Quinn's B.I.M.B.Y. Site
(Bugs In My Back Yard!)
Since July 12, 2008
South Austin, Travis County, Texas
Return
to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike
Quinn
Passed 150 spp. by Aug. 1, 2008
Passed 200 spp. by Sept. 1, 2008
Passed 300 spp. by Dec. 1, 2008
Passed 375 spp. by Jan. 1, 2009
Area
Arthropod Lists
- Close Up Photography
- Other Back Yard Surveys
Oxyopidae - Lynx Spiders

Thomisidae - Crab Spiders


Acari - Mites and Ticks
Anystidae - Whirligig Mites

Parajulidae

Entomobryidae

Ephemeroptera - Mayflies
Baetidae - Small Minnow Mayflies

Lestidae - Spreadwings

Libellulidae - Skimmers
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Orthoptera - Grasshoppers,
Katydids, Crickets
Acrididae - Short-horned Grasshoppers
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Gryllidae - True Crickets
Tettigoniidae - Katydids

Blaberidae
Polyphagidae

Dermaptera -
Earwigs
Anisolabididae

Psocidae

Alydidae - Broad-headed Bugs

Berytidae - Stilt Bugs

Coreidae - Leaf-footed Bugs
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Cynidae - Burrowing Bugs

Lygaeidae - Seed Bugs

Mesoveliidae - Water Treaders
Miridae - Plant Bugs
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Pentatomidae - Stink Bugs

Reduviidae - Assassin Bugs

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Emesinae - Thread-legged Bugs

Rhopalidae - Scentless Plant Bugs

Rhyparochromidae


Scutelleridae - Shield-backed Bugs
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Thyreocoridae - Negro Bugs
CICADOIDEA
Cicadidae - Cicadas

Membracidae - Treehoppers
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Cercopidae - Spittlebugs

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Cicadellidae - Leafhoppers
- Cicadellinae - Sharpshooters


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FULGOROIDEA
Delphacidae - Delphacid Planthoppers
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Derbidae

Cixiidae

Achilidae

Flatidae
- Flatid Planthoppers
Acanaloniidae - Acanaloniid Planthoppers

Caliscelidae - Piglet Bugs
Psyllidae - Jumping Plant Lice
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Berothidae - Beaded Lacewings

Coniopterygidae - Dustywings

Hemerobiidae - Brown Lacewings

Mantispidae - Mantidflies

Carabidae - Ground Beetles


Haliplidae - Crawling Water Beetles

Noteridae - Burrowing Water Beetles

Dytiscidae - Predacious Diving Beetles


Scymaenidae - Ant-like Stone Beetles
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Staphylinidae - Rove Beetles

SCARABAEOIDEA
Hybosoridae - Scavenger Beetles

Scarabaeidae - Scarab Beetles
- Aphodiinae - Aphodiine Dung Beetles

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Cetoniinae - Fruit and Flower Chafers
- Dynastinae - Rhinoceros Beetles
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Melolonthinae - June Bugs

SCIRTOIDEA
Scirtidae - Marsh Beetles
BUPRESTOIDEA
Buprestidae - Metallic Wood-boring Beetles

BYRRHOIDEA
Elmidae - Riffle Beetles
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Heteroceridae - Variegated Mud-loving Beetles

ELATEROIDEA
Elateridae - Click Beetles

BOSTRICHOIDEA
Dermestidae - Skin Beetles

Bostrichidae - Horned Powder-post Beetles
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- Subfamily Lyctinae - Powder-post Beetles

Anobiidae - Death-watch and Spider Beetles
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CLEROIDEA
Cleridae - Checkered Beetles
CUCUJOIDEA
Nitidulidae - Sap-feeding Beetles

Silvanidae - Silvanid Flat Bark Beetles

Laemophloeidae - Lined Flat Bark Beetles

Phalacridae - Shining Flower Beetles

Cryptophagidae - Silken Fungus Beetles

Coccinellidae - Lady Beetles
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Latridiidae - Minute Brown Scavenger Beetles

TENEBRIONOIDEA
Mycetophagidae - Hairy Fungus Beetles
Mordelidae - Tumbling Flower Beetles
Colydiidae - Cylindrical Bark Beetles

Tenebrionidae - Darkling Beetles

Meloidae - Blister Beetles
Anthicidae - Antlike Flower Beetles

Aderidae - Antlike Leaf Beetles

Scraptiidae - False Flower Beetles

CHRYSOMELOIDEA
Cerambycidae - Long-horned Beetles
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- Lamiinae - Flat-Faced Longhorns


Chrysomelidae - Leaf Beetles
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- Cassidinae - Tortoise Beetles and Hispines
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- Cryptocephalinae - The Casebearers
- Galerucinae - Skeletonizing leaf beetles


CURCULIONOIDEA
Curculionidae - Straight-snouted Weevils

Curculionidae - Weevils


- Platypodinae - Pinhole Bark Borers
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- Scolytinae - Bark and Ambrosia Beetles
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Strepsiptera -
Twisted-Wing
Parasites
Myrmecolacidae
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Suborder NEMATOCERA - Long-horned Flies
Limoniidae - Meadow Crane Flies

Cecidomyiidae - Gall Midges

Culicidae - Mosquitoes
Chironomidae - Midges
Psychodidae - Moth Flies

Sciaridae - Dark-winged Fungus Gnats
Suborder BRACHYCERA - Short-horned Flies
Asilidae - Robber Flies

Rhagionidae - Snipe Flies

Stratiomyidae - Soldier Flies
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Suborder CYCLORRHAPHA - Circular-seamed flies
Division ASCHIZA - Muscoid Flies
Syrphidae - Hover Flies

Division SCHIZOPHORA - Muscoid Flies
Section ACALYPTRATAE
Heleomyzidae

Lauxaniidae

Micropezidae - Stilt-legged Flies

Platystomatidae - Signal Flies
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Sphaeroceridae - Lesser Dung Flies

Ulidiidae - Picture-winged Flies

Section CALYPTRATAE
Calliphoridae - Blow Flies

Sarcophagidae - Flesh Flies

Tachinidae
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Tephritidae - Fruit Flies
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Lepidoptera - Moths and
Butterflies
Superfamily Tineoidea
Acrolophidae - Burrowing Webworm Moths
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Tineidae - Clothes Moths
Psychidae - Bagworm Moths
Superfamily Gracillarioidea
Gracillariidae - Leaf Blotch Miner Moths

Superfamily Gelechioidea
Coleophoridae - Casebearer Moths

Cosmopterigidae - Cosmet Moths

Elachistidae - Grass Miner Moths

Gelechiidae - Twirler Moths

Glyphidoceridae

Xyloryctidae - Flower Moths
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Superfamily Copromorphoidea
Carposinidae

Superfamily Yponomeutoidea
Plutellidae

Ypsolophidae

Yponomeutidae - Ermine Moths

Heliodinidae

Superfamily Tortricoidea
Tortricidae - Tortricid Moths
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Superfamily Hesperioidea
Hesperiidae - Skippers
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Superfamily Papilionoidea
Pieridae - Whites and Yellows




Lycaenidae
Nymphalidae

Superfamily Zygaenoidea
Megalopygidae - Flannel Moths

Epipyropidae - Planthopper Parasite Moths
Superfamily Pyraloidea
Crambidae - Crambid Snout Moths



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Pyralidae - Pyralid Moths

Superfamily Pterophoroidea
Pterophoridae - Plume Moths

Superfamily Geometroidea
Geometridae - Inchworm Moths

Superfamily Bombycoidea
Saturniidae - Silk Moths

Superfamily Sphingoidea
Sphingidae - Sphinx Moths


Superfamily Noctuoidea
Arctiidae - Tiger Moths

Erebidae
- Calpinae - Fruit-piercing Moths


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Nolidae - Nolid Moths

Noctuidae - Owlet Moths



Notodontidae - Prominent Moths

Superfamily Ichneumonoidea
Braconidae - Braconids
Ichneumonidae - Ichneumon Wasps

Superfamily Sphecoidea
Sphecidae - Thread-waisted Wasps

Superfamily Apoidea
Halictidae - Sweat Bees

Megachilidae -
Leaf-cutter bees, Mason Bees, and allies

Apidae - Bees

Superfamily Vespoidea
Vespidae - Yellowjackets, Paper Wasps, and Hornets; Potter,
Mason and
Pollen Wasps
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Eumeninae - Potter and Mason Wasps

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Superfamily Formicoidea
Formicidae - Ants

Austin-area Arthropod Lists and
References
Total taxa: 14 orders, 138 families, 473 genera,
~1600 species/subspecies
Faunal
and Floral Species Lists - Brackenridge Field Laboratory,
University
of Texas at Austin
- Moth list includes over
1200 species! (Eight new moth species were described from this
location.)
- The Brackenridge Field Laboratory moth collection was curated
and compiled by James Gillaspy. The collection is based largely on his
work at BFL (1992-97) supplemented by the earlier species of L.E.
Gilbert, Tim Friedlander, Allen C. Hook, C. Riley Nelson, and others.
Determinations were made by Edward C. Knudson, Texas Lepidoptera
Survey, and other United States and Canadian systematists.
- This is an amazing and essential site for
identifying arthropods in central texas.
Taber & Fleenor. 2003. Insects of the
Texas Lost Pines. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.
283 pp.
Austin-area Lep Lists
Travis County
Butterfly
Checklist - Mike Quinn
Moths
of Medina County - Maury Heiman
I highly recommend the following book to anyone who is
serious about
close up photography. It was written for SLR photography during the
film era,
but the laws of physics haven't changed significantly since then.
John Shaw. 1987. John Shaw's Closeups in Nature. Amphoto Books,
New York.
144 pp.
On
Google Books - John Shaw's
Website
The following macro lens is without peer:
"A unique manual-focus lens designed exclusively for macro shooting,
between life-size (1x) and 5x life-size - at its maximum magnification,
you can fill a 35mm frame with a grain of rice."
Here are two reviews: one
- two
but to truly see what this lens can do, just look at the following
jaw-dropping
images:
Charles Chien: Incredible
close-up shot of a fly's head - Phenomenal
shot of an ant tending an aphid
Check out the awesome clarity of this sub-millimeter mite along with
other
images shot by Scott
Justis!!

more images
Other Celebrated Back Yard Insect Surveys
- Frank E. Lutz. 1941. A Lot of Insects: Entomology in a
Suburban Garden. G. P.
Putnam's Sons, New York. 304 pp.
Frank Lutz, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural
History in New York City, humorously
described his collecting of some 1,402 insect species,
including some 260 beetles, in a four-year survey of his 75-by-200-foot
yard ...
- Gary Hevel, and entomologist at the Smithsonian since 1969
was
inspired by Frank Lutz to conduct a similar effort on his
two-acre
backyard in Silver
Spring, Maryland. Over the course of a four year survey, he
collected a half
a million specimens of approximately 4,000 species!
This effort attracted the attention of a public television company
in Japan,
which sent a film crew to his residence in September of 2004 to film
the story.
The resulting documentary, “Bug-Hunter,” was broadcast
nationally in Japan
in December of that year.
That documentary was updated to an English version and appeared as
“Insect
Microcosm” on the Smithsonian Channel (Direct TV, Channel 267).
Links and a Smithsonian article discussion his efforts:
Gary
Hevel finds a backyard bonanza of bugs - Smithsonian
Institution
"About 70 percent of the insects I
catch come from my traps," Hevel explains. The other 30 percent come from
Hevel's crawling through grass, peeling the bark off
of dead trees, flipping over rocks, wandering through his garden,
perusing the woodpile and making certain to visit specific trees,
particularly when they are in flower. Hevel frequently uses a ladder
and a long-handled net for collecting insects living high in trees.
National
Geographic BioBlitz Blog - Posted on May 18, 2007
Hevel, G. 2004. Bugs Beware. Smithsonian Magazine. Oct '04.
Moth Backyard Surveys
- Comments from Bob Patterson's web page concerning his
survey effort for just moths in his yard and similar moth survey
efforts across the continent:
Bob
Patterson's Entomology Hobby Page - Digital Photos from My
Garden and
elsewhere
Apart from the intensive effort that I put forth this year [2004] in
photographing moths, my record of 700+ species in one year is probably
nothing
special, and could be duplicated with equal or less effort elsewhere.
Almost
everyone lives amidst an abundance of moths.
- David Beadle photographed in just a few years about 300
species of moths in his tiny yard (15 ft. x 15 ft.) in urban Toronto,
Canada.
- Lynn Scott, near Ottawa but in the suburbs, has recorded
over 400 species in a few years.
- Larry Line, photographed about 600 species at his
place in Maryland.
- John Himmelman has identified about 700 species of
macromoths on his property in a suburban Connecticut location over a
period of years (and has probably ignored almost as many
micromoths).
- David Wagner, also in Connecticut, had about 200 species
attracted to a light in just one night at a favorable location, and
suggested that almost any location will yield 1,200 species of moths
(including micros) over time.
- Bruce Walsh says that in southeastern Arizona 1,000
species of macromoths ought to be a possibility almost anywhere.
Butterfly Backyard Survey
Beetle Backyard Survey
- Tim R. Moyer of
Medford, NJ
has collected 300 beetle species in his yard as of September 2008.
January 04, 2011
© Mike
Quinn / Texas Entomology