Always Something New

I haven't seen any bats in my backyard this year. Nor have I seen signs of moles or voles. I don't know why...

I am getting a little tired of caterpillars, but that's what's out there, so...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This appears to be a red-humped prominent. It doesn't exactly match up with the picture in Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner, but it is closest to that than anything else. As is often the case with wildly colored caterpillars, it turns into a drab, brown moth.

 I found it right when I walked outside, crawling on the picnic table bench. I am pretty sure this is a new species for me. It's always a thrill for me to find a new insect species in my backyard, but it's even more surprising that after all this time I can do so so often. In the last couple of weeks there have been several new caterpillars. Just imagine how many are out there that I haven't found yet...

 I don't often get good pictures of caterpillar faces, so here's a chance to point out their tiny eyes. Caterpillars have six tiny eyes on each side, arranged in a semi-circle. It's hard to tell exactly where they all are, but I have pointed some of them out.

Other Bugs:

 Tree cricket

 Milkweed tussock moth caterpillar crawling on a fern

 Wasp on goldenrod

 There was only one caterpillar left on the Queen Anne's lace where the black swallowtails have been for the last week or so, and it was this one. I was surprised that they were all gone. I thought the smallest one would still be there.

 I'm not sure what kind of caterpillar this is...

 ... but it appears to be covered in parasite eggs.

 The moth who was laying eggs yesterday has finished, and unlike the one from last time, she was not immediately eaten by a wasp. Her wing is quite beat up, though, so she has probably been through some things.

Mealy bug destroyer larva

 You can just see its head and a leg peeking from underneath that wild fluff. In this case I think the fluff is something that the larva grows, not stuff it sticks onto itself, the way a green lacewing larva does.

 Stinkbug nymph

 Sweat bee on goldenrod

 I posted a picture of this monarch caterpillar a couple of days ago, and in the ensuing days I have not been able to find it again–until today. It had crawled to a different plant. I am pretty sure it is the same one, though, because of the mark on its side, which I hope is not a wound from being parasitized.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Bowl and doily spider. Usually my backyard is full of these, but I have not seen one for quite some time.