Happy Halloween! I'm Ashley Hansen, CVWO's Monarch biologist. While the majority of my work is focused around Monarchs, I also do surveys to assess overall insect species diversity and beneficial insect populations. I also encounter a wide variety of other amazing animals while out and about! To keep with the spirit of the spooky season, I’ve taken over the blog to talk about some of the amazing, sometimes spooky, and fascinating animal finds that have been spotted around Kiptopeke and on my adventures in the field since starting here with CVWO. Without further ado, let’s check them out!
Praying Mantis
The Praying Mantis is a very common find, especially around the Hawkwatch platform, where they have been spotted attempting to capture the hummingbirds around the feeders. As well as taking full advantage of the butterfly garden just down the way to munch on some smaller prey – beetles, bees, moths, and butterflies, most notably (and unfortunately for me) monarchs!
Mantids will wait within the flowers, camouflaged in greens and browns to blend with the leaves and stems. Once their chosen prey is comfortable and nectaring, they will unfold their barbed front limbs and snap them back shut over their unsuspecting prey.
The barbs and their strength making it a challenge and rather painful to attempt to escape. Much like many zombies are depicted in media, mantids will slowly start devouring their prey while they are still alive, head first. This also translates over to their rather interesting mating ritual – the females devouring the heads of their mates after the act, the male acting as a source of energy to help with the development of the eggs and eventually, ootheca!
SDF
Top: female Praying Mantis on the platform hummingbird feeder with a (rather headless) male attached to the left.
Bottom: Female Praying Mantis laying ootheca.
The ootheca is a specialized egg covering and means of protection for the eggs of mantids, mollusks, and cockroaches. One female praying mantis can lay between 3 and 6 oothecae. Each can contain several hundred eggs. Watching them emerge, typically with 3 to 6 months of laying, could count as a terrifying experience all on its own. Especially if one makes the mistake of bringing one of these rather interesting-looking egg cases in during the winter for one reason or another. With exposure to high enough temperatures for long enough, you’ll find everything covered in these tiny, translucent carnivores. Back in mid-September, we were lucky enough at the hawkwatch platform to witness a mass ootheca laying event of between 10 and 14 females all laying every few stalks. It will definitely be a sight for those observing the hatching come spring!
The three types of mantids found in this region are European, Chinese, and Carolina Mantids. With the last one being the only one native to the area, and in great decline as it is being out-competed by the much larger European and Chinese Mantids. You can tell the difference by their sizing (the non-natives are much larger) and by the vertical striping that is only present on the Chinese Mantis.
---
Green Snake
A lot of people find snakes to be very scary animals to encounter, fearing a venomous bite and cold-blooded body, and potentially feeling something akin to primal instinct. However, snakes are not something to fear, especially these little Rough Green Snakes!
Rough Green, also known as grass or green grass snakes are smaller sized, non-venomous snakes with bright green bodies and yellow underbellies, named for the feel of their scales. In regions that contain both species, they are easily confused with the Smooth Green Snake and are best differentiated between in looking at their keeled or ridged scales.
They are commonly found along the Virginia coast, and are found within a wide range of habitats from overgrown pasture to woodland and even the beach! The two individuals I spotted were found alongside the beach and in the transition between a forested area and an open prairie. They mostly eat insects and arachnids but have been known to occasionally go for small frogs and snails. These snakes can frequently be found climbing along different levels of vegetation, and are known to be encountered in trees, mimicking the swaying motion of branches in an attempt to blend with their habitat. While unlikely to actually encounter these little guys in the wild, know they are very docile little snakes that cannot hurt you and, instead, are looking to find a way back up into a tree.
Rough Green Snake climbing into a tree at the South Beach at Kiptopeke.
---
Spiders
Flower Crab, Orb weavers, and Yellow Garden Spiders, oh my! As is with the spooky season, and most seasons, there have been quite a few spiders out in about within the various sites around Cape Charles and Kiptopeke! The most common of which being the little, and adorably named Flower Crab spiders!
A Flower Crab spider eating a Dun Skipper at the Eastern Shore Wildlife Refuge.
These small, commonly yellow or white spiders do not make webs in order to capture their prey. Instead relying on their small size, adaptability, and quick reflexes to find a meal. Flower Crab spiders can alter their colorations to better match the flowers that they chose, becoming more yellow in patches of pollen or goldenrod and white with hints of pink and purple like the individual pictured to match the passionflower or even partly blue mistflower and others as shown in the images below.
Flower Crab Spiders seen at CVWO's butterfly garden near the hawkwatch platform and at the Wildlife Refuge.
They will sit within a flower with two sets of legs open and ready to strike, remaining perfectly still with hopes that a butterfly or another tasty morsel will come by for them to strike! But, they will also nibble and snack on pollen as they bide their time.
Yellow garden spiders are another great find! They are typically found building their webs within areas near open, sunny fields – with their webs being large as 2 feet in diameter! While they can look rather scary with their bigger size and vivid “look out for me” coloring. However, much like the Flower Crab spider, they are harmless. With their venom only being something to worry about if you happen to be an unlucky insect trapped in their signature zigzag silk webs.
Yellow garden spider beginning to weave its web.
The most you have to worry about is accidentally walking through their hard work and feeling the discomfort associated with spiderwebs on your person.
---
Velvet Ants
A Red Velvet Ant.
Legitimately the scariest insect I have encountered while out in the field and one I will be giving a warning on. While beautiful in their vivid colors, patterns, and fuzzy look, those bright reds and whites are a warning not to touch or come near. These “ants’ crawling along the ground are actually female wasps, wingless and on the search for the nest of an unsuspecting bee or fellow wasp to place her own brood. Velvet ants are parasitoid wasps who deposit their eggs onto the larvae or eggs of mostly solitary, ground-dwelling bees and wasps. Though, there have been reports of individuals going for Bumblebees and insects outside of their order (Hymenoptera).
Another type of Velvet Ant, Timulla dibutata.Another species of Velvet Ant, Timulla dibutata.
They can be found within open prairies and fields, as well as in large patches of prairie flowers as adults primarily feast on pollen and nectar. If you see one, I would highly recommend walking the other direction. Females have long, barbed stingers and will sting if handled or frightened. Red Velvet Ants (pictured above), specifically, have been known to create a sort of vocalization if handled and as a warning before stinging. These insects are sometimes known as “Cow killers” as the pain and shock from receiving their stings is quite intense, though it is not actually that intense that it would kill a mammal that size. The second individual, I have personally experienced a sting from and it is not as intense or lasted as long as what is described for the prior ant, but still was quite painful for a while. Feeling much like boiling cooking oil being poured on the patch of skin that the injection site, its rated as more intense than a bee sting, can cause localized swelling and redness. There have been 20 separate species of Velvet Ant discovered and recorded, I have only encountered these two in my surveys.
---
Wheel Bug
Part of the assassin and true bug families, Wheel Bugs are a wild sight to see with their vivid orange legs, antennae, and red proboscis, alongside their strange spiked dorsal wheel protruding from their backs. They are beneficial predators, primarily hunting common garden pests. However, they do have a rather painful “bite” if disturbed, as I was definitely doing as I was taking this photo based on how she’s looking at me. However, many people just consider this insect as “aggressive’ from the get-go, but as long as you treat her and her much smaller mate with respect and distance, she will not come after you with her sharp, stabbing proboscis and long front legs. Which are her tools to help her capture and drain the fluids from her prey. It is unknown at this point why she and members of her species have that crest; however, it is highly speculated to be a warning to potential predators of their horrid taste.
------
Atlantic Ghost Crabs
Described by some as “alien” and named for its pale, almost translucent appearance, shifting in and out of view as it sprints across the sand, like a specter in the wind. Atlantic Ghost Crabs are very small, semiterrestrial crabs that are very common along the beach around Kiptopeke. They might just be my favorite part about that survey site, there are many found along the beach but are hard to spot as they are constantly darting in and out of their burrows, which can go as far as 4 feet underground! You typically will not see them very active during the day, as they are more nocturnal. However, if you go to the beach on a particularly cloudy day or after it rains, they will be all over the place! You can tell when the beach has been particularly popular, as they tend to stay hidden until there is not as much activity. Many scientists actually use these crabs to help assess the impact of human presence along such beaches as these, counting individuals observed and the number of holes found.
They are omnivorous and scavengers, praying on small insects, other crabs, sea turtle hatchlings, and their eggs, as well as scavenging for anything edible they can find. Potentially including monarch wings, as I found this sight as I walked along the beach one afternoon. As far as I can find, there are no reportings of these crabs going after them, however, if a mantis happened to be among the goldenrod and the crab found the pieces left behind, there is a chance for a few extra calories for the day. We may never know, however, as these little crabs are keeping their secrets to themselves.
---
I hope you guys enjoyed this little attempt at sharing more of the wildlife we encounter and have an amazing holiday weekend with both Halloween and El Dia De Los Muertos!
- Ashley
[All photos and graphic by Ashley Hansen.]
