Goldenrod Visitors

Goldenrod Visitors
Hemingway, South Carolina USA

Tentative ID: Solidago altissima

Goldenrod is unique among the flowers. It gives our bees their last chance at a good winter feed. It is not only rich in nectar, but has a very high quality, protein-rich pollen. (Goldenrod is NOT responsible for your allergies. The pollen is heavy and sticky, designed for insect pollination, not wind. The only way to get goldenrod pollen in your nasal passages is to stick the flower up your nose! Wind-blown ragweed pollen is the most common culprit for allergies.)

Goldenrod attracts more varieties of insects than just about any other flower. It really brings out the wasps, which may not even visit flowers until goldenrod blooms. It also draws insect preditors who feast on the visiting insects!

The most amazing thing to note is that honeybees are the most frequent visitors. This spot is one of my old bee yards. I'm sure I lost swarms here, but I have not kept any hives here for 4 years. I am pretty sure there are no kept hives within range, which tells me that they are living and sustaining themselves without mite treatment. With hive beetles moving into the area, that will throw in a new factor, but it is becoming increasingly apparent to me that a few feral honeybee colonies are surviving and doing OK despite varroa mites.

Many of these goldenrod visitors are unidentified. If you can help with identification, it will be sincerely appreciated.

Remember that the photos are copyrighted. We are fairly liberal about granting permission for non-profit purposes, but use without permission is theft. Conditions to use these photos.

Goldenrod (and and other fall flower) Visitors
Copyright 2000, David L. Green
Many people have helped with identification of these visitors and much appreciation is due to Liz Day, Adalbert Goertz, Eric Eaton, Ben Coulter, Leo Castro, John Epler, Rod Crawford, Jeff Crolla, Brian Brown, and others. It is understood that it is extraordinarily difficult to identify many insects just from a single photo, and mistaken ID's should in no way be blamed on those who helped.

101	Colletes? She's a good pollinator, covered with yellow pollen (Click photo for enlargement) (40-50 seen)
102	"almost certainly" Bombus fraternus Another good pollinator. (Click photo for enlargement) (A half dozen seen)
103	Not so fuzzy as the bees, but this wasp had some pollen sticking on her, so she's definitely pollinating. A Specid, according to Adalbert Bembix (Bembex) sp. (Perhaps a hundred seen)
104	Bombus griseocollis (Click photo for enlargement) (Four or five seen)
105	The drone fly at right is fuzzy enough to accomplish some pollination. (Click photo for enlargement) Syrphidae, Eristalis tenax (About a dozen seen)		Droneflies in Pennsylvania The Diptera Site: Systematic Entomology Laboratory
106	Bombus impatiens A very common bumblebee, and an excellent pollinator (A couple hundred seen)
107	Carpenter bee (Click photo for enlargement) (Only two seen in four days) Female Xylocopa micans See a Florida specimen		A beautiful carpenter bee photo Texas A&MU fact sheet
108	Bee-wolf wasp Philanthus sp. (Three or four seen in four days)
109		Irridescent blue wasp A beautiful creature, open wings on right show coloration of the abdomen. Scolia dubia Scoliid Wasp Pollinator and beneficial preditor For More Info (Only four seen in four days)
110	Paper Wasp Vespidae Male Polistes Wasp possibly Polistes fuscatus (Hundreds seen in four days) (Click on either image for enlargements)
111	Thread-waisted Grasshopper Hunter Prionyx sp	It is on a plant I've also not been able to identify. I've always called it ironweed; it blooms all summer with a little blue flower, though it appears more white here. Blue Vervain? ID? (Only two seen in four days)
112	Vespidae Sub family Eumeninae Potter wasp (Click photo for enlargement)		Probably Ancistrocerus mason wasp, in the same family,
113		Bumblebees Bombus impatiens, most likely
114	Coleoptera, Cantharidae Chauliognatus marginatus Soldier Beetle Predator of Pests More on Soldier Beetles Other Beetle Pics Coleoptera (Beetle) Home Page (Very Plentiful Visitors)
115	Atteva punctella "Ailanthus Webworm Moth" Family: Yponomeutidae (Only one seen)		Clemson Photo Collection
116	Calliphoridae, Lucilia caesar Blowfly (Half dozen seen) (Click photo for enlargement)
117	Sphecid Wasps Chlorion cyaneum Cricket hunters (Only one mating pair seen)		Sphecid Wasps
118		Ladybird has no interest in the flowers; she's carnivorous, in search of prey. (Only one seen)	I had hoped to see more (for a better picture); here's a better pic from Clemson Another beaut! Identify your ladybug!
119	The old standby, Apis mellifera, our familiar honeybee, at right, an excellent pollinator of many of our food crops (Thousands seen in four days)		More honeybee Info
120		The fly may accomplish some pollination; the grasshopper is probably just passing thruough. (A couple score seen in four days)
121	Spur-throated grasshopper Melanoplus		(Three seen)
122	The skipper (right) and Ailanthus are the only lepidopterans seen on the goldenrod in three days of observation, though there were several butterflies and moths in the area. (That was an early observation. More skippers seen during the later bloom) (Click on 2nd photo for enlargement)		Possibly a male Tawney-edged skipper: Polites themistocles or Peck's Skipper: Polites peckius More skippers on the aster page
123	Hemiptera Wheel bug = Arilus cristatus This large insect, with a wheel-like protuberance on its back is more of a preditor than a pollinator. Its favorite food is caterpillars, so it should be protected as a beneficial assassin bug. But it should not be handled, as it can inflict a painful bite (Only one seen)		For more info: University of Florida Entomology Dept Midwest Biological Control News Cultural procedures Florida Entomologist Really nice photo at U of Nebraska
124		The Mantid is having a feast, with all the activity. (Only one seen) She now resides in our home, and has a new svelte figure, as she has "delivered" two egg cases. She loves yellow jackets and wax worms! A really nice photo at Clemson (click photos for enlargements)
125	Leaf-footed Bug, Coreidae Enlarged ends of the legs suggests Coreidae, according to Liz Day, who also notes that it is widely distributed in the South, some plant feeders, some predaceous, unpleasant odor when handled. (Click photo for enlargement)		Acanthocepalia sp. (Only two seen)
126	A parasitoid tachinid fly (Click photo for enlargement) (Only two seen)		Another pic of a tachinid Another, FL
127	Dipteron Tachinidae, probably Peleteria iterans (Only one seen)		More Tachinid Links WI
128	Syrphidae probably Baccha sp Syrphid fly (Three seen)		Some sryphids in the larval stage eat a lot of aphids A beautiful syrphid pic
129		A beautiful wasp on the left. (Click photo for enlargement) (A dozen seen)	Possibly Myzinum family Tiphidae
130	Family Vespidae Dolichovespula maculata: White Faced Hornet Normally a predator not a pollinator But does visit flowers increasingly after brood rearing is done.		Hornets and wasps in the garden Hornets: Gentle Giants Hornetboy's Homepage
131	Probably Melissodes
132	A pollinator ambush awaits nearby on a Black-eyed Susan Flower-dwelling crab spider Araneida, Misumena vatia (Click photo for enlargement) For camouflage it can change colors to some extent, to match the flower upon which it resides. It also can move a little pollen, as it changes flowers. This creature will even attack a much larger bumblebee. Only three seen		More Info from Missouri Arachnology Home Page Crab spider photos, Ontario Rose Guy, Seattle Capturing a Syrphid Fly, Ont. (You can see one that has caught a syrphid fly on this page now, too.)
133	Vespidae Yellow jacket Vespula squamosa Southern Yellow Jacket (Seen but not able to photograph on goldenrod)		Ground nester, a beneficial preditor in the early to mid summer, a mean pest in the late summer/autumn when the colonies become large and defensive, and the individuals become crazed for sweets. Extreme closeups of Yellow Jackets
134		Unknown (About a dozen seen) These work freely between goldenrod and aster. Switching plant species reduces pollinator value. See another photo on the aster page. May be Prionyx sp
135		Cisseps fulvicollis, the Yellow collared scape moth
136	Polistes Red wasp