponge-like mouthparts found in many calyptrates are well demonstrated in this blowfly (Calliphoridae, possibly subfamily Chrysomyinae). You can see the maxillary palpi sticking straight ahead as the membranous labrum and associated sclerites mop up any residual tree sap on the bark.

Scathophaga sp. Scathophagidae

Another, lesser known calyptrate family was also making an appearance; the Scathophagidae. I could make out what looked to be two species of scathophagid, including this Scathophaga sp. perched nearby awaiting its turn at the sugar shack.

Tachinidae fly on tree drinking tree sap

Not everything went according to plan on this outing however, as I made a major n00b move – I forgot to pack specimen vials! While normally I’d have a dozen or so snap-top vials in my camera bag in case I ran into something which needed to be examined at a later date and added to the University of Guelph Insect Collection, after transferring my photo equipment into my new camera bag (courtesy of the best wife ever), I neglected to throw in the vials! The first rule of entomology (besides “ALWAYS talk about entomology”) is to collect the damn specimen, and as luck would have it, I came across a fly which I instantly wanted to collect (pictured above & below).

Tachinidae with tree sap fly

This Tachinidae caught my eye right away, and after several attempts, I managed to get a couple of decent images. Unfortunately, tachinid flies are one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet, and the specimen would be vital in identifying it to the genus or subfamily level on my own. A lesson learned, and needless to say I threw a couple of vials in my bag as soon as I got home!

After getting my fill of photos and not having any means to collect some specimens, I decided to pull back and let nature take it’s course. While I never saw the sapsucker, I certainly appreciated the opportunity it created, allowing me to photograph a great diversity of flies and wasps!

The End is Near…

 Entomology, Life as a Grad Student, Taxonomy, Tongue in Cheek  10 Responses »
Apr 132011
 

My MSc Defense Poster

 

The Quest for the Master’s Degree is nearing it’s conclusion! If you’ll be in the Guelph area on Monday, I invite you to stop in and see what I’ve been up to for the past 3.5 years. I can promise plenty of taxonomic discussion (hopefully well defended by yours truly), plenty of pictures and diagrams, and the world premiere of 3 species new to science! There will be Timbits and coffee for those who require further encouragement/bribes.

The last month has been all over the place, with periods of extremely long days full of final revisions and paperwork, and an eerie academic Limbo without needing to work on my thesis for the first time in years. There’s always work to be done however, and I’ve been preparing the chapters for peer-reviewed publication. Once everything is said and done, I’ll be doing a series of posts reflecting back on my first graduate degree; the highs, the lows, and some tips for those considering doing graduate work in taxonomy. Until then, have a good weekend, and I’ll see you on the other side!

The Fly Tree of Life – Big Science, Big Results?

 Cool Science, Entomology, Publication, Review, Taxonomy  8 Responses »
Apr 112011
 

This post is going to be longer and a little more technical than normal; feel free to jump in and out, or just check out some of the photos on your way to the conclusions. Although I may come across as critical and occasionally cynical at times, I’m not picking on anyone just to be a thorn, but rather to promote scientific discussion; I fully encourage you to join the discussion in the comments section. Finally, in the spirit of full disclosure, a portion of my graduate research was funded via the NSF Tree of Life grant behind this paper (although neither myself nor my research contributed to this project in any manner that I’m aware of), and one of my academic advisors is a co-author on the paper.

Asilidae with Prey - Ecuador

Robber Fly with Prey - Asilidae - Ecuador

Despite my best efforts here at Biodiversity in Focus, research on flies very rarely makes the mainstream media (besides mosquitoes, malaria and Drosophila of course), so when one of the most important papers on fly evolution was released and started making the science blog circuit, I was excited to see people taking an interest in Dipterology! There was one problem however, which is not limited to the blogosphere and this paper, but has been an increasingly common trend in insect systematics: the blind acceptance and assumption that a new phylogeny is the definitive answer because the researchers used an ever increasing number of genes. One influential blogger, who’s also an evolutionary entomologist, summarized the results of the Diptera tree of life as such:

But they’re solid results, since they’re based on lots of molecular data and the branch positions are well supported.   — Jerry A. Coyne, Ph.D

Similarly, the research team who published the tree are encouraging the idea that their results are infallible by labeling their work the “New Periodic Table of Flies”. A bold statement, and one that many taxonomists might be hesitant to make as it implies that they don’t expect future studies to return different relationships, much as the periodic table of chemical elements is not about to change. An analogy like this requires a strong body of evidence to support it, so let’s take a look at what they did and how the Diptera family tree looks!

Continue reading »

Tabanidae of Canada east of the Rocky Mountains – CJAI Vol. 13

 Entomology, Insects, Publication, Taxonomy  3 Responses »
Feb 172011
 

It’s a been a busy period for the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification, and today I bring you lucky #13, the final volume chronicling the horse & deer flies of Canada east of the Rockies. Although Canadian tabanids were relatively recently treated by H.G. Teskey (1990),  Anthony Thomas has now updated the distributions for these flies, and has greatly increased the number of illustrations, simplifying the identification of these beautiful brachycerans.

Atylotus bicolor Tabanidae horse fly

Atylotus bicolor (Wiedemann)

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The Staphylinidae of Eastern Canada – CJAI Vol. 12

 Entomology, Publication, Taxonomy  3 Responses »
Feb 102011
 

The latest volume of the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification was published recently and is the first in a series on the Staphylinidae of Eastern Canada. Coordinated and authored by Adam Brunke, this first volume provides a key to all of the rove beetle subfamilies and tribes of the Staphylininae found in eastern Canada (and adjoining US states, termed ECAS by Adam). In addition to these keys, Adam has treated the species of the Staphylinina, and has plans to further coordinate and complete the treatment of the eastern Canadian Staphylinidae in due time (it might take awhile considering the rove beetles are the largest family of animals in the world). With plenty of stunning images and an unconventional key structure designed to increase usability for even the most novice of entomologists, Adam is well on his way to bringing these tiny yet important beetles into the public!

Xantholinus elegans by Dave Cheung Staphylinidae Insect Beetle

Photo by Dave K.B. Cheung

Reference

Brunke, A., Newton, A., Klimaszewski, J., Majka, C. and Marshall, S. 2011. Staphylinidae of Eastern Canada and Adjacent United States. Key to Subfamilies; Staphylininae: Tribes and Subtribes, and Species of Staphylinina. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification No. 12, 20 January 2011, available online at http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/bnkmm_12/index.html, doi: 10.3752/cjai.2011.12. (Open Access)

Uninvited (but very cool) houseguests – Guest Post

 Biology, Entomology, Guest Blog, Publication  6 Responses »
Jan 282011
 

Today’s special guest blogger is Jess Vickruck, a PhD candidate at Brock University. Jess studies twig nesting bee diversity and the impacts of nest choice on their biology.

When I first started my master’s project, my intention was to look at how nest choice affected fitness in twig nesting carpenter bees (genus Ceratina, family Apidae).  Little did I know that along with twigs full of bee larvae I would also get up close and personal with numerous uninvited house guests who all had one thing in mind – Ceratina are delicious!  Although my supervisor continually reminded me that my thesis was about the bees and not the species that eat bees, I wrote up the data, and lucky for me it appears in the 2010 edition of the Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario.

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Fly Cankles and Literary Evolution

 Cool Science, Entomology, Publication  7 Responses »
Jan 272011
 

Flies are cool. You might even say they’re phat (I know, I’m pretty fly for a white guy). But a newly described dance fly species (Empididae) from Japan takes the term “phat” to an all new level. Meet Empis jaschhoforum:

Empis jaschhoforum male morphs from Daugeron et al. 2011

Figures 1a-c from Daugeron et al., 2011

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ESO 2010 Recap

 Entomology, Meeting, Trip Report  3 Responses »
Jan 192011
 

As they say, better late than never, but man, this one is really late. The annual general meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario was held October 15-17 2010 and as usual, it was a great meeting!

I look forward to the ESO meeting every fall, as it gives me a chance to catch up with other grad students from around the province, learn something new, and become inspired going into the dark winter months! The diversity of entomological graduate research being done throughout Ontario never ceases to amaze me, with students presenting on topics ranging from agricultural pest control to freeze-tolerance biology, and from taxonomy to forest ecology, representing 6 Ontario universities. I’ll come back to the student talks a little later, but they were certainly one of the highlights.

Before the official start of the meeting, I attended my first board meeting for the Society as the new webmaster. This was quite the experience, and provided my first look into the inner workings of how things get done in academia. Plenty of lively debate and many great ideas for the future of the society made the 5 hour meeting a breeze!

Following the board meeting was the obligatory ESO Mixer, a chance for students and researchers to meet, greet, and enjoy a beverage or two before the meeting gets underway!

Entomology graduate students at the ESO mixer 2010Entomologists attending the ESO mixer 2010

The next morning started with the plenary session, featuring talks by Dr. Sherah VanLaerhoven of the University of Windsor and Dr. Amanda Moehring from the University of Western Ontario. Dr. VanLaerhoven is a forensic entomologist, making this the second time this year I’ve been faced with graphic imagery from depressing stories less than an hour after breakfast. Sherah related her work on the Steven Truscott case, and this being a scientific conference, held nothing back about the case, displaying actual crime scene and autopsy photos while explaining the significance of the entomological evidence gathered by the coroner. It’s hard to remain objective and detached when shown photos of an abused and murdered young girl, and I commend all those in law enforcement who deal with these sights in person; it’s certainly not a job that I could do. The mood was considerably lightened by Dr. Moehring’s talk on sex and genetics in Drosophila, and everyone was well prepared for the beginning of the student talks following her energetic presentation.

Dr. Sherah VanLaerhovenDr. Amanda Moehring

As I mentioned earlier, the student talks are the real highlight of ESO, and this year didn’t disappoint. A wide diversity of topics kept the audience mentally on edge as they heard all about the breakthroughs made by Ontario students. Although all of the talks were well presented and full of excellent research, I personally found blog-reader Miles Zhang’s talk on host shifts in gall wasps (Cynipidae) and their associated parasitoids from a native rose to a recently introduced rose to be one of the most exciting discoveries. A textbook example of the evolutionary pressures imposed by parasitism and the way hosts are constantly looking for an edge! I hope that he’ll agree to share this fantastic story here once he’s published his findings (hint, hint)! Check out the ESO Meeting program for a full list of student presentations, and the President’s Prize winners are listed on the ESO Website.

As part of the meeting package, all the food was provided, and that included the excellent banquet on Saturday night. With plenty of food, wine and fellowship, everyone appeared to be having a great time. Dr. Nusha Keyghobadi shared her research in the field of Lepidopteran landscape genetics during dessert, and after a couple of trips to the pie cart, the grad students organized an impromptu student mixer! It was a great chance to unwind after presentations and discuss some of the shared issues of grad work and life, and carried on well into the night.

Entomologists at the ESO 2010 Banquet DinnerDr. Nusha Keyghobadi

Sunday saw the final student talks, and a few regular member talks before the awarding of ESO Fellowships and the passing of the “Roach & Gavel” to the incoming president.

2010 ESO Fellows - Dr. Freeman McEwen (L) & Dr. Bernard Philogene (R)Past-President Dr. Gary Umphrey passing the Roach & Gavel to President Dr. Hannah Fraser

Overall, ESO 2010 was a great success, and more than enough to get me through until the spring and fresh insects! If you’re in the area next year, ESO 2011 will be hosted by Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario; mark your calendar and start getting that data analyzed!

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