Like A Twinkie!

     I went out early this morning looking for bugs. I stepped just into the edge of the woods and right away I found this Praying Mantis. Mantises sit very still until an insect comes close enough to catch. This one moved because she was startled. She looks so much like the surrounding plants that I never would have seen her if she had held still.

    It did not take long for her to catch an insect. Her spiky front legs helped her to hold onto her prey. She began by biting off the head.

    She was willing to tolerate me as long as I did not get too close. This ugly glare reminds me of my dog's eyes when she is in possession of a favorite toy.

    The black dot in the middle of her eye is a pseudopupil. Mantises have compound eyes, no pupil.

    Apparently the best part is in the middle. Sort of like a Twinkie.

    Now she is done with her breakfast and she licks the last bits off of her "hands."

    In some parts of the world there are mantises large enough to eat mice and toads. I don't believe I want to see that!

Rainbows and Blueberries

    "The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work." 

         author unknown

         

     My grandson came over Sunday. Spring has come to us early so I took him for a walk outside.
    Actually, I walked. He is always carried like the son of an Egyptian pharaoh.
    A breeze blew the baby's hair and he raised his eyebrows. A hawk cried overhead. I helped Jacob touch his fat little hands to the flowering trees while the crow cawed a warning to his flock that we were about.
    I had toured the same yard the day before. With a child in my arms  I noticed for the first time how pretty the blueberry bush is when in bloom. I resolved to get up early the next morning and take a photo in the soft just-after-dawn light.
    Thank you, Jake, for showing me this.

Pixar Bug

    In May I took this little guy's picture. I loved his shiny red and black colors. He seemed unsure exactly how to use his long antennae with the yellow tips. And the way he moved around clumsily on his long legs reminded me of a newborn foal.

    My daughter and I agreed that he should be a character in a Pixar film. He would be the innocent young fellow with a heart of gold who always tried to do the right thing. 

    I never identified him, I just filed him away as "Pixar Bug."

    Imagine my shock and disappointment when I found out that he grew up to be this guy!

    While I was waiting to identify this insect I called him "Ugly Bug." His true name is Wheel Bug, for the odd structure on his back. No one knows the purpose of that wheel, unless it is to help other Wheel Bugs recognize him. No other bug in North America has a wheel.

    See the long fang? If you are foolish enough to handle him he will stab you with it. His sting is said to hurt worse than a hornet's and may take weeks to heal. 

    When not stinging innocent humans he uses his fang on soft prey like caterpillars. He lumbers up to them and grabs them with his front legs, then injects a poison into them that paralyzes them and liquifies their insides. He then drinks their innards like a milkshake.

    And that cute little red and black guy? He will eat his brothers and sisters if he gets the chance.  

    Wheel Bugs also produce an unpleasant odor when threatened. 

    Is there any good news? Actually, yes. A Wheel Bug won't hurt you unless you pick him up. And he eats Japanese beetles and moths. So if you see him in your yard don't hurt him.

    If you would like to see a photo of a group of very young baby Pixars please visit my more recent blog by clicking on this link. 

    

butterfly ears

  
    I found these butterfly wings beneath a tree in my yard. You might be thinking, "This doesn't sound good for the butterfly." You are right. Predators eat the thorax of butterflies because that is where all the high protein muscle tissue is, then discard the rest.
    The wings had a bit of dirt on them. They are so delicate I could not wipe them off with my fingers without tearing them. I had to clean them with puffs of air from a bulb syringe.
    Butterfly wings are so light weight that the smallest breeze kept blowing them off the table where my camera was set up. So I would touch my finger to my tongue to get it wet, then touch the wing. The wing would stick to my finger and I could pick it up without damaging it.
    Butterfly wings are made up of thousands of colorful scales. If you handle a wing the fine dust that seems to be coming off in your hands is actually the scales. The wings also have veins that aid in breathing.
    Butterflies don't have ears. At least not the type of ears we typically think of. But in Central and South America at least one type of butterfly has been found who has a primitive ear at the base of it wings.
    Here is a portion of the photo I enlarged so that you can see the scales better.

 

"Will you walk into my parlour?"

  
    The first line of Mary Howitt's 1829 poem "The Spider and the Fly" was often recited to me as a warning when I was young.  The poem tells of a spider whose flattery lures a fly into his "parlour." The poem ends with disastrous results for the fly.
    Grass Spiders build their webs low to the ground in grass or low shrubs. The web is shaped like a hammock with a few threads over the top. Those threads are there to confuse and trap flying insects. At the very back is a funnel where she sits quietly and waits for her supper to drop in. When a bug strikes her web she feels the vibration and  rushes up at break-neck speed to catch her prey.
    This is a female Grass Spider. I am pretty sure it's a female because the males have large round endings at the tip of their pedipalps. Also, the males do not build webs. They just wander around looking for a mate and then they die. Silly males.
    See the things that look like short legs or antennae right next to her face? Those are pedipalps. She uses them as feelers. She may also use them in web building and in catching and eating insects.
    In between the pedipalps are two big black shiny things. Those are her chelicera. Chelicera are like jaws. Hers open from side to side, not up and down like our jaws.
    Grass Spiders have poison in their chelicera to paralyze prey. Once her insect prey is helpless she carries it to her lair and eats it.
    The Grass Spider differs from most spiders in that she does not build a web that is sticky. She relies totally on her speed to catch insects. I saw this one catch a bug and believe me, she is startlingly fast!
    Click here if you would like to read  "The Spider and the Fly".