The arthropod (insects and spiders) survey season has started! This year, again, we will document with Caterpillars Count! on our tagged trees and with EwA Buggy ( Project | Tutorial ) for all other cases (meadows, gardens, parks, etc.). It is time to refresh our survey skills.
Don't miss the EwA virtual skillshare next month (Apr 9, 2024, 06:00 PM) to hear why surveying is important to ask any question about our surveys and Buggy specifically. Register now!
A great way to brush up on your identification skills might be to try your hand at our friends' (Caterpillars Count!) Arthropod Quiz, or even take their Virtual Caterpillars Count! Survey! Keep trying until you land a perfect score!
We're all a bit rusty after winter, so here are a few tips to get our insect groove back!
📏 It's easy to fall out of the habit of estimating length (in mm or cm). Often, we observe an undersizing of the arthropod.
🐛 Very soon, we'll be spotting caterpillars. You can identify them by their following distinctive features:
Caterpillars can camouflage-expert and look like the leaves or twigs on which they can be found.
Sawfly larvae can be challenging to distinguish from caterpillars as they look alike. But caterpillars have only 2-5 pairs of prolegs, while sawfly larvae have six or more pairs of prolegs in addition to the three pairs of true legs close to the head.
🪰 Beware of flies that are actually 🐝 bee-mimics. A significant difference is the number of wings (2 for flies and 4 for bees). This email's banner is an Eastern hornet fly (Spilomyia longicornis). Besides the wings, note the eyes and the mouth part of this beauty, a sponge-like organ–very different from the mouth part of bees (which includes a tongue).
Happy surveying!
– The EwA Buggy Team
