Order, Order

I don't make a really deliberate effort to learn a lot about bugs–I'm not reading texts books of entomology–but I do look things up when I am curious about them, or trying to understand things I see. So I pick up on a lot of information, including various orders of insects. I knew Lepidoptera was the order of butterflies and moths before I ever got into the backyard insect thing, and I think I had heard, and sort of knew, that beetles are in the order Coleoptera (though if I had to come up with that on Jeopardy I am pretty sure my mind would go blank), but before I started perusing insect field guides that was pretty much all I knew. Now I know a few more that I don't have to look up, like Hemiptera, the True Bugs, and Hymenoptera, bees, wasps, and ants. But some of them I haven't quite gotten to the automatic knowledge point. For instance, I was going to write about Odonata today, but it turns out the order I want is actually Orthoptera (though I did see a few Odonata today).

But more on that in a minute. First, from the order Lepidoptera, the Backyard Bug of the Day:

 

 A moth with an excellent color scheme for autumn.

 Taking these pictures required me to perform a challenging photoga pose, and I ended up with burrs in my hair.

 The reason the wings are a little bit blurry is not because I couldn't hold the camera still, but because the moth was vibrating its wings. I have not so far been able to find out why they do that.

 Another handsome Lepidoptera, found next to the porch light when we got home this evening.

But the order of the day, pun intended, is Orhtoptera, which includes grasshoppers, crickets, and kaydids. I found some of each today:

 Cricket, missing a leg

 Two spotted tree cricket

 Those would be the two spots

 Grasshopper

 Katydid. The reason it looks like it is biting me is because it is biting me. Not painful at all.

 Trust me, it's a cricket

 Katydid. She's missing one of her rear legs. I know it's a she, because I can see her ovipositor, the curved thing at the back end of her body, under the wings.

As promised, a member of the order Odonata:

 

 The only cooperative one of the ones I saw. I saw a gorgeous, enormous, green one, but it would not pose for me. This one was more accommodating.

 Other Bugs:

 The bees are still enjoying the morning glories.

 

 It's crowded in there.

Photobomber; I was trying to take a picture of the flower.

If I tried to get a shot like this it would never work. You can only rely on chance.

In between feeding on morning glory flowers you can bask on morning glory leaves.

But a nap on the flowers is nice, too.

 March flies

 Earwig

 Earwig after I accidentally knocked it out of the milkweed pod where I found it.

 Sweat bee

 Hopper

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Jumping Spider