Apparently I might get to see a giant leopard moth in the future...

Giant Leopard Moth Caterpillar - Hypercompe scribonia (early instar)



Link to info:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/crea...

Saw this predator battle yesterday, Spider vs. Mantid, the spider won this round, dragging the mantid to its lair:

Well, there was a Greater Arid-Land Katydid that decided to get up on my back door last night..a fairly big one at that.

Hi Linda, thanks for resurrecting this thread.

That's a big one and look at all the barbs on its legs.


My smile turned into a frown when I realized this is a leaf-footed stink bug and not an assassin bug.

Isn't she beautiful

At first I was thinking "what in the world!" it looks like some unknown was captured in the web but that is an unusual spider!

Had to surf around and found this one. https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/disc...

She's just lovely Cinda! Thanks for posting those great close up photos.

Woohoo! That one is really unusual looking!

I saw three Blue Mud Daubers on our rural property this morning. Very pretty insects. Didn't have my camera on me as I was watering plants, but they look like this (photo copied on-line to match what I saw):

Yeah, they are! I've watched them for years, although it seems there less now. Aren't all insects less now?

Not all...

I've been seeing more than enough of these around! (And spiders, my grandsons mentioned how many spiders there are here when they came to visit this summer.)



But on the bright side, I've been seeing a lot Gulf Fritillaries. There's two kinds of passion vine growing so I guess they must use both?

I think the blue mud-daubers are beautiful
Just the other day I stood and watched three of them on the small tulip tree and thought they were looking for aphids , but it later appeared they were licking the sap on the leaves
the aphid are on the underside of the leaves but the blues stayed on top

One advantage of having a couple of acres is that I get to see more insects and wildlife! I never grew out of loving to watch them!

Same for me!

Many bugs getting ready for winter right now.

Ooh! I think the Chiggers are here!

they have found me already this year

I don't know what all's biting around here but I'm sure chiggers are in on it! Little biting flies, biting gnats and all the other usual suspects!

The pretty flies that bite your head ( we call them deer flies ) are exceptionally numerous and aggressive this year.


Caught this pretty colored spider in the garden this morning , she was being shy

That is a pretty spider!

Yes, deer flies are around! There are smaller black flies that like to bite you right behind the knee or low on your leg! The bite itches like crazy for a long time!! I don't know what they're called...

They are called black flies or buffalo gnats and yes they are very nasty , they have been known to drive live-stalk crazy and a few years ago they were bad enough they were killing chickens around here (they are blood suckers)