Statistically Insignificant Anecdotal Evidence

This is the third summer I have been writing this blog, but it is the fifth summer that I have spent looking for bugs in my backyard, because it is the fifth summer that I have been in possession of a macro lens for my camera. I know that from a scientific standpoint, 5 years of observation is probably not considered statistically significant, and it's not like I have been cataloging my finds, and the numbers of different bug populations. I have only my own perceptions and my own experience. Last year I felt that there were fewer bugs in my backyard, compared with the previous three summers, and I attributed this to the mild drought we were having. This year we are still having a drought, and again this year, I think there are fewer bugs than there were in the years when we had normal rainfall. I walk around and I am just not finding the numbers of bugs, and the variety. However, after all this time, I still sometimes find things I have never seen before, and that is remarkable to me. It also provides me with two Backyard Bugs of the Day today.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 You will be shocked, I am sure, to hear that I was able to identify both of today's new caterpillars. This one is, I think, a purple-crested slug caterpillar. I guess in some cases those markings on the back look purple, instead of brown as they look on this specimen.

 It was about a half-inch long. I don't know how long it will get; the book, Caterpillars of Eastern North America, describes it as "small," but without saying what that means.

 Slug-like caterpillars are called that because they move in a slug-like way - they do have a version of prolegs underneath, but what you can't tell, because it's not easy to get a view of that, is that there's also regular legs and a normal caterpillar head under there, too.

Some of those spines pack venom.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 Drexel's datana caterpillar.

 I was not happy to find these, because they are on my blueberry bush, and there are so many of them. One caterpillar on a blueberry bush isn't so bad, but this many... not good for the future of the blueberry crops.

Random Bugs:

 Skipper

 Still entertained by the furcula caterpillars.

 I took a picture of this very same bug yesterday, but yesterday it was a stinkbug nymph. Today it is a stinkbug imago (adult).

 This was on the leaf right underneath. Goodbye old exoskeleton.

 White hickory tussock moth caterpillar

 Assassin bug

 Small milkweed bug nymphs

 Moth

 Fly

 Assassin bug with prey

 Looper caterpillar of some kind.

Robber fly

More robber flies

On the same plant as yesterday, a similar scene, although it took me a while to figure out what was going on:

 

 I don't know if this is the same thick-headed fly that was the victim of the ambush bug yesterday, but it was on a different part of the plant, so I am guessing not. But at first glance it just looks like a complicated pile of bugs.

 I think in this one you can see a little bit better that there's a female in there, and it looks like she is feeding on the fly, like yesterday, while one male mates with her and another male... hopes to have a chance to pass on his DNA?

 Interesting fly... This is also a new bug for me, but I didn't get any good pictures, so it didn't get chosen as a Co-Bug of the Day.

 I love the fringe by its knees.

Camouflage looper, covered in plant bits.

 Ground beetle in my kitchen. Don't worry, it's not dead.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Six-spotted orb weaver