joerich's Journal

Last week I discovered an incredible ecosystem built around Turkey Mullein. I have seen this plant many times while walking the fields here but never gave it much attention probably because it lies low and does not have showy. However, I noticed a pollinator on it - what I thought was a black fly. Taking a closer look I saw these little insects which looked like fleas and could hop like a flea if I got too close. I took photographs of several different insects but when I got home and started looking at the photos I found many more which I had not noticed in the field. Many of these were hiding under leaves so the next day I went back to search under leaves. I then found there were probably ten to twenty more insects under the leaves than on the surface. I can only speculate that they were there partly to stay cool, partly to hide.

Today I visited another patch in the same field maybe a quarter mile south of the first patch. It had even more plants, however, and even though it did have various insects on them, I did not see a single "flea". Noticing this absence, I went back to the original north patch and I did find the 'fleas" there.

We have had some hot temperatures - yesterday it was 110F (43C). This morning while walking the field it was 92F (33C).

I was surprised to discover that Turkey Mullein is not in the Mullein genus but is in fact a spurge. I downloaded an association map for Turkey Mullein and am slowly entering the species into a spreadsheet to aid in identifications, as well as to serve as a checklist of what I have seen. So far I have not found the "flea" insect on the associations list.

More to follow as I explore this ecosystem.

Last Friday morning I visited another Turkey Mullein patch which I now call patch 5. It was around 9 in the morning and the temperature was probably between 85F to 90F. There was a lot of activity on this patch this morning and I got several new species, including a Familiar Bluet which I caught predating another insect, an Acmon Blue, a Gray Hairstreak, a fly from the Bellula Species Group, and a couple of what I think are Anthophorula bees.

This morning I went to another patch, which I call patch 1 because it was the first patch I noticed the amazing ecosystem that is associated with Turkey Mullein - Croton setiger. The first time I was on this patch there were many small plant fleas which I think are Longitarsus. However, today I saw none of these insects. Maybe the reason for the lack of these beetles is that their season has past, or maybe it is the high temperature days we have been having. I collected two samples and brought them home to photograph them using my Raynor 1.5 close-up lense on a tripod. One sample I think are pupae of some beetle, possibly Longitarsus. The other sample turned out to be some growth, maybe a fungus.

I have been wondering how the temperature affects the insects, so this afternoon I went back to patch 5, then to 3 and 4. When it was in the 90s there was a lot of activity on Patch 5. Today, when it was 103F, there were was very little activity. The great majority of the insects were on the underside of the leaves, maybe taking advantage of the shade. On patch 3 and 4 I noticed several Tripartite Bees on the underside of the leaves - these bees seemed to be torpid. I did see a Western Honey Bee on Pennyroyal which was quite active.