Red - August 25

Meadowhawks (Sympetrum) dragonflies are aptly named for their hunting habitat and speed. These are freshwater species that prefer open meadows for the darting forays after small flying insects. Adult males are striking ruby red.

The presence of this hunter wasn’t sufficient to deter a common denizen of the salt marsh from attack. The eastern salt marsh mosquito (Aedes sollicitans) can easily make any visitor to it haunts miserable. These mosquitoes are usually present in large number and attack in swarms, day or night. Although handsomely covered with stripped pattern, fully blooded mosquitoes look like little red gemstones ingesting approximately their own weight in blood (i.e. the equivalent of a full grown man drinking a 20 gallon smoothie).

In bug world, red can also mean “danger, poison!” Argus Tortoise Beetle (Chelymorpha cassidea) is cute looking lady beetles alike. However, it belongs to a different family, leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae). Similarly to lady bugs, the red color of Argus tortoise beetles warns potential predators, mostly birds, that this particular morsel is inedible. The beetles contain toxins derived from its host plants from the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). The plants produce indole alkaloids toxic to animals. Hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium) is found on the upper edge of the marsh and probably serves as food sources for Argus Tortoise Beetle. 

Familiar faces - August 20

Tis’ the time of the year when adult Seaside Lady Beetles (Naemia seriata) make their appearance on the marsh. 

Seaside lady beetle munching on pollen

These cheerfully colored ladybugs are running up and down the salt marsh grasses. Unlike other ladybugs, Naemia seriata adults eat Spartina pollen not aphids. This year salt marsh hay (Spartina patens) flowered weakly, and the ladybugs were mostly confined to saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora).

 Bluets are beautiful damselflies that tend to visit the salt marsh in our area. Their brilliant azure color peeks out among the drab vegetation like a glimpse of a blue sky on a cloudy day. Like other Odonata – dragonflies and damselflies, these delicate insects are predators feeding on small insects and spiders.

While dragonflies habits are commendable, there are other bugs on the marsh that do not behave in such a proper way. Deer and horse flies (family Tabanidae) are a constant nuisance during the summer months. These handsomely marked robust flies have rasping mouthparts that cut the skin of their victim like a miniature saw, and it hurts! Like mosquitoes, only female tabanids bite; male lack the saw-like mouthparts and feed on pollen.

The eggs are deposited on the vegetation in masses containing up to several hundred of individual eggs. 

The larvae slither their way through the muck, mud, and potholes of the salt marsh. They are predacious and will eat whatever they can catch – insects, snails, worms, and other little creatures. 

Dodders and roses - August 4, 2014

When one hears the word “parasite” most people think about worms, bacteria, or fungi. However, there are parasites in the plant kingdom as well. Dodders are parasitic vine-like plants that infest other plants as their hosts. In this case it is Common dodder (probably Cuscuta gronovii) on the salt marsh elder, Iva frutescens. While inhabiting mostly freshwater wetlands, common dodder can also sometimes make its way to the high salt marsh. After the dodder attaches to the host plant, it inserts a kind of false roots right into the host plant tissues and continues to feed off it. Dodder has no roots and no leaves (only small scales), and obviously, no chlorophyll either, hence the orange yellowing color. 

 

But, even dodders are not immune to insects. This dodder plant had a gall produced likely by dodder gall weevil (Smicronyx sculpticollis).This beetles spends almost their entire lives inside the protective walls of the gall, a kind of insect made habitat induced by the weevil larvae.

A much more showy (and tastier) plant makes its appearance on the salt marshes known this time of the year. Rose or marsh mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) is one of the 3 species of marsh mallows found on New York salt marshes. As the name hints, the roots of the European species (Althaea officinalis) were used to make marshmallows in the past. Marsh mallows are also known for their medicinal properties.

Rose mallows have their share of specialized insects which are adapted to feeding off these plants. Hibiscus seed beetles (Althaeus hibisci) uses chemical cues from open petals to locate freshly open flowers. The beetles eat pollen and lay their eggs on the seeds. The beetles larvae are protected inside the see capsule, and have plenty of highly nutritious food for development. Thus, The entire life cycle of the beetles revolves around the lifecycle of the plant. 

Relatives – July 28

Salt marsh is a home to some interesting arthropods =”joint legs” referring to the movable appendages connected by joints. Insects, arachnids (spiders ticks…), and crustaceans (shrimp, crabs..) are all part of this big happy family. Amphipods are crustaceans with laterally compressed bodies. They are most numerous in the oceans, but are found in all aquatic and some semi-aquatic environments such as salt marshes.  Their color is normally olive brown when alive. Like crabs and lobsters, they molt, and the shed exuvia can acquire reddish color as seen on the photo. The can run and jump on the surface of the marsh, and generally resemble wolf spiders that occupy the same type of habitat. When in water amphipods are fast swimmers. The female amphipods carry their eggs and young in a pouch. This shed skin probably belongs to Gammarus species.