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Insects
The most common insects in the Metro Parks:
1. Monarch butterfly
2. Angular-winged katydid
3. Yellow garden spider
4. Praying mantis
5. Ladybug
Monarch butterfly
The monarch butterfly is one of the most commonly recognized butterflies in Ohio, with its four-inch wingspan and strikingly bright burnt-orange and black vein coloration sprinkled with white spots. Spending its winters in Mexico and migrating north in the spring, the monarch is a common sight in the late summer and early fall. During spring, caterpillars are busy munching away on milkweed plants and later forming a chrysalis, or pupa, where they will complete their metamorphosis into the butterfly.
The monarch is toxic, from eating the poisonous milkweed plant, and is therefore quite undesirable to predators. In the fall, the monarch begins its migration back to Mexico, where it will remain until the following spring. During the migration back north the butterflies will stop frequently and deposit eggs on milkweed. Very rarely will a butterfly complete the round trip journey; often the incoming butterflies contain several generations.
Angular-winged Katydid
The katydid, also known as the long-horned grasshopper, is slender and green with broadened wings designed to resemble leaves, camouflaging the insect within tree foliage and shrubs. The katydid can be distinguished from other grasshoppers due to the length of its antennae, which reaches beyond the length of its body. The species is most common mid- to late summer, as this is when the insect is fully grown and most recognizable.
The name katydid comes from the insect’s common song, which is heard in the evening: “katy did, katy didn’t.” The song is produced by males rubbing their hind legs together, a process known as stridulating. The females lay their eggs in either the soil or on plant tissue. Often, this causes harm to the plant due to the many slashes the female makes in order to lay her eggs inside.
Yellow garden spider
Although not an insect, the spider belongs to the phylum Arthropoda, which contains insects, spiders and other multi-legged creatures. An adult garden spider can reach a size of 3/4 of an inch to one and 1/8 inches, often startling those who accidentally stumble upon it in the garden or in the field. A strikingly beautiful spider with its bold yellow and black abdomen and banded legs, the animal is quite easy to recognize. It prefers to build its web in sunlit fields. If disturbed, the spider quickly drops and hides within the underlying vegetation, where it hides out until it is safe to return back to the web.
The garden spider is an orb-weaver, meaning its web takes on a circular or orb-like structure containing many strands of silk that jet out from the orb and act as stabilizers. Often, the orb web also contains a white zigzag pattern in the center known as a stabilimenta; it is thought that this structure absorbs light, acting as an attractant for flying insects as well as camouflaging the spider. Like all spiders, the garden spider contains venom. However, it is strictly used as a means of subduing prey that get caught in the web; it is of no harm to humans.
Praying mantis
The praying mantis is one of the largest insects in Ohio, coming in at a whopping two to two and a half inches long. It is easily recognized, not only because of its large size but also because of the “praying”-like stance the mantis takes on as it sits atop tall flowers and grass waiting for its next meal. Their triangular heads with compound eyes make it easy for them to spot prey, and their elongated, serrated forelegs make it quite easy to grasp their meal.
The female is a bright green color, where as the slightly smaller male has a brown coloration. Although common in Ohio, the praying mantis was actually introduced from Europe in 1899. The insect proved to be beneficial in feasting on the invasive gypsy moth. However, due to the highly cannibalistic nature of the mantis, it is rarely abundant enough to have a real impact on invasive species. During mating, the female commonly eats the male for nutrients, but this not always the case. After laying the eggs, the mantids die with the first frost, and the young mantids hatch in the spring.
Ladybug
One of the smallest beetles in Ohio, the ladybug comes in at just a quarter of an inch long. They prefer meadows, fields and garden habitats, and their favorite food are aphids. Although quite common, they were originally brought over from Europe to control aphid populations within crops.
Ladybugs are easily recognized due to their bright red to orange coloring with black spots. The bright coloring is actually a defense mechanism, warning would-be predators of their nasty taste. Although not a pest insect, ladybugs are sometimes considered undesirable during the winter months, when hundreds of them relocate indoors to ride out the cold. The beetles mate in spring, producing several hundred eggs that hatch in a week. Within 10 days the larvae pupate and become adults. Because the entire life cycle of the ladybug is completed within four to seven weeks, several broods can be produced in one summer.
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