BUGGING OUT IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Guest Post by Paige Arnold

My granddaughter Paige spent five weeks participating in a summer research project at Glacier National Park sponsored by the Keck Geology Consortium at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. I thank her for her perceptive thoughts about her encounters with bugs during her time at Glacier NP. "Bugging Out in Glacier National Park" is republished from the Keck Geology Blog, where you can also find posts by other members of the research team.

My first day in the field, I felt a bit like a moth in the daytime. Surrounded by unfamiliar sights, sounds, and creatures (fellow Keck students included), I felt completely out of my element and like I was being pulled in every direction possible. The overwhelming environment around me led me to focus my gaze on something smaller, something more familiar that would allow me to start with details rather than the full picture: bugs. 

Glacier National Park is full of bugs, the most notable of which to most is the mosquito (impossible not to notice if even one manages to sneak into your tent overnight or if you stand still for a second too long). If you look a bit further, though, there are plenty of insects hiding just out of sight or perhaps below a particularly large rock. 

Some disguise themselves as other species, like the hover fly which adopts the patterning of a bee as a survival strategy. Some are so prominent and strange-looking that even a bug-enjoyer like myself has to stop and ask “oh my god how did that even HAPPEN” (looking at you, sawyer beetle). Some are enjoyed by all, like the Chlosyne Palla butterfly that stopped some of us in our tracks during a particularly busy coring day, and some are widely disliked, like the mosquito (self explanatory). 

No matter how high or low we were, the amount of bugs surrounding us never seemed to drop. We saw the same anise swallowtails and hover flies both down near Swiftcurrent Lake where one minute out of the shade made my vision swim, and up near Iceberg lake, where the ground stays covered by snow in the middle of July. 

Over time, the environment that once felt blinding started to feel promising, and instead of shying away from it I began to drink it in, like a caterpillar eating every leaf in sight in preparation for its eventual metamorphosis. Though my appreciation for Glacier’s bugs started out as an independent pursuit, as I began to feel more at home my interest became more widespread throughout the group. Some bugs we named and held dear to our hearts (Francis, Margo, Margo 2, Margo n+1), and some we briefly admired (or peeked at from a safe distance) before moving on. 

Near the end of the trip, I resonated with many of the bugs I had seen during my time in the park. Over time and continuous exposure, I developed a thicker outer shell like a beetle’s, which allowed me to enjoy the park despite the weather, long days, and unfamiliar camping lifestyle. Near the middle, I began to separate from my cocoon as I gained comfort among the environment and my peers, tentatively beginning to take steps outside my comfort zone. As opposed to the beginning of the trip where I felt like a moth under the sun, in the very last days I felt like the moths we saw on bathroom breaks from stargazing; content, peaceful, and at rest.

 For more about this and other Keck Geology programs, go to the Keck Geology website.

BUTTERFLIES OF KIBALE FOREST NATIONAL PARK, Uganda, Part 3, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Euphaedra eusemoides, butterfly in Kibale National Park, Uganda

My friend Karen Minkowski, truly an intrepid tourist, has spent much of her life in the field observing wild animals. She spent several months last year in Africa, including time in Kibale Forest National Park. In this three part series she shares her photos and observations of some of the wildlife there, particularly the wonderful diversity of butterflies. (Part 1, 6/29/20; Part 2, 7/6/20)

Butterfly larvae may not be as graceful or elegant as what they eventually metamorphose into, but I loved the variety of spikes, hairs, colors and pattern –  evolutionary adaptations to warn predators to keep away.

Richard also found insects fascinating and helped me spot them.

Euphaedra alacris butterfly

Euphaedra alacris caterpillar (larva)

I could identify only the larva of Euphaedra alacris, above with feathery appendages. Above it is the butterfly it will become.

Noctuid moth caterpillar that has been paratisitized by a Braconid wasp

Here is more drama in the insect world, this time in slow motion: a Braconid wasp has parasitized the larva (caterpillar) of a Noctuidae moth. By laying her eggs inside the larva's body, the wasp has turned it into an unwitting host that is supporting the developmental stages of her young. When the wasp's eggs hatched as larvae, they fed on the host's bodily fluids until they were ready to pupate. They then gnawed their way through the caterpillar's skin and spun their pupae - the white appendages - on its body. The Noctuidae larva will die before it can metamorphose into a moth, while adult Braconid wasps will emerge from their pupae and fly away.

Blue Mother of Pearl (Protogoniomorpha temora aka Junonia temora). 1971

Blue Mother of Pearl (Protogoniomorpha temora aka Junonia temora). 2019

Eventually I saw my purpley-blue butterfly. On top is the photograph I took in 1971 with a Miranda camera and either Kodachrome II or Ektachrome film. Below it is an image of the same species taken last year with my digital “bridge” camera, the Sony RX10v3. I often miss the warmth and saturation of Kodachrome film, even if those long ago images lacked the sharpness of today's digital photos.

I'm curious to see how the butterflies distribute themselves during Kibale's dry season. When dung is not diluted by rain do they still feed on it? Or do more of them drink nectar, like this unidentified butterfly is doing? And will I see species that show up only when the forest is drier? When it is again safe to travel, I hope to go find out.
Meanwhile, here are a few more of Kibale's amazing butterflies and moths:

Euphaedra preussi

    Cyclophora diplostica, a Geometrid moth     

 Kallimoides rumia; Cymothoe lurida

Euphaedra harpalyce

Brown pansy (Junonia hedonia)

Common dotted border (Mylothris agothina)

*****

I am very grateful to Dr. David Tumusiime and Mr. Innocent Kato for welcoming me as a volunteer at the Makerere University Biological Field Station and for their hospitality and support during my stay from April 9 to June 19, 2019. Many others on the MUBFS staff and in the Kanyawara community helped me as well. I thank Nelson Guma of Uganda Wildlife Authority for expediting permission for me to reside and work in Kibale for that time period. It was a remarkable experience that I will always treasure. Thanks to Dr. Freerk Molleman, who kindly made available for download his Butterflies of Uganda: Kibale Forest (2012) and also identified some of my photos. Likewise, Dr. Sille Holm identified several moths and the family of a moth larva. I also consulted The Anglia Ruskin University guide to butterflies of Kibale Forest, Uganda, by Alvin J. Helden, Fabrizio Manco and Sophie Mowles, v.2 (2018); A Field Guide to the Butterflies of East Africa, by John G. Williams (1969); and the internet. Any errors in identification are my own.