Sex on the Sidewalk Day in Bishops Mills
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Fred Schueler
May 7, 2025, 12:10:31 PM5/7/25
to Eastern Ontario Natural History listserve
1 May 2025 - Bishops Mills - Boisea trivittata (Box-elder Bug)
(entomological). about 32 mature bugs, 6 pairs in copulation, on Main St
& N sidewalk, streets dry, shoulders dryish - mostly on sidewalk, 5
pairs, about 30 total - & 1 pair dead on road. TIME: 1426-1440. AIR
TEMP: 19°C, cloudy, Beaufort gentle breeze.
* this species is englished as "Box-elder Bug" because when the name was
given its range didn't extend to where Acer negundo is called Manitoba
Maple.
I learned about them in 1999 when researching an article about Manitoba
Maples:
'Some US websites deplore the existence of Rhopalid “Boxelder Bugs”
Leptocoris trivittatus — about 1 cm long, dark brown to black with a
pattern of narrow red stripes — but we’ve never seen these. In addition
to a toxic brew of insecticides, the websites suggest that “An obvious
way to avoid infestations by this pest in residential properties is to
get rid of near-by female boxelder trees. Some city ordinances proclaim
the female trees to be nuisances, and they can be removed at city
expense.” Boxelder Bugs evidently enter houses during the fall, and on
warm sunny days in late winter or early spring they head for egg-laying
sites near the female flowers and “they can be annoying when they crawl
or fly about the rooms.”'
...and I first saw them in Smiths Falls on 10 November 2009, when my
diabetes specialist was instructing a guy with insecticide to go after
what he called "Japanese Beetles" that were coming into his office.
Since then we've seen them in variable numbers, and had individual pairs
mating on 27 July 2020, 6 May 2023, and 28 July 2023, but this is the
first time we've seen multiple pairs. It was a nice touch that the
street was littered with fallen (male) flowers of the Manitoba Maples
across the street (and lots of doomed seedlings germinating in the seed
litter from last year's heavy crop). The Bugs weren't at this site on
days before or since.
fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
2024 annual letter: https://clt1233162.bmeurl.co/11E63979
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------
(entomological). about 32 mature bugs, 6 pairs in copulation, on Main St
& N sidewalk, streets dry, shoulders dryish - mostly on sidewalk, 5
pairs, about 30 total - & 1 pair dead on road. TIME: 1426-1440. AIR
TEMP: 19°C, cloudy, Beaufort gentle breeze.
* this species is englished as "Box-elder Bug" because when the name was
given its range didn't extend to where Acer negundo is called Manitoba
Maple.
I learned about them in 1999 when researching an article about Manitoba
Maples:
'Some US websites deplore the existence of Rhopalid “Boxelder Bugs”
Leptocoris trivittatus — about 1 cm long, dark brown to black with a
pattern of narrow red stripes — but we’ve never seen these. In addition
to a toxic brew of insecticides, the websites suggest that “An obvious
way to avoid infestations by this pest in residential properties is to
get rid of near-by female boxelder trees. Some city ordinances proclaim
the female trees to be nuisances, and they can be removed at city
expense.” Boxelder Bugs evidently enter houses during the fall, and on
warm sunny days in late winter or early spring they head for egg-laying
sites near the female flowers and “they can be annoying when they crawl
or fly about the rooms.”'
...and I first saw them in Smiths Falls on 10 November 2009, when my
diabetes specialist was instructing a guy with insecticide to go after
what he called "Japanese Beetles" that were coming into his office.
Since then we've seen them in variable numbers, and had individual pairs
mating on 27 July 2020, 6 May 2023, and 28 July 2023, but this is the
first time we've seen multiple pairs. It was a nice touch that the
street was littered with fallen (male) flowers of the Manitoba Maples
across the street (and lots of doomed seedlings germinating in the seed
litter from last year's heavy crop). The Bugs weren't at this site on
days before or since.
fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
2024 annual letter: https://clt1233162.bmeurl.co/11E63979
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------
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