Bugs and Architecture

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfy." R. Buckminster Fuller

I am a fan of 'Ol Bucky, because he invented the geodesic dome - in other words, my house - so I was tickled to find this quote on another subject of interest to me. I have no idea what the context was in which he said this, and I suspect he was being metaphorical, and not literally talking about caterpillars. And yet, it is completely true. You look at a caterpillar and there is no hint of what it will be turning into later. Usually they aren't even the same color that they are going to be. Caterpillars are one of the weirdest things in the world. Though come to think of it, if you've ever actually looked at a butterfly's face, they are pretty weird, too. Mostly I think people just look at the wings. I don't think any cartoonish drawing of a butterfly has ever looked even remotely like what a butterfly's face really looks like. Anyway, I digress. I just wanted to share this quote because it is so profound, and yet so obvious.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 I spotted this on one of our lawn chairs when I was moving it out of the way of the lawnmower.

 I don't know what it is except that it is a Hemiptera - see the proboscis?

 It is also pretty tiny - that bug in the background is an aphid. I am guessing that this bug does not feed on aphids, because when this one bumped into it, it scooted away.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 I'll give you a taste of the awesome blending-in skills of this bug. I spotted it easily because it was marching up the side of the tree, and the movement made it more visible, but if it had been still there is a good chance I would have missed it. Though I do have some pretty mad skills at bug spotting...

 Another Hemiptera - maybe a stinkbug? It's gorgeous, isn't it?

 A close up of that face.

 Here's the eye zoomed in. Look at the beautiful pattern on the face while we're here.

 I posted this one just because of the little bug marching right underneath this one. Close encounters with other bugs could be a theme of today's Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day.

BC-BotD was on the same tree as this:

This is the caterpillar from yesterday. It definitely appears to be dead, which makes me feel like a dope for hoping that it was preparing for metamorphosis. But like I said, I don't know anything about metamorphosis in this particular species, and it is pretty rare for me to just find dead bugs sitting around, dying for no reason. Usually they are dying because something is eating them, and a dead caterpillar will usually have at least ants on it. And it's not as if caterpillars die of old age. So this is kind of strange. But I think there are diseases caterpillars can get, fungal infections, things like that. So who knows?

I found a Daily Dandelion for today:

And some cool seeds:

Clematis

And some Random Bugs:

 At first glance this doesn't appear to be the most exciting moth.

 But look at it up close! I love the rose color on the edge of the wings.

 I think this is the same kind of caterpillar I found months ago, maybe in March, way at the beginning of bug season. At the time I had never seen one like this before. So this is the second one I have seen. The one I saw in the spring was bigger than this one is now, which leads me to believe that this one has more growing to do and will then overwinter as a caterpillar and then pupate in the spring. There I go again, making assumptions based on almost nothing! But it could be true. Funny that after I saw one in the early spring, I haven't seen another until now - though come to think of it, that sort of supports my hypothesis. The one in the spring, and presumably others of the species, would have pupated for a while (up to a couple of weeks, or so), then the moth or caterpillar would have to emerge, mate, and lay eggs. Then a little time for the eggs to hatch, and the caterpillars, which would start out so small they would be barely visible, would have to grow to this point to be noticed. Not likely that this would all take six months, but I am just speculating.

 I am posting this blurry picture because it is an illustration that sometimes my bug spotting skills are not so great. There is a sharpshooter on the leaf of the plant, and possibly some kind of red bug at the top (none of the pictures are conclusive on that), and I didn't see either until I looked at the pictures on the computer. The reason the caterpillar, which is what I was taking a picture of here, is so blurry is because it was extremely windy today, and for this shot I wasn't steadying the stem of the plant. What you can't tell from any of the pictures is how awesome my bug spotting skills are just for seeing the caterpillar. You'll never know what a good catch that was...

 Grasshopper.

 This looks a lot like that bug from yesterday that wasn't a ladybug, but I think this one actually is a ladybug. It might be a Transverse Lady Beetle (another word for Ladybug), but I am not sure on that.

 It's feeding on an aphid like a ladybug.

A rare glimpse at a ladybug face. Usually they have them kind of hidden.

 I know this bug can still fly, because it flew past my face, but its wing cover is messed up. Bugs are very resilient.

 I am not sure if this is a katydid or a grasshopper. I think it's a katydid. It's immature - the wings are not fully developed.

 The saddleback has made short work of the leaf it moulted on.

 Loopers are everywhere...

 There is a beetle called the checkered beetle. This is not it. I think this is the Twenty-spotted Lady Beetle (ladybug). But it looks more checkered than the checkered beetle. Note the slight gap between the wing covers...

 Look what happened!

 Huzzah! It's not great focus, but hey, I got a picture of a bug with its wings spread to fly! It's kind of surprising how long those wings are. I have seen ladybugs flying before, but when they are in flight you don't notice how long the wings are. When they land you can see a bit of the wings as they retract them under the covers, but I have never had a chance to see how big they are.

 Aphids were everywhere today.

This wasp was crawling on the back porch.

 You have to be careful when taking pictures of wasps, not to get on their nerves.

Some real cuties today for Arachnid Appreciation:
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 A really gorgeous jumping spider.

 I think this is a Six-spotted Orb Weaver. That web is maybe three inches across.

I don't know what kind of spider this is, because there are a lot of spiders in my book that look sort of like this, but whatever it is, there were a LOT of them around today. I nearly ran over them with the lawn mower a number of times (actually, I did run over some of them, but they are low enough to the ground that the mower didn't hurt them. Still, I try to avoid running them over). Knowing how many spiders - not to mention other things - are in the grass is why I don't walk around barefoot, and I don't like sitting directly on the grass. I know too much about what I might be sitting or walking on... I mean, I like spiders and bugs, but not that much.