Two-Lined Zonitis

The BugLady spied this Zonitis bilineata (probably) tucked in between the leaf stalk and stem of a sunflower. It has no official common name, but its species name is Latin for “two-lined,” and that’s good enough for the BugLady. The “Two-Lined” Zonitis” can be found over much of North America except for the far Northwest and far Southeast. It appears early in the literature, being listed as present in surveys from the Agricultural College of New Mexico (1890), the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (1817), and the Zoology section of the Report Upon United States Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian (1875). Adults are seen in grasslands, mainly on flowers in the Aster/Composite family, where they feed on the flowers and leaves. They are found in Wisconsin in mid-summer.