An epic Adams County (Ohio) foray

Anyone who has checked in with this blog on any sort of regular basis over the years (1,811 posts over nearly a decade, thus far!) has probably noticed two recurring names: Adams County, and John Howard.

Adams County, Ohio, is an Ohio River county lying between Cincinnati and Portsmouth. It is also one of the most biologically rich regions in the entire midwestern United States, which is why I've reported on finds from that area so often, and make so many trips there.

John Howard is a friend who has lived in Adams County for decades, a superb naturalist, and few if any know the natural history of Adams County and vicinity as well as he does. Flora or fauna, it doesn't matter - John knows hidden nooks and crannies and where to find the coolest of the cool like no one else.

Last year, John and his wife Tina set about constructing what would become the Ohio Star Retreat Center just outside West Union, the county seat of Adams County. The building can lodge up to a dozen or so people, and is perfectly set up for the study of natural history. And it's in close proximity to some of the richest habitats in this part of the world. Last weekend, John organized what will hopefully become the first of many Ohio Star-based natural history forays. I could not attend the entire weekend, but was able to tag along on Saturday. It was a great time full of interesting sightings. And that's without even leaving the grounds of the retreat. The first bird that I heard upon getting out of my vehicle was a blue grosbeak, then another one began singing on the other side of the property and eventually teed up on a nearby dead snag.

There were about ten of us, and John had a large van so that everyone could travel together. On Saturday, we visited a few spots and were inundated with interesting finds. I'd suggest, in addition to checking in with the center's main website, following the Facebook page for the Ohio Star Retreat Center. Anyone interested in natural history and photography would be well served by attending future outings. The retreat is also an ideal place to stay for those venturing to Adams County on their own.

Following are just a few of last Saturday's finds.

Ah yes, one of the world's most spectacular beetles, and apparently quite the rarity in Ohio. The big tangerine-colored bruiser is the amorpha borer, Megacyllene decora, and it has only been found in a few Ohio River counties in southwest Ohio near as I know. It was high on our list to see, but we never have great expectations when hunting this beetle due to its seeming scarcity. On this day, we found several at the very first stop.

A case of the nut not falling far from the tree, this amorpha borer rests atop the leaves of its host plant, false indigo, Amorpha fruticosa. Its larvae bore within the root tissues, and the adults only emerge for a brief period in late summer and fall. As is always the case, at least with the amorpha borer finds that I've been in on, we're literally on the bank of the Ohio River. This particular site, which was new to me, was a treasure trove of unusual flora and fauna.

A gorgeous black-legged meadow katydid, Orchelimum nigripes, poses for the camera. It is a female, as evidenced by the long scimitar-shaped ovipositor jutting from her posterior. The "singing insects" were much in evidence on this outing: katydids, coneheads, crickets, and at least a half-dozen species of cicadas.

Not all is rosy in the life of a meadow katydid. This female short-winged meadow katydid, Conocephalus brevipennis (I believe) was captured by a predatory wasp in the genus Tachytes. The wasp delivered a sting which injected a potent neurotoxin which quickly disabled the katydid. It is lugging the victim to a ground burrow where it will be entombed along with an egg. The wasp grub then will have a fresh supply of meat upon hatching.

We saw many interesting plants, which is a given down here. This is not a rarity but a somewhat overlooked yet beautiful member of the sunflower family (Asteraceae), white lettuce, Prenanthes alba.

We are coming into peak caterpillar season, and we found them everywhere we went. This is a saddled prominent, Heterocampa guttivitta. It illustrates the remarkable camouflage so common in the caterpillar world. The shape of the cat merges well with the leaf edge, and dappled purplish spotting mirrors patches of necrotic leaf tissue so common on fall foliage.

John spotted this remarkable mimic, a flowerfly in the genus Spilomyia. From any distance it is an incredible match for a yellow jacket, and matching the appearance of these painful stingers provides a solid reason for would-be predators to give this thing a wide berth. The fly even holds its black forelegs out and forward to mimic the look of wasp antennae.

Here we have another saddled prominent caterpillar, but this one is not nearly as well off as the animal in the previous photo. It has been seized by a thread-waisted wasp, Ammophila nigricans, which provisions its burrows with caterpillars. It's the same old story: the wasp debilitates its victim by injecting a neurotoxin, then entombs it in a subterranean crypt. The wasp grub then eats the caterpillar.

We were fascinated to see two small flies tracking the wasp's movements like a shadow. They were tiny - a few millimeters - so getting a decent shot of them on the wing was not easy. They may be a species of tachinid fly, but I'm not sure. Anyway, there is no question that the flies aimed to parasitize the wasp. Most likely, once the wasp led them to its burrow and began dragging in the caterpillar, the flies would shoot in close and either fling eggs, or maybe even maggots, into the hole's entrance. Or they may go about it another way - see THIS AMAZING VIDEO by Mark Berman. Then the fly larvae would either feed on the wasp grub, or its caterpillar meal.

As you can see, we not only find lots of notable things and get exposed to lots of interesting photo ops on these forays. we also learn lots about natural history. If you're thinking of planning an Adams County excursion, you might check on with John at the Ohio Star Retreat Center page, or its Facebook page.