Speaking of spiders, we found a dark mass hidden within the flower head of another Goldenrod; when our camera tripod bumped the flower stalk in which the object was secured there was a sudden flurry of activity. Dozens of little spiders with pinkish-orange abdomens ran around frenetically and a far-larger Green Lynx Spider, Peucetia viridans (above), sped in on spiny, skinny, speckled legs to survey the situation. The dark mass we found was the egg case of this mama arachnid and it appeared we disturbed her multitudinous young on the very day they hatched. There were so many hatchlings in such a relatively small space we feel certain cannibalism by siblings will occur before all the young have time to disperse and find other prey to eat. Surviving offspring will have to overwinter in the Goldenrod patch as immatures because there's not enough time for them to grow and molt into adulthood before cold weather arrives.

Despite the abundance of spiders, relatively few inhabitants of the Goldenrod patch are actual predators. Most eat nectar and/or pollen, and some browse on Goldenrod leaves or the flowers themselves. Although grasshoppers and locusts show up most years, we found none this week, but we did spot a couple of herbivorous katydids, known for their incessant self-naming songs. Katydids reach their peak numbers in mid- to late summer with a few individuals lingering until fall. The one above--identifiable as a female Round-headed Katydid (Amblycorypha sp.) because of a gradual slope of the massive red ovipositor at the end of her abdomen--was walking and hopping around in the Goldenrod patch, perhaps in pursuit of a male. Females locate a prospective mate by listening for his song, which they hear through ears on their legs. The ear--a dark, oval structure--can be seen in the photo above just beneath the "knee" joint on the katydid's right front leg. Also visible are the insect's enormously long hind legs that allow them to leap far away from predators. This Round-headed Katydid's eggs, laid in the ground beneath the Goldenrod, may take two or three years to hatch.

We're always amazed at the diversity of wasps and bees in the Goldenrod patch at Hilton Pond Center, and each autumn we find a new species or two we had not seen before. A uniformly red-brown Polistes wasp (above) has been the most common through the years. In the photo, the wasp appears to be actually grasping a Goldenrod floret with its forelegs, perhaps steadying the flower so it can plunge its tongue deeper for more nectar. Polistes wasps are known as "paper wasps" because they chew wood to make their papery nests. Some species overwinter in the adult stage.

A new wasp this year in the Center's Goldenrod patch was one with red legs and a bicolored red-and-brown abdomen. This insect was larger than the three-quarter-inch-long Polistes wasp already mentioned but obviously was in pursuit of the same sweet nectar. Its narrow waist is visible in the photo above. Based on a tip from Lynn Smith of Camden SC--who used the National Wildlife Federation's newly published Field Guide to Insects and Spiders & Related Species of North America by Arthur V. Evans--we've identified it as Sphex ichneumoneus, the Great Golden Digger Wasp. This species has a very wide distribution extending from southern Canada into South America. Digger Wasps get their name from the female's habit of excavating a nest in hard soil that is either sandy or gravelly. The nest has several cells, each containing two to four living but paralyzed grasshoppers, crickets, or katydids on which the Great Golden Digger Wasp lays her eggs.

Another new wasp this year in the Goldenrod meadow was a blackish-brown and yellow one with translucent, coffee-colored wings (above). Perhaps three-fourths of an inch long, its head seemed somewhat squarish and its abdomen closer to the body than in the narrow-waisted red and brown wasp just mentioned. Our guess is it is one of the solitary Potter Wasps (Vespidae: Eumeninae), so-called because some species make little mud balls in which they lay their eggs. Like other wasps in the Goldenrod patch, this one was so intent on foraging that it paid little attention to our camera--unless we accidentally cast a shadow. When that happens, wasps typically speed off to some other Goldenrod head where they resume their feeding. We've never felt threatened by any of the stinging insects in the Goldenrod meadow at Hilton Pond; we suspect their aggression level would be much higher were we to mess around with their nests.

Spring through fall, Carpenter Bees buzz around Hilton Pond Center, often drilling nest holes in the timbers of an old outbuilding. Most of the time we see them visiting whatever nectar-bearing flowers happen to be in bloom--which by mid-October includes few varieties. Thus, it's not surprising they were hanging out in the Goldenrod patch--one of the last big sources of carbohydrates before winter comes. People often confuse Carpenter Bees (above) with Bumblebees. The former have shiny abdomens; Bumblebees are pretty much fuzzy all over.

We looked hard for a Praying Mantis in the Hilton Pond Goldenrod patch this year and couldn't find one, but we did locate a little Spined Assassin Bug, Sinea diadema (above), that captures prey in mantid style. This particular insect--a member of the True Bug Order (Hemiptera) and Assassin & Ambush Bug Family (Reduviidae)--has killing tools similar in form and function to those of the Praying Mantis; both predators use their spiny forelegs to grasp smaller insects or spiders that wander too close for their own good. Mantids chew their food, but Assassin Bugs stab a long, straw-like mouthpart through the prey item's exoskeleton and suck out its bodily fluids. Although it looks fearsome even to humans in the photo above, this particular Spined Assassin Bug was just half an inch long--nonetheless big enough to wreak havoc on many insects that live or feed in on Goldenrod blossoms.

Standing outside a field of Goldenrod at Hilton Pond Center is always a pleasurable experience, especially when the October sun is low and a crystal-clear blue sky is the backdrop. Few things in nature could be more pleasing, but not until you actually enter the Goldenrod patch and go "compound eye to eyeball" with pollinators and predators can you really appreciate its great diversity. If you check out your local meadow before autumn has gone we're sure you'll understand why we felt compelled to offer this 2007 edition of our "Ode to Goldenrod."

"This Week at Hilton Pond" is written & photographed
by Bill Hilton Jr., executive director of
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History.

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