At the Shakespeare Garden

Regina Alvarez, Central Park's Woodlands Manager is a friend from early Pale Male days when she was the Zone Gardener at the Model-boat Pond. Yesterday she sent in these photos of insects taken in the Shakespeare Garden. She didn't send IDs for any but the Assassin Bug. I happen to know the moth. But the wasp/fly? Yikes. I'm guessing this one's a Syrphid Fly, a wasp mimic, and not a wasp, because it doesn't have a real wasp waist. As soon as I see Nick Wagerik, our entomology guru, I'll get the scoop. Note the cool antennae on the moth--bipectinate or featherlike, that arrangement is called.

PS If you click on the photos you can make them bigger--and see more amazing details.


A Syrphid fly [I hope]


Virginia Ctenucha [a moth]


same moth, frontal view

Assassin Bug [and Nick Wagerik's finger]