The Bugs in the Backyard: If I Be Waspish...

I could really use some sunshine. Normally I would think the bugs would agree, but the temperature got back up into the 70s today, and the bugs must have liked it in spite of the gloom, because there were a lot of them out there.

The bug population of the backyard was dominated by the order Hymenoptera today, which is bees, wasps, and ants. Mostly bees and wasps. Actually, mostly wasps. There is one particular wasp I have been seeing for weeks on the goldenrod that I have so far failed to get any pictures of at all (as I recall), much less any good ones, so when I found a semi-cooperative one today, I decided that, though there were other worthy contenders, I MUST name it Backyard Bug of the Day:

This is a species of thread-waisted wasp. It looks the most like Ammophila nigricans of the species in the book, but the book says that there are 61 species of the genus Ammophila in North America, and it shows two. This one is pretty big, though, and Ammophila nigricans is the largest eastern species. So... it's a wasp. A thread-waisted wasp.

This is a different thread-wasited wasp:

You can't tell from the pictures, but it's about half the size as the one above. It might be the Common thread-waisted wasp. At first I thought this one was dead, but eventually it did move...

And crawled to the top of the dead stem on which it was resting.

More Hymenoptera:

Or bees. I don't know.

This one is missing an antenna.

I think this is a sawfly, which is actually a kind of wasp.

I think this might actually be a fly.

Now you see it...

... Now you don't, because this bee practically landed on top of it, and the wasp-or-fly flew away.

This might also be a fly.

Bee AND fly

And while we're on the subject of flies:

Two flies. And what you can't see is the spider that is hiding on the back side of one of those leaves.

Cranefly

So, what else do we have today... Random Bugs:

Most days I see no weevil, but sometimes I see one, and it will even sit still to have its picture taken.

Today I saw TWO! Missing an antenna. I wonder it having two antennae is a redundancy, or if it is a significant impairment for insects when they lose one.

Here's another bug-spotting eye test for you. I was thinking today that when I do these bug-spotting posts you have a huge advantage over me in the field, as you already know that there is a bug there to be found. I never know where they will be.

Stinkbug

I keep trying to explain to bugs that there is a rule that if they land on me, they have to sit still to let me take their picture. Almost none of them comply.

Spotted cucumber beetle. Funny how all of a sudden I am seeing cucumber beetles in the backyard, but the cucumbers in the garden are completely finished.

Ambush bug

Now for some caterpillars:

Brown hooded owlet moth caterpillar

Caterpillar close-up

Camouflaged looper. Camouflaged. And in a loop. This was an extremely effective camouflage job - it had me fooled for a while.

White hickory tussock moth caterpillar eating a leaf

White hickory tussock moth caterpillar in a cedar tree

American dagger moth caterpillar

Winter firefly. I was thinking earlier about the fact that fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, are beetles. So they are not flies, and they are not bugs (which are insects of the order Hemiptera). And the winter firefly is only bioluminescent during its larval stage, so it doesn't even have the fire/lightning as an adult.

Stinkbug nymph in the garden, on the Brussels sprouts

Another stinkbug nymph in the garden on the Brussels sprouts, with a caterpillar and a lot of frass.

Ugh. I don't think we are going to be eating homegrown Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving this year.

So many different kinds of pests on the plants... And so many of them altogether...

I went and got the hose to blast them all off, the vegetable garden being the one place in the backyard that is not subject to my live-and-let-live policy toward insects, and I thought I did, but no, there were plenty more...

Today will be the cutest ever Arachnid Appreciation:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.