Triple Whammy

Ah, today was a beautiful day in the backyard; I thought so, the bugs thought so, the backyard itself probably thought so. I know the bugs thought so because they were there in multitudes, flying, and flitting, and pollinating, and flirting, and doing so many buggy things.

I have to do something now that I have not done in quite a while, barely at all this summer in fact, and that is have Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day. I try to avoid doing that, but today I found bugs that I have not seen in the backyard before, and since they were all so great, and you never know if the first time you see a new bug is going to be the only time you see a new bug, I have to choose all three. Yes, three new bugs today! That in itself is astonishing, and makes it a great day in the backyard.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 A new hopper I have not seen before.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

Another new hopper I have not seen before. It's sort of similar to Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1, so I guess they could actually be the same kind of hopper, but I am not sure, and they do look different, so they are each counting as a separate Co-Bug of the Day.

Here they are together:

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #3:

 This is another hopper. I haven't seen one even similar to this before.

 According to Kaufman's Field Guide to Insects of North America, this is in the superfamily Fulgoroidea, Family Flatidae (Flatids), Genus Scolops, but it does not identify the species, of which there are 32 in this genus. So, we're going to have to content ourselves with calling it a scolop.

It's strangely beautiful.

Just to prove I don't know what I am talking about... I have said recently that I never see any bugs on the pink flowers I don't know the name of, and I also said that I only ever see ambush bugs on goldenrod and purple coneflowers. Well, today I saw this:

 Ambush bug on the pink flowers

 Ambush bug nymph on a purple coneflower.

Purple coneflowers are the latest most popular hangout in the backyard at the moment.

An Insect Romance Gone Wrong:

 The male is on the right, and the female is on the left. He seems very interested...

 ... she does not...

 Alas.

 He flies away.

 She remains, alone. The difference between the male and female here should be obvious, but I am going to tell you what it is, in case you missed it. He has antennae that look like moose antlers combined with feathers. Her antennae are much more subtle.

A lot of butterflies around today...

 A fritillary sitting on the ground in the shade of a rock

 A cabbage white laying eggs on the Brussels sprouts in the garden

 Another fritillary on a purple coneflower with a bee coming in for a share of the nectar

 

 This is the first glimpse I have ever had of the wings of this bug (which may or may not be a stilt bug)

 Immature tree cricket

Still looks like a dragon to me.

 Tiny weevil. So small I almost saw no weevil.

 Baby assassin with parasite

 Tiny moth

 One of the huge bees is still hanging around on the pink flowers. It didn't move much...

 Which made this picture possible...

 ... and this picture.

I did see several different kinds of bugs on the milkweed, including some interesting ones, but they were all really small and scattered into hiding when I tried to get their pictures.

I saw no spiders today, so no Arachnid Appreciation. But I saw so much else that was lovely that I cannot repine too much.