TOP TEN INSECTS
Eastern Carpenter Bee
Xylocopa virginiana
DESCRIPTION: Carpenter bees are an inch long or more, making them the beasts of the East. They have a hairy thorax and a shiny black abdomen. Males, like the one pictured, have a distinctive yellow patch on their clypeus (face).
HOW TO FIND THEM: Active in the spring and summer months, they are generalist pollinators and can be found foraging on a variety of flowering plants. Males, who can’t sting, often “dive bomb” people who get close to their nests of food sources, but they are harmless.
FUN FACT: This bee is too big to pollinate these Phlox, but this one is “nectar robbing” the flower. It has pierced the base of the flower and is drinking the nectar without pollinating it!
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Papilio glaucus
DESCRIPTION: These butterflies are large, having a wingspan of three to five inches and long projections on their hindwings. In this area most are bright yellow with black tiger stripes, but some females are bimorphic, that is, they come in two different colors, like the one pictured here.
HOW TO FIND THEM: Look for these butterflies from spring to late summer on flowering plants and trees where they forage for nectar.
FUN FACT: Black females of this nonpoisonous species are thought to have evolved to mimic the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail (called Batesian mimicry). About 70% of females in this area are black. It’s higher further south, where there are more Pipevines, and lower in the north.
Western Honeybee
Apis malifera
DESCRIPTION: These non-native bees are the ones that make honey. They are about a half inch long and have golden-brown bodies with dark bands on their abdomen.
HOW TO FIND THEM: Honeybees are frequent visitors to most all flowering plants and can be found in the park from late spring to early fall.
FUN FACT: Honeybees are one of the few truly social insects (called “eusocial”), meaning that they have a division of labor, cooperating brood care, and overlapping generations with a queen living two to three years. Honeybees perform a “waggle dance,” shaking their bodies and turning in circles that communicates the angle and distance from the hive to a new food source.
June Beetle
Cotinis nitida
DESCRIPTION: When they’re around, they’re not tough to spot, They’re big (nearly an inch), they’re metallic green, and they’re slow.
HOW TO FIND THEM: June beetles are most active in — wait for it — around June. You can find them on sunny summer days slowly flying about a foot off the grassy fields from where they emerged as adults to breed and feed.
FUN FACT: Like all beetles, June beetles have hardened wings covering their bodies, called elytra, which protects them but doesn’t help them fly. The large size and weight of the June beetle makes them especially slow, clumsy, erratic fliers. It also makes them easy for people (and their predators) to find them!
Blue-Winged Wasp
Scolia dubia
DESCRIPTION: These nonaggressive wasps are less then an inch long and are easily recognized by their translucent blue wings and the two yellow spots on their abdomen.
HOW TO FIND THEM: Also called “digger wasps,” they can be found near the ground in the grassy fields, digging their nests or looking for prey, especially in late summer. They also drink nectar from a variety of flowering plants.
FUN FACT: When you see June beetles at Bandy, the blue-winged wasps aren’t far behind. The females dig up and parasitize the beetle larvae, take it to their nests, and lays eggs inside it. The wasps eggs develop over the winter while slowly eating the parasitized beetle larvae alive!
Halloween Pennant
Celithemis eponina
DESCRIPTION: These dragonflies get their name from the orange color of their bodies and orange and brown striped wings. Halloween pennants are about 1.5 to 1.7 inches long.
HOW TO FIND THEM: Look for dragonflies spring through fall with peak activity in the summer. Look for them at mid-day hunting, patrolling their territory, and perching around water, like the swale in Bandy (the shallow, wet area by the parking lot).
FUN FACT: Dragonflies have been around for about 300 million years. They are one of a few insects that have muscles connected directly to each wing (rather than inside the thorax, like bees and flies), making them excellent fliers.
Monarch
Danus plexus
DESCRIPTION: Monarchs have bright orange wings with black veins and white spots along the edges (Viceroy butterflies are similar, but have a horizontal stripe across the hindwings). They are an endangered species, particularly in the western U.S. where the population has declined 99.4% in the past decade.
HOW TO FIND THEM: Monarchs can be found near their milkweed host plants and late blooming flowers, like goldenrods and asters, in late summer and fall.
FUN FACT: The final “super generation” of Monarchs here migrate to Mexico each fall. They travel thousands of miles and live up to 8 months; other generations live 2 to 6 weeks.
Margined Calligrapher
Toxomerus marginatus
DESCRIPTION: Big eyes that almost meet at the top, short antennae, and only one pair of wings: This is a fly! From the family of Hover Flies (Syrphidae), these bee mimics are about 1/4” long and have striking abdominal patterns.
HOW TO FIND THEM: There are hundreds of Hover Fly species that can be found on flowers from late spring to early fall. They are excellent fliers and can be seen “hovering” around flowers, unlike most other insects.
FUN FACT: They’re flies, so they don’t sting, but they have evolved to look like bees so predators mistake them for stinging insects and leave them alone.
Bicolor Striped Sweat Bee
Agapostamon virescens
DESCRIPTION: At just under 1/2”, these metallic green bees are one of 10 genera of bees in Virginia known as “sweat bees.” Some are all green; in this species, females have black and white abdomens; males have yellow and brown.
HOW TO FIND THEM: From spring through fall, these bees are generalist pollinators and can often be found on flowers in sunny locations or by their nests in bare patches of the ground, where they nest individually or in small groups.
FUN FACT: The name “sweat bees” comes from their attraction to human sweat, which they use for hydration. In this photo, you can see the bee’s tongue, or “glossa” extending towards the flower of Mountain mint - a huge bee magnet!
Common Eastern Bumblebee
Bombus impatiens
DESCRIPTION: At about 1/2” long, this is one of the smaller bumblebees in the area (compare this one to the larger Brown-belted bumblebee to its’ left). Notice the hairy body and that only the first abdominal segment is yellow.
HOW TO FIND THEM: You’ll see them from early spring to fall. They are generalist pollinators, so you’ll likely see them on flowering plants of all kinds as well as around their underground nesting sites.
FUN FACT: These nonaggressive bees can “buzz pollinate” flowers by moving their flight muscles to vibrate their bodies without lifting their wings. This allows them to pollinate some flowers, like blueberries and tomatoes, that other bees can’t.
More information on these and other species found at the park — from mosses to mushrooms, bats to butterflies, or pine trees to pine warblers — is available! Check out our iNaturalist map!