Just Some Bugs and Things

 I don't really have anything to say today... Here are some pictures of the bugs in my backyard...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Flower longhorn beetle. I don't know which species. On hydrangea flowers.

Long-legged fly. On hydrangea leaf. There were several on the leaves of this plant today.

Japanese beetles

There are leaf hoppers and planthoppers of various kinds all over the backyard. Often multiple species or individuals together:

There was a third one just out of this shot.

 

There were nymphs as well as adults.

I think these are two different species, adult and nymph.

Another monarch egg. No caterpillars sighted today, though. Or monarch butterflies.

 

Oh, look, one of my photographic nemeses. 

Tachinid fly on the back porch

Broad-necked root borer beetle. Female. I think she was laying eggs in this plant. Note the ovipositor.

She retracted partly it when I got close.

The root borer beetle was spotted on our walk by my husband, and I went back to the house to get my camera, which I then carried for the rest of the walk. I didn't get pictures of bugs in the woods, but of frogs:

The woods are full of tiny frogs and toads lately.

Jagged ambush bug with prey on Queen Anne's lace. But it was not the only predator there...

Arachnid Appreciation:

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Queen Anne's lace can be attractive to pollinators, but I generally stay away from it because I am allergic to it. There are two very good reasons for them to stay away from this particular flower head, though. The ambush bug you already saw, but there's another predator in there...