Far Away Bugs

 This bug is not from my backyard:

It's not from my woods, my city, my state, my country, my continent, or even my hemisphere. I took this picture in Zimbabwe last week. I spent ten days in Africa, and while my time on safari was mostly notable for seeing rhinos, elephants, lions, and many other African mammals (and a couple of reptiles, and a lot of birds), I naturally kept an eye out for interesting African bugs. I saw a lot of butterflies, and a cricket, a really cool mantis, and a few spiders. I didn't get pictures of most of them, because I packed my telephoto lens, not my macro, and in Africa the butterflies are no more cooperative than they are here. I was enchanted by seeing different bugs, though. This one was a thrill to see, because I knew immediately that it was a Hemiptera, but it is one I have never seen before, because it lives thousands of miles away from my backyard. I can see the similarities to bugs in my backyard like the large milkweed bug, but its coloring is completely different. However, I bought a book of Insects of South Africa at the airport in Johannesburg, to try to identify some of the butterflies I saw (without success), and from that (even though I took this picture in Zimbabwe), I think this is a Cotton Stainer. 

Now, I am back home, and while I was gone new things came into bloom in my backyard, including lavender. I always check flowers to see if anything is feeding, and lavender is very attractive to bugs. There are specific ones I tend to see there, like today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

Thick-headed fly. This is a rare shot for me, usually they don't land long enough for photos, and I have to try to get pictures of them hovering. It rarely works.

Better be careful where you land, fly, because there is something lurking on that plant. Can you see the assassin bug nymph?

When I left for Africa the eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar looked like it was about ready to pupate. It was nowhere to be seen when I looked for it after I got home, so it is probably a chrysalis now, somewhere in my backyard...

Here's another insect from Africa:

Our safari guide said was was a stick mantis. It is apparently a juvenile, because the insect guide says they are much bigger than this.

Arachnid Appreciation:

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My first white micrathena spider of the year! I guess now I need to start watching the paths in the woods to avoid walking through the webs that will inevitably be built across them.