The Bugs in the Backyard: In the Pink

As I have talked about many, many times before, up until I got a macro lens for my camera (in 2012), I hadn't really paid a whole lot of attention to bugs. Maybe I started to get interested a few years before that–in fact, I did, because photographing bugs was the reason I wanted a macro lens in the first place, but I didn't really know much about bugs, not even the ones amidst which I live. I knew the basics, ants, bees, dragonflies... but I never knew even about the variety in those orders. There were entire orders of bugs (like Hemiptera, or True Bugs) about whose presence I was completely unaware. And one of the things I didn't know was how many amazing colors bugs come in. I thought bees were yellow and black, and had no idea they could be blue or green. I thought that anything that was yellow and black striped was a bee, really, not realizing that many of the little bee-like things in my yard, that I was afraid would sting me, were actually flies that feed on flowers.

I didn't know that moths could be pink, like today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

Primrose moth, in an evening primrose. One of the things I love about primrose moths is that I have always found them head first in a flower. For some reason I find that amusing.

This is the point where I annoyed it enough that it came out of the flower to find out what was going on.

Still, pink is a pretty rare color for bugs, at least in my backyard, so it's fun that I found two today:

Not completely pink, but still. I think this is a firefly, but I am not sure.

About two weeks ago when I was mowing the lawn I found a hornet's nest in the ground, meaning I found a hole from which hornets emerged to let me know that they found my lawn mowing to be annoying. I have been avoiding the area to an extent, and certainly did not mow there last week. The hole was a typical insect hole, small, leading I supposed into a tunnel of some kind. A couple of days ago I noticed that it was bigger, and figured that some kind of animal had been digging there. Today I saw that it was completely open, and definitely looks more like it was dug by a bigger animal than an insect. It's probably about 8 or 9 inches wide, and a few inches deep. It does not appear to have any kind of tunnel leading from it. And this is what was in the hole:

Here's that infested caterpillar. Completely desiccated, and I can't tell if it still has larvae of some kind attached to it.

Butterflies are so uncooperative.

The syrphid fly (hover fly) larvae are still hanging around on the same vine where I found them the other day. And why not? There's lots of aphids there–though perhaps not as many as there were before. Also, I don't know how mobile these things are. One of them had moved way down the vine, so they can move...

A very good reason for you to go outside and look for bugs yourself is that this bug is so fun to watch. Before it hops away, it does a funny side-to-side rocking thing for a while. Also, if I am holding onto the leaf where it is sitting when it hops away, I can actually feel the force of its hop.

Beetle larva. It's a weird combination of beautiful and grotesque.

I can't find my bug books to look this up... this is one of those bugs I have to look up every year. Who moved my bug books? I can't even remember if it is a beetle or a Hemiptera. I wonder what would happen if I did an internet search on "Bug that looks like a piece of toast." [searching] Well, nothing really... I think it's a leaf beetle...

Ha! I found my books, and it's a leaf beetle. That looks like a piece of toast. Or a bunch of zippers. Or Juustoleipä cheese. There have been debates on my Facebook page in the past when this has been BBotD.