It's Contagious

I know I'm slightly obsessed with my new found hobby, bug hunting, but I didn't realize that other family members have noticed my dedication to finding new bugs. They actually found 2 new interesting specimen for me to document.

The first one was discovered by my husband. We were filling up gas late at night and he knocked on my window and said, "There is an interesting bug on the car, do you have your camera?" Well, no but we had a container and we decided to take it home for documentation.



It's a Mayfly (Hexagenia Limbata). Those things in front of the head aren't antennas, they are fore legs and they are often seen in that positions. As far as what possibly it's doing on the top of my car? Probably attracted by the gold metallic paint because there were a lot of other bugs partying on top of the car. Also according to the Bug Guide expert: it was likely just resting in preparation for its final molt into a sexually mature winged mayfly. Mayflies are unique in the insect world in that they have two winged life stages, the subimago (dun) and the imago (spinner). Depending on species, the subimago stage can last for only a few minutes to nearly a week, but in most cases lasts only a single day. And get this they started their life under water for about 1 year or 2 and when they are an adult they don't eat at all, just laid eggs and die.

The second specimen was found by my brother and sister in-law while visiting our place. They were talking a morning walk when they discovered this beautiful Luna Moth on sitting on the lawn chair in front of the house. It is about 3.25" wide. Adult Luna moths do not eat, their only object is to reproduce. The adults have a life span of only about one week. More info about Luna moth at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Actias_luna.html

So if any of you find interesting bug and just dying to know what it is, take photo of the bug, upload the photo to www.bugguide.net, someone from Bug Guide will identify your bug and you can read all about it. Doesn't that sounds fun :)

Lunch

Black Swallowtail caterpillar eating dill plant.
Mr. Grasshopper eating parsley leaf.
And for some serious lunch, the Wheel Bug "eating" a fly/bee? The wheel bug injects enzyme-laden saliva, which immobilizes the prey within 30 seconds and turns its parts into porridge. Then it sucks out all the victim's bodily fluids. This activity, of course, kills the prey item, which is why the Wheel Bug is classified in the Reduviidae, the Assassin Bug Family.

Look Up

We always walking with our heads down looking for bugs on the ground. One day, I thought I should look up and maybe I'll find something interesting under the leaves on the tree. Well, we found something better, a butterfly on a tree trunk. It was quite up high and I just stretched my arm as high as I can reach and took some pictures. Lucky shots and I think our butterfly was surprised too.

Before the Storm

Who knew that before the storm comes the creatures are still out and about. Maybe because it was a perfect weather, not too hot and a little breezy in the beginning. This photo is taken right before we went into the house, of course by this time, the wind had picked up it looked like the sky was going to open and poured out the rain. Believe it or not, the storm passed by us, the sky cleared up and not a single drop of water came down.

Peek-A-Boo

I see you.... He was a small guy and very patient,
he didn't mind playing with me.

He looks great with the purple Thai basil flowers.

After the storm passed by we found this stink bug nymph.
It looks like he has a smile on his back.

A day in a bug hunters life

Always wear comfortable clothes and bring your gears. Here is the infamous "Larry's Lane" and today we are joined by Cassie, the black lab. Usually the leader scouts one side, the photographer on the other side and the assistant can go on either sides.In the middle of the field, our backyard.
Don't forget your bug containers for safe travel of the animals.
Bug hunters are equipped with their "good eyes" to see the very small and quick animals.
Here's our bug leader in action, most probably there is a grasshopper under that hand.

Now slowly open the top latch and drop the bug without letting it go or squishing it.
If you click on the picture you might be able to see that there are a lot of grasshoppers in that bug catcher.

Lastly, observe the specimen. Our popular catch are toads and grashoppers. We release them at night so they can go home to their parents.

After the rain

You never know who lives inside the parsley bush. He was very on guard, the very moment he felt a movement from the leaves he would hide and wait patiently for some bug to fall into his trap.

Damselfly

I've been fascinated with this creatures for a while. He is related to a dragonfly, kind of like cousins. In the real life he is very blue and also very fast. The size of a damselfly is about 25.4-31.75mm (1-1.25 inches). I don't have one of those fancy camera with telescopic lens so taking picture of bugs that only sits for a short time and doesn't let you come close is pretty tricky and can be frustrating. Then you add the kids element, they want to see what bug you find and sometimes they are not very quiet. I have to say though our bug leader is pretty good at sneaking up on bugs and being quiet, but we have to work on our bug assistant. He likes to come close to the bug and touch it.
If you see his "body" he has more blue than the previous one. There are many different species of this "blue" damselfly and one of the way the expert categorize them is by how much blue it has.

The picture above is taken by someone else and I just have to include it to show everybody how beautiful is this creature. Click on the photo to see more detail on the face. More info about damselfly: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/damselflies/damselflies.htm
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4TH/KKHP/1INSECTS/damselflyfax.html

Follow the Rule

This is a wolf spider with her babies. I thought when we first discovered her she was a spotted spider, but after looking at the picture closely we realized that those were her babies. We followed the rule and left them alone.

Look who's hiding in our garden

Our overgrown dill plant and parsley where you can find some creatures making homes or maybe just visiting for a meal.
This is how we got started with our bug-hunting-mania. We found some caterpillars on the dill plant and raised them to be black swallowtail butterfly.
We find a lot of grasshoppers in the field during our bug walk but look who's visiting today. He is missing something, can you guess?
And this guy (Citrus Flatid Planthopper) is very small but jumps very quick. Daddy long legs, and he looks like a spider but he isn't.

And here he is again close up. Can you see those two tiny eyes. For more info: http://www.gardensafari.net/english/harvestmen.htm
http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/2000/jun00/daddy.htm And lastly I have no idea who he is and what he is doing, probably up to no good.

Find a Katydid

We almost missed him, look at his body, it really looks like a leaf. Katydids look much like a grasshopper, but are more closely related to crickets because of the way they make all that noise. Katydids and crickets rub one wing against the other while grasshoppers rub one leg against one wing.

Wheel Bug - Arilus Cristatus

We found this guy in our herb garden, on our overgrown dill plant. He looks fascinating, especially with the shinny golden back. He moves really slow and doesn't seemed to be bothered by us at all. Don't be fooled though, he is the largest of the assassin bugs family, the mature adult is about 25 to 30 mm long, with females being larger than males. Don't pick him up because he can deliver a painful bite, even to humans.

We found him first in the forest during our walk. It turns out that he is a nymph (junior) to the Wheel Bug.

For more information: http://bugguide.net/node/view/454