Bidens laevis
Begger Tick
Images Copyright 2001, David L. Green Unauthorized use prohibited.
September 10-14, 2001 All photos at Hemingway, SC USA unless otherwise
noted. Observations also at Manning, SC
9-13-01 -An unusually attractive plant to a wide variety of bees, syrphid flies and lepidopterans. This patch had more pollinator activity than any flower I've seen yet this summer. Pehaps some goldenrod will match it, when goldenrod is fully in bloom. But the amount of "action" here is amazing! Begger tick is a weed that grows in patches on roadsides and margins of fields. Other patches in the same area, on the same day, had NO bee activity at all, and one was hard pressed to find a wasp or two. I think the major factor is the patterns of cotton spraying (whether pollinators were done - as required by label directions-or whether they were active in the field and the field margins). Also I note that the main bumblebee species varies but does not seem to overlap. At most sites, fraternus is the main species, while impatiens is absent. At other sites impatiens is present, but no fraternus. I think this represents the activity of single nests, and they obviously are still not widespread, even though bumblebee populations have recovered somewhat, since a "bottoming out" a few years back. I am convinced that a single insecticide application on cotton at mid-morning, during the early bloom period, when the flowers are highly attractive and there is little other forage available, will wipe out all bumblebee colonies within foraging distance of the field.
Corn earworm moth Helicoverpa zea Wing view at right
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Solitary bee |
Halictid Bee: Not common on this flower |
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A bombylid fly: Lepidophora
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Dronefly |
Coelioxys: parasitic bee on other megachilids not common
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Katydid, just wandering, probably not a significant pollinator |
Unidentified bug |
9-13-01 Kingstree, SC In the evening the male bumblebees (fraternus
here) find a flower to spend the night. Just a few minutes ago, they were busily foraging;
now they are sound asleep, and the only response you get if you disturb them is that they
raise one leg in protest. The females continue to forage until sundown, then disappear.
Family: Asteraceae: Aster/Sunflower family
Major pollinators: Bombus sp.
