The Bugs in the Backyard: Updates

I've got a lot of bugs today, and not a lot of thoughts, so let's just dive in, shall we?

Backyard Bug of the Day:

This bug is soon to be ubiquitous - I saw three of them today, and if past years are any indication, I will be seeing mostly these bugs for the next few weeks. When I get to the point where I can't find anything else, I will be seeing these. I couldn't find them in my book, though - the one bug I thought might be it was described as being around in late spring and early summer - I only see these in the late fall.

Gorgeous iridescent wings. It's very similar to a bug that was BBotD last week, but that one had black wings, not clear wings, and was bigger.

Those back legs are so cool.

It looks like it has 2 pairs of antennae, but I assume one of those pairs is actually some anatomical doohickey I have never heard of.

Speaking of recent Backyard Bugs of the Day, since it was a bright, sunny day I thought I would try to get some better shots of that really tiny bug I got the other day at dawn, when it was cloudy and basically still dark out:

It's still not easy to spot, or to focus on. And I still have no idea what it is - I have tried looking it up, but I can't find it in any of my books. I can't even figure out what general category it should be in, so I have to go through the whole books. Well, obviously I can skip sections like Lepidoptera, and Dragonflies, but other than that... The closest thing I was able to find was a bug that lives on the beach, so that is not it. Or a springtail, which is not an insect, apparently, but a... something.

It definitely looks blue in the daylight, so, YAY! Tiny, blue bug! There are at least three bugs in this picture - can you spot them? (The others are different species).

There are at least four bugs here, maybe five... It's pretty crowded on this dead flower. These bugs are all hanging out under the dried sepals of the flower.

It moved around a bit, so I got shots of it at different angles.

Such a weird shape...

Here's the above shot zoomed in.

Here, let's zoom in this one, too. The antennae seem to come from the bottom of its face?

It remains a mystery...

I have been seeing a more hoppers the last couple of days, after not seeing them for a while, but today was quite a bonanza of hoppers:

I think this one is laying eggs in the bark of the tree.

I like to think that my grandmother would have liked this bug, if she could look at it without running from the room, screaming. I did not inherit my insect appreciation from her, but I did inherit my love for the color blue. This bug looks a lot like the blue and white china she liked.

The front end is on the left.

Here's another previous Backyard Bug of the Day I can update:

Remember that really weird caterpillarish thing about a week or two ago, that was transparent, and the pulsing of its innards was visible (and I videotaped it)? Well, I noticed today that the leaves of the tree on which I found it were all gone, and wondered what had ever happened to it. Well, I think I found it. It is not the same color, but it is the same in other ways - including the fact that its innards are still visible, throbbing away inside.

It is now on one of my lawn chairs. With a lot of aphids.

A LOT of aphids.

So very many aphids.

The colors may be different, but the patterns/shape of the markings/organs are the same, so I am thinking this is the same thing? It was not flailing about as the other one did - not even when the aphids walked on it.

I post a lot of pictures of loopers, and they are mostly all of one species; I found another species today:

It was on the same chair as the caterpillarish thing above.

Here's a zoomed-in look at that face.

I know that this is not a good picture, but can you see what is looming in the background?

Did I mention there were a lot of aphids on this chair? Unlike the other caterpillar, this on DID NOT like having an aphid crawl on its back. It flailed all over trying to get it OFF.