At blacklight after dark at edge of remnant bluff prairie and overgrown oak woodland. All individuals photographed. ID uncertain.
At blacklight after dark at edge of remnant bluff prairie and overgrown oak woodland. All individuals photographed.
At sugar bait after dark at edge of small, overgrown bluff prairie remnant and overgrown oak woodland. Mostly cloudy, calm, 75-64F. All individuals photographed. ID uncertain.
In small, 10x10m shrinking bluff prairie remnant.
I couldn't get a great picture of this girl, I've talked to multiple ant keeping pros that have agreed this is most likely B. chinensis. At the time of spotting her, I measured her around 4-5mm in length and she had all the similar characteristics of a B. chinensis. I could not get a very good photo so here is a video. https://www.facebook.com/100015916598098/videos/455018049992563/
It was recommended to me later (the day of posting this) to record this sighting in case this species has come further north than currently known. It's also notable that I have only seen the one worker, I have not seen any since, I spent 3 months after this sighting trying to find more but they're so small it's hard to find them. I will be actively looking for them again this year and if I find another I will post a new sighting and hopefully gather a specimen to get properly ID'd by a taxonomist. The image shown here is the best quality I could get.
On Arctiini caterpillar in grassland mostly dominated by cool-season exotics. ID uncertain.
In somewhat-open quartzite glade slowly becoming shaded by oak/hickory, red cedar, invasive honeysuckles and autumn olive.