I found one of these moths last week while moving some logs around out in the woods. It was a female (based on its antennae), and had a gorgeous color scheme of black and white with a wide yellow ^ on each of its wings, and lovely orange knees. I brought it back to the … Read more
Here’s a big plump female walking stick (“stick insect”) I saw last week… These bugs are all over the place right now. I frequently find them in flagrante delicto, with the smaller male mounted on the female’s back, and the tips of their abdomens pressed together.
Liquid jewels separated by green rubber bands – that’s what it looks like to me.
These “caterpillars” are the larvae of the pine sawfly, Neodiprion sp. They were grazing on a small pine in my front yard. Sawflies are relatives of bees, wasps, and ants – they’re members of the Hymenoptera. But their larvae look so much like the larvae of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) and flies (Diptera), don’t they? … Read more
In areas of soil protected from the rain, we find antlion pits in our yard… These are traps, dug and maintained and occupied by the larvae of the family Myrmeleontidae. When a passing insect stumbles in, the antlion will throw sand grains and cause the hapless bug to tumble down, where the antlion snags it … Read more
I’m pretty sure this guy is advertising himself as inedible…
My neighbor, the artist Diane Artz Furlong, photographed these extraordinary caterpillars in her garden last week. With her permission, I’m reposting the photos here… Diane writes that, Just when I thought I was done with the Japanese beetle onslaught (not!) I find these guys on my rose bush. I would never have found them, though, … Read more
Horseflies have such lovely eyes… …but man, they sure can open up a welt.
Craneflies look like giant mosquitoes. They’re harmless to people – kind of like the giraffes of the insect world… In flagrante delicto…. Side-view portrait…