It's on a box of gloves, not an actual hand 😂
Alive (looks attacked by a bird but it recovered).
Calliostoma annulatum making a funny face.
I'm cheering for the mosquito this time! These large flies were impossible to escape, even on high mountain slopes with a good wind. Their bites were painful and left a good-size welt, but this one seemed to have a biter of its own. The mosquito stayed on its back and appeared to be feeding on it.
Stitched home patch in the Dune False Current.. is it a Pearl Emperor (Charaxes varanes)?
Stitched leaves together and weaved a silk bed on the leaves. Puffed the body into a wave when I disturbed it.
See the host plant https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/13890631
See pupa https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15177103
See butties https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15177314
On Bug Guide: https://bugguide.net/node/view/1753484
Many dance flies present prey as nuptial gifts as a part of their mating rituals, but as Powell and Hogue write in California Insects, "The strangest habits are exhibited by a few species in which males secrete material from the digestive tract which is formed into a frothy, white ball or "balloon". This balloon either entraps a small prey or is substituted for prey in the courtship gift-giving sequence" (p. 161). This balloon clearly has prey within, perhaps some kind of hemipteran.
Ron and I were pretty flabbergasted as we watched these two engage in mid-air copulation, their aerial control so perfect that I was able to get this picture even though each fly couldn't have been more than 7 mm long.
Jack Owicki has this great BG photo that spawned an even greater discussion: http://bugguide.net/node/view/267952/bgimage.
I suspect this is Empis and not another genus in Empidinae due to the balloon-forming behavior and the long proboscis, but I'd love correction! Habitat was very close to a running creek, vegetation was riparian, some willow, but mostly oaks and maples.
Larva. Feeds on leaves of Cissus quadrangularis. Pupa #105838861. Adult #105838510.
Lagarta pouco vista da espécie... Supostamente uma ( Titaea Tarmelan) encontrada na Bicuda pequena, região serrana da cidade de Macaé RJ
The chubbiest L3 I’ve ever seen
a) The jumping spider resemblance is insane. b) The range of sizes among adults is insane. What is up with this fly.
Temporarily trapped behind window. Not killed - freed.
Diogmites neoternatus with a small wasp.
Patuxent Branch Trail, Howard Co., MD
Observation is of the large, green caterpillar[?]. On a Smilax leaf.
From a hike at Buescher State Park. For the 2019 City Nature Challenge.
Sawflies larvae and eggs (maybe Nematus sp.) on Salix sp.
on Betula pendula
A plague on Senegalia schweinfurthii this summer. The were cutting their way through swaths of foliage and flowers. Pictures shown here of caterpillars not on S. schweinfurthii, are of them using grass and other plants to migrate to the next food plant.
Maritza and I were puzzled by the disappearance of the final instars and the apparent absence of cocoons or pupae. Fearing we might miss the following stages in the life cycle we collected 5 catepillars and fed them in a terrarium. Not knowing waht material they required for pupation, we provided damp soil and an assortment of leaf litter. Two of our subject spun cocoons in leaf litter, pulling the leaves to enclose the cocoons. That was 18 January. Today, 10 days later, I pried open a cocoon to reveal a squirming, healthy looking pupa,36mm long. The Erebus in Singapore took 12 days from spinning a cocoon to emerging from the pupa, so I think the time for getting a species ID is drawing near. Erebus macrops have been, and are still abundant this year. Probably a no-brainer.
Further Notes, 2 Feb 2014. Both pupae yielded imagines 15 days after the cocoons had been spun. One moth flew out the terrarium and straight out the window when I lifted the lid. I photographed the other one through the glass, fearing total loss of evidence. The second one, when released, perched briefly outside my office on the thatch roof for a last photograph.
It suggests Royal Moths, but I have no idea
8mm total length. translucent. Web-spinning caterpillar.? Photo 4, suspended in web. Photo 5, 24 hours later. Photo 6, 8 hours after. Photo 7, 2 days later. Photo 8- at about one week. The following morning it was gone without a trace. Did it complete transformation or was it predated on?
Caterpillar
On bamboo leaves
Moth??
So wierd and cute! Three of these (two brown, one green) defoliated our entire firebush.
On Southern Redoak