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Insects of the Nebraska Mixedgrass Prairie

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Insects of the Nebraska Mixedgrass Prairie Mixedgrass Prairie Region Insect Viewing Tips Two-striped Grasshopper 1. Go to where the habitat is — visit Melanoplus bivittatus state parks and other public spaces. Size: L: 1.2 - 2.2 in. Description: Smooth yellow- 2. Do your homework — learn what brown with two distinct species live in the area. pale-yellow stripes. Diet: Plants 3. Think about timing — check what is Painted Lady, wings closed Habitat: Rural to urban Viewing: Summer, statewide active in the area this time of year. 4. Consult an expert — join in on a The mixedgrass prairie region is a transitional zone between the tallgrass guided insect hike to learn more. Insects Chinese Mantis 5. Leave no trace — leave wildlife in Tenodera sinensis prairie of the east and the shortgrass prairie Size: L: 3.12 - 4.1 in. of the west. As a result, the vegetation of this nature and nature the way you Description: Long, green-tan area varies, with a combination of tallgrass found it. body, thick, bent front legs, of the and oversized eyes atop a and shortgrass prairie plants. There are many triangular head. wetlands, rivers, and streams. Wooded zones Diet: Insects, small animals surround almost every waterway. Precipitation Habitat: Rural to urban Basic Insect Anatomy Nebraska Viewing: Summer-fall, most is greater in the east, with about 28 inches common in eastern half annually, compared with 20 inches in the west. The land is primarily used for agriculture, Antenna Assassin Bug with around two-thirds converted to cropland Mixedgrass Sinea diadema Head Size: L: 0.47 - 0.63 in. and much of the remaining third used for Description: Dark brown or a grazing livestock. There is however, a diversity dull red with narrow head with of wildlife found in this region, including the Prairie straw-like beak, flat, expanded abdomen, narrow wings and annual spring staging of 500,000 sandhill cranes Leg spines on front legs. around the Platte River in central Nebraska. Diet: Insects Habitat: Crop fields and gardens This spectacle draws around 80,000 nature Viewing: Summer, statewide enthusiasts each year, with about half from Thorax outside of Nebraska. Identification Yellow Garden Spider Argiope aurantia Guide Size: L: 0.20 - 1.1 in. Description: Yellow and black orb weaver with long yellow-red and black legs. Female: larger Abdomen and brighter. Male: more brown. Diet: Insects Habitat: Rural to urban Viewing: Spring-fall, more common in eastern half OutdoorNebraska.org Monarch Painted Lady © W. Cranshaw, CSU, Bugwood.org Splendid Tiger Beetle Familiar Bluet Danaus plexippus Vanessa cadui Cicindela splendida Enallagma civile Size: WS: 3.3 - 4.8 in. Size: WS: 2.0 - 2.87 in. Size: L: 0.47 - 0.59 in. Size: L: 1.3 - 1.7 in. Description: Orange butterfly with Description: Upperside orange- Description: Iridescent green- Description: Bright blue damselfly black body, veins and borders with brown, upper forewing black blue head, red-orange body with with slender abdomen. white spots, Male: has black spot at with white, hind wing with row of white markings. Diet: Insects center of each lower wing. black spots. Underside patterned Diet: Insects Habitat: Near still or slow moving Diet: Milkweed (larva), nectar (adult) brown-gray. Habitat: Clay banks, bluffs and water Habitat: Open fields, rural to urban Diet: Nectar road banks Viewing: Summer-fall, statewide Viewing: Spring-fall, statewide Habitat: Rural to urban Viewing: Spring-fall, statewide Viewing: Summer, statewide except northeast Eastern Tiger Swallowtail ©Ken Childs, www.discoverlife.org Isabella Tiger Moth Goldenrod Soldier Beetle Halloween Pennant Papilio glaucus Pyrrharctia isabella Chauliognathus pensylvanicus Celithemis eponina Size: WS: 2.5 - 4.5 in. Size: WS: 1.75 - 2.25 in. Size: L: 0.35 - 0.47 in. Size: L: 1.4 - 1.7 in. Description: Yellow with black Description: Forewings orange- Description: Golden-orange with Description: Dragonfly with tiger-stripes. Females have blue yellow-tan with broken black spot, variable black markings and black orange wings with brown spots and a dark morph. Female: has orange-pink hind wing. head and legs. bands and red spots on front Diet: Nectar Diet: Herbaceous plants (larva) Diet: Insects (larva), edge of wing. Habitat: Rural to urban Habitat: Rural to urban pollen and nectar (adult) Diet: Insects Viewing: Spring-summer, statewide Viewing: Spring-fall, statewide Habitat: Rural to urban Habitat: Marshes, ponds, lakes Viewing: Summer, statewide Viewing: Summer, statewide Gray Hairstreak White-lined Sphinx Moth Dogbane Leaf Beetle *Brown-belted Bumblebee Strymon melinus Hyles lineta Chrysochus auratus Bombus griseocollis Size: WS: 1.0 - 1.25 in. Size: WS: 2.4 - 3.6 in. Size: L: 0.31 - 0.43 in. Size: L: 0.37 - 0.75 in. Description: Upperside of wings Description: Striped olive-brown Description: Small, oblong beetle Description: Bumblebee with dark, underside gray with white with horizontal light tan stripe on with metallic green to brown black head and wings and edging, orange patch with black forewing, and thicker horizontal coloration. brown belt band on thorax. spot above wing-tails. pink stripe on hind wing. Diet: Dogbane and milkweed plants Diet: Nectar and pollen Diet: Fruit (larva), nectar (adult) Diet: Nectar Habitat: Dogbane and milkweed Habitat: Rural to urban Habitat: Open fields Habitat: Rural to urban Viewing: Summer, statewide Viewing: Spring-summer, Viewing: Spring-fall, statewide Viewing: Spring-summer, statewide statewide Clouded Sulphur Big Sand Tiger Beetle Spotted Lady Beetle *Western Bumblebee Colias philodice Cicindela formosa Coleomegilla maculata Bombus occidentalis Size: WS: 1.5 - 2.75 in. Size: L: 0.59 - 0.8 in. Size: L: 0.2 - 0.23 in. Size: L: 0.4 - 0.9 in. Description: Male: Yellow-green Description: Red-purple with white Description: Oval-shaped, Description: Yellow and black with dark edging on wings, white markings and spindly legs. red to pink beetle with irregular bumblebee with distinct white tail. eyespot on underwing, Female: Diet: Insects black spots. Diet: Nectar and pollen yellow-white, less bold edging. Habitat: Sand blowouts, dunes and Diet: Aphids, mites and pollen Habitat: Fields - agriculture Diet: Nectar stream banks Habitat: Crop fields and gardens and wild Habitat: Open fields Viewing: Summer, mostly statewide, Viewing: Summer, east Viewing: Summer, Panhandle Viewing: Summer, statewide excluding southern Panhandle and southeast corner * = stings 11/19ds 2018-76936.
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