Oh right it's #MothWeek!
I just love these little metallic moths. They are casebearers—as caterpillars, they build little cases or shells for themselves out of plant matter, debris, etc.
Oh right it's #MothWeek!
I just love these little metallic moths. They are casebearers—as caterpillars, they build little cases or shells for themselves out of plant matter, debris, etc.
Red-spotted Purple
Funny name.
Red-spotted Purples are commonly found in woodlands, forest edges, and along country roads or trails—often basking on sunlit rocks or gravel.
Last evening I stumbled across this big splendid pair of grapevine beetles (_Pelidnota punctata_) on a grapevine- and bittersweet nightshade-covered stretch of fence by the tracks. I saw one that was flying around come to rest on the vines, and that was when I saw the second one hidden in the leaves!
They seemed to nose at each other's butts, made more laborious because they were on a vine really too flimsy to hold both of them. When one of them mounted the other and everted clasper-like organs I was certain they were going to mate, but after more awkward manoeuvring they went their separate ways. Still, what a serendipitous encounter.
BugGuide: https://bugguide.net/node/view/3139
Weevil Wednesday
it's #WeevilWednesday, here's _Acanthoscelidius acephalus_ which I find on evening primrose. I'm obsessed with how their faces look like "^|^" from a certain angle when they have their heads tucked in!!
*edit: corrected specific epithet to right grammatical gender, how embarrassing, never toot before coffee folks. I can't believe no one called me on this
ein fallkäfer auf dem blütenstand einer wiesen-witwenblume.
ob das jetzt ein Seidiger Fallkäfer Cryptocephalus sericeus ist oder ein Smaragd-Fallkäfer Cryptocephalus aureolus, das zu sagen ist das bild nicht ansatzweise gut genug, es ist auch mehr die blume das was scharf geworden ist
In case your Summer landscape is lacking some color (or Winter landscape, depending on which hemisphere you’re in), here’s my art of some colorful, cheerful Mexican Poppies here in Tucson, AZ, to brighten your timeline.
Ornate summer jewelry.
Video of tiny tiny baby bristle millipede!
More about these charming creatures: https://earthlingnature.wordpress.com/2022/08/12/friday-fellow-bristly-millipede/
Carpet beetle larvae, which they might be confused with: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/120113-Anthrenus-verbasci/browse_photos?term_id=1&term_value_id=6
Indulged in a late night photoshoot with the bristle millipedes (Polyxenida, probably genus _Polyxenus_) that come out to browse on the stone walls around the garden. Saw the absolute tiniest bristlepede ever!
For far better close-up pictures, see e.g. BugGuide: https://bugguide.net/node/view/19106/bgimage
i am very tired but here's a pseudoscorpion i found under a log the other day
flying ant day spawning video
So who is this guy? Northeast U.S. #bugstodon #insect
EDIT: Closest match is Mydas fly! I've never seen one. This one was big, well over an inch long.
Yay! Cinibar moth caterpillars in my garden!
It's #WeevilWednesday, post 'em if you got 'em!
These little bluish-black weevils were all over the cosmos in a park. Not sure if #Curculionidae or #Brentidae, subfamily #Apioninae.
@FotoVorschlag
#FotoVorschlag
'Dinge die mit "L" beginnen .... '
Lederlaufkäfer
Carabus coriaceus
I know most people get grossed out by insects, and I do have a hard limit on certain types of bugs when they encroach upon my space (I am looking at you, brown recluse spiders), but the way I deal with #ants wandering inside is *not* by killing them.
I figure out where they are coming in, and then I place a literal honey trap right near that entry point. I fill a shallow receptacle with honey and water, and that bounty keeps them from venturing much further into the house. I also remove all temptation from the rest of the area that they are encroaching upon so that they are not wandering beyond my offering plate.
I love watching how they line up so neatly around globs of water to drink. They're so organized! Because of the shallow depth of the windowsill, I decided to use a canning jar lid as my receptacle this time, and it's working great.
I once brought a spider plant back into the house for the winter and apparently some ants had built a nest in it. I noticed them marching all the way across the living room floor to get to the cat food and water (which was on the floor in the kitchen at the time), so I found the point where the line originated (my plant), set out a small plate with water and honey on it, and spent a happy winter observing them until they decided to move back outside (which was before the plant moved back outside).
They're not doing any harm, really, and though I still have a few scouts roaming around beyond the kitchen sink window area right now, most of them are enjoying the honey water, which I refresh every other day or so.
Apologies if this grosses you out, but I kindly ask you to reconsider your relationship to nature if it does. You are a part of nature. Ants probably think you are gross, too!
@FotoVorschlag
#FotoVorschlag
'monochrom'
noch ein bild, weil, das andere hatte ich ja grad neulich erst bei 'scharf' ...
hier kann man entweder die schwarz-weiße kohlwanze Eurydema oleracea als monochrom ansehen, oder, wenn man schwarz und weiß selbst nicht als farben ansieht, dann ist auch nur eine farbe im bild, das grün des blattes.