📜 EwA Week Highlights: Blue Dashers, Squash Bees & an Assassin Hatch

[Mike McGlathery]

EwA Highlights July 6, 2024 Hello everyone! Thanks for reading the July 6th EwA highlights. Only 1,400 more iNat observations until we’ve hit 200,000! 📸 Claire observed these freshly-hatching pale green assassin bugs (Zelus luridus) at Horn Pond. It’s amazing how they almost seem to be inflating their exoskeletons to escape their eggs. Click through to the observation for many more cool photos! EwA iNaturalist Record (© Claire O’Neill · Woburn, MA · July 4, 2024)  Sara observed this squash bee (genus Peponapis) in Cambridge. These bees are specialist consumers of pollen from plants of the squash genus (Cucurbita), but this one is actually on a buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). They are also members of the longhorn bee family (family Eucerini), so named for their characteristically long antennae.  EwA iNaturalist Record (© gsarajg ·Cambridge, MA · July 2, 2024)  Another week, another insect species at the top of our iNat list: this week, the blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) was our most-observed. These dragonflies are plentiful this time of year, and one of their chief predators is a bigger dragonfly, the green darner (Anax junius).  EwA iNaturalist Record (© Bill MacIndewar · Medford, MA · July 3, 2024)  📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this past week, totaling 1,360 observations of 669 distinct species. If you’re curious about the records from this week that have been validated by the iNat community so far, you can find them » here. 🏆 Running tally: To date, we have recorded 198,657 observations of 11,265 distinct species! Check out our EwA umbrella project, see the details per site/observer, and more » here. 📅 EwA Upcoming Public Events Ewa Field Events » Check the EwA Summer [ Event details and registration » ] Don’t miss some great opportunities to follow the rhythm of the season in our local habitats and in the local wildlife! Space is limited for all our field events. Wildlife ethics is important to us and we seek to avoid putting the pressure on natural habitats which large gatherings unavoidably do. We are asking our audience to register-and-commit (or cancel when you know you can’t come) to avoid no-shows. EwA Fieldwork (and Resources) It’s a great time to join our monitoring programs. Check EwA’s Volunteer Program Calendar 📅  to know when things happen. And if a session is of interest to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to get the rendezvous location. 📅 EwA Sites Map | 🌱 Site Protocols and Guides · Field Rosters · Field Notes » All here! | ℹ️ More about EwA’s Citizen Science Program » Here ❓ Do you have any questions? Don’t be shy. Just email me or reply to this thread.  That’s all for this week—hope you have a good one! -Mike