Appropriate Names

There is a great deal of satisfaction to be had from finally getting a decent picture of a bug whose clear image has eluded your lens for months.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Finally, the buffalo tree hopper.

 You can see why it is called that, though I think it looks more like a triceratops than a buffalo. Triceratops tree hopper has a nice ring to it, too. Say it out loud. See? However, it does look a little bit like a tiny, green, hairless buffalo I guess.

I waited until today to award it Backyard Bug of the Day status because I wanted to get pictures of it from the front, side, and top, to show its coolness in three dimensions.

Backyard Bud of the Day:

I don't know what this is, and it has probably been Backyard Bud of the Day before, but really, I think we're done with finding new buds for the year. Leaves are starting to fall...

Backyard Amphibian of the Day:

 Based on its awesome climbing abilities I am thinking this is a tree frog. It obviously is taking a cue from the tree crickets and decided trees are not the place to be.

I checked up on the caterpillar that was Co-Bug of the Day yesterday, and yep, it's definitely a caterpillar, not plant debris. I have come to this conclusion because I saw it moving. It still looks the same in these pictures, but it is on the other side of the flower from yesterday:

In this photo if you look carefully you can see a tiny bug on top of the caterpillar. It took me a few seconds to get focused in on this when I saw the bug land, so I don't know what, if anything, it did when it was on the caterpillar, but there are wasps that lay their eggs in caterpillars. You can imagine what happens next. Whether this is that kind of bug, I don't know.

I did see this bug on the same flower earlier:

 It could be the same kind of bug.

 And if we zoom in a lot (it was a really small bug, and I didn't get very close) we can see that it is gorgeous and it looks like it has an ovipositor.

Then if we zoom in the other picture, is that an ovipositor? Or just its leg? I mean, I saw the wasp land on the caterpillar. And yes, bugs have casual interactions all the time, and I certainly can't say that the wasp landed there with evil intent, but still. Also, in this picture you get a close up look at slug slime, a surprisingly resilient material. Anyway, for the caterpillar's sake, I hope this is not a parasitic wasp, and that it didn't do anything creepy to the caterpillar.

Random Bugs:

 This assassin bug was not having a good day. Trapped in a spider web...

 ...AND being bitten by a mite. It did seem like it was going to be able to escape the web, though, so maybe it ended well.

 This leaf hopper (a really small one) was on my sock, and I nudged it off, because as hard as it is to take pictures of a bug on your own hand, it's harder to take pictures of bugs on your own foot.

 I haven't seen any of these in a while - sawfly larvae.

 Grasshoppers look so Steampunk.

 This is kind of a funny circumstance. A ladybug pupating, with aphids hanging out nearby, and it can't do a thing about it. (Ladybugs eat aphids, in case you are wondering why I find this amusing).

 As I have mentioned, I can't always tell if a Hemiptera is a bug sucker or a plant sucker, but when you are found with the leg of another bug, it certainly points in a particular direction.

 This is obviously a popular spot for white tussock moth caterpillars to moult. The one on the right is a caterpillar. The other two are discarded skins.

A couple of flowers that still think it's spring:

 Butter and eggs.

Bedstraw has started blooming again. The seasons are very confused in the backyard.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 This spider was on the same leaf as the sawfly larvae. I wonder if the spider built there in the hopes of catching them. Come to think of it, several months ago I found other leaves with both spiders and sawfly larvae on them, but they were a different species of spider than this.

 So, so, so tiny...

 This is the second spider I have seen lately with this kind of web - they are new to the yard. Years ago we had a lot of spiders with funnel webs (which these resemble), but I haven't seen any in quite a while. And now this.