Browntail Moth Caterpillar

 Highlighted Species: Browntail Moth Euproctis chrysorrhoea Lepidoptera: Erebidae

Image 1: The browntail moth caterpillar, with its urticating hairs and red spots. (UMaine, 2024).

About: 

The Browntail moth, specifically its caterpillar stage, is a notorious pest of Maine’s forests. As a caterpillar, aggregations will feed on most deciduous broadleaf trees from oaks and maples to apples and pears. The caterpillar overwinters in a baglike webbed nest up in the canopy of trees– but not before inflicting damage to those in the area.

The fuzzy white-and-brown-reared adult moth is fairly innocuous, living long enough to lay the next generation of eggs: it is the caterpillars which are cause for concern. The caterpillars have defensive hairs which are barbed and contain irritating compounds; the hairs break off of the organism and cause intense dermatitis and other reactions in people. The urticating hairs can become airborne, landing on surfaces that people use, resting on the surface of lakewater, and irritating the skin and lungs when disturbed by fall raking. 

Images 2-3: Nat's nails represent the caterpillar stage of the browntail moth. (Naterpillar, 2024).

Design Notes:

This design represents the larval stage of the browntail moth, with a brown background, parallel rows of white dashes found on each segment, and two prominent red dots.

This design is dedicated to Emma, Mck, and Devin, three awesome student researchers at UMaine who study Browntail moth.  

Image 4: Oh no! The caterpillar nails caused a faux-rash on Nat's partner! Don't worry, it's just makeup. (Naterpillar, 2024).

Resources:

Home and Garden IPM from Cooperative Extension. (2024).     Browntail moth. Home and Garden IPM from Cooperative     Extension. https://extension.umaine.edu/home-and-garden-     ipm/fact-sheets/common-name-listing/brown-tail-moth/

UMass Amherst. (2024). Browntail moth. Forest Pest Insects     in North America: a Photographic Guide.     https://www.forestpests.org/vd/144.html

Beech Leaf Disease

 Highlighted Species: Beech Leaf Disease Nematode Litylenchus crenatae mccannii

Image 1: Damage by the nematode causes banding on the leaves. (Brazee, 2024).

About:

Beech Leaf Disease (BLD) is the disease complex associated with a recently introduced foliar nematode. The symptoms of the disease, most notably dark green banding of the leaves, withered/curling leaves, and bud abortion, eventually stress and kill the tree. Beech trees in the forests may already be weakened by the Beech Bark Disease complex. 

The life history of this nematode is still being researched, while the spread is occurring rapidly across the northeastern United States. The best way to see if a beech tree has BLD is to stand beneath the canopy on a bright day and look up– the dark banding of the leaves will contrast against the light green foliage. 

Members of the public are encouraged not to move firewood or plant material, as well as report any suspected sightings to programs like iMap Invasives, or to their state’s extension program or forest health program.

Images 2-3. BLD is represented by dark green stripes on a light green background. (Naterpillar 2024)

Design Notes:

This design features the conspicuous dark green banding, an effect of the feeding of the nematodes. Nat’s manicure is held up against the sky, as if one is below the canopy of a beech tree and looking up to view banding.

Image 4: Look up at the canopy of a beech tree on a bright day to view banding. (Naterpillar 2024)

Resources:

Brazee, Nicholas J. (2024 March). Beech leaf disease. UMass     Extension Nursery, Landscape, and Urban Forestry Program.     https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/fact-sheets/beech-leaf-     disease

Emerald Ash Borer Network. (2024). Beech leaf disease.
https://www.emeraldashborer.info/other-species/BLD

iMapInvasives. (2024). iMapInvasives: Sharing information
for strategic management.
https://www.imapinvasives.org/

Invasive Species Centre. (2024). Beech leaf disease.
https://www.invasivespeciescentre.ca/invasive-species/meet-the-species/invasive-pathogens/beech-leaf-disease/

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

 Highlighted Species: Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Adelges tsugae Hemiptera: Adelgidae

Figure 1: Cotton-like masses on the bases of hemlock needles. (NYIS.info 2019)

About:

    The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (HWA) is an introduced pest of Eastern Hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina Hemlocks (Tsuga caroliniana) and has rapidly spread in the decades since its arrival from Asia. Hemlocks are an important tree component to many forest ecosystems, and the decline of hemlock-dense areas creates major impacts for these ecosystems. 

    The HWA is a tiny, soft-bodied insect which feeds on the sap of the trees at their needles and stems, causing branch and crown dieback, needle drop, and susceptibility to other diseases. The adult insect lays its egg masses at the bases of hemlock needles, covering them with a visible “cotton” like mass. These “wooly” clusters are visible without a hand lens and will be found on the undersides of branches. The HWA spreads by wind, animals, and human assisted movement. 

Figures 2-4: The author's manicure is posed with an Eastern Hemlock Branch. (Naterpillar, 2024).

Design Notes:

    This design features a sienna background with white, dappled masses representing the wooly egg clusters of HWA. Nat poses her nails with a branch of Eastern Hemlock, the host plant of the HWA.

Figure 5: A detail shot of the HWA manicure. (Naterpillar, 2024). 

Resources:

Childs, Robert. (2022, December). Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.     UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery, and Urban Forestry     Program. https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/fact-     sheets/hemlock-woolly-adelgid

Division of Lands and Forests. (2024). Hemlock Woolly     Adelgid. Department of Environmental Conservation.      https://dec.ny.gov/nature/animals-fish-plants/insects-and-     other-species/hemlock-woolly-adelgid

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. (2019, July 2). New York Invasive     Species (IS) Information.     https://nyis.info/invasive_species/hemlock-woolly-adelgid/

Eastern Eyed Click Beetle

 Highlighted Species: Eastern Eyed Click Beetle Alaus oculatus Coleoptera: Elateridae

Image 1: The adult Eastern Eyed Click Beetle (Gallagher, 2012).

About:

The Eastern Eyed Click Beetle, also called the Eyed Elater, is a 24-45mm black beetle with conspicuous white ‘eyespots.’ Not the true eyes that the beetle uses, these markings on the pronotum will startle an incoming predator away from eating it. Like other members of the click beetle family, this elongated, smooth beetle has an escape mechanism– by locking thoracic segments together, potential energy is built up until a segment slips and when the energy is released, the beetle launches out of harm's way. The force of the snap creates a characteristic “click” sound, and this behavior can also be used to right itself back up when upside down.

The Eyed Elater, like all beetles, is holometabolous and undergoes a complete metamorphosis, in which egg, larva (Wireworm), pupa, and adult have unique biologies and characteristics. The Wireworm stage lives in rotting logs, where they predate on other insects (particularly the grubs of Longhorned beetles). As an adult, the beetle consumes nectar from flowers. 

Images 2-4: Nat poses her nails against a rotting log (Naterpillar, 2024).

Design Notes:

This nail features a black backdrop to the stark white outlines of the false eyespots of the Elater. I pose my manicure against a rotting log, as if perhaps the adult beetle is ready to oviposit. 

Image 5: A detail shot of this nail art (Naterpillar, 2024). 

Resources:

Frey, Gabrielle. (2001). Alaus oculatus. Animal Diversity Web.     https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Alaus_oculatus/

Gallagher, Judy. (14 June 2012). Eyed Click Beetle - Alaus     oculatus, Julie Metz Wetlands, Woodbridge, Virginia     [Photograph]. Wikipedia.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eyed_Click_Beetle_-_Alaus_oculatus,_Julie_Metz_Wetlands,_Woodbridge,_Virginia.jpg

Texas A&M. (2024). Click Beetle/Wireworm. Texas A&M     AgriLife Extension. https://texasinsects.tamu.edu/click-     beetlewireworm/

Woodruff, R.E. (April 2021). Common Name: Click Beetles.     University of Florida.   https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/beetles/click_beetle.htm