Acting!

I suppose that any species of bug that exists now must have worked out behavior that works to propagate the species, including ways of avoiding predators successfully. But there is a particular insect behavior that I find puzzling, which is playing dead. I see this happen mostly with beetles, and it happens with a LOT of beetles, but yesterday it happened with a Hemiptera. The way it works is this: I get close with my camera, and the bug drops to the ground and lies there on its back, trying to look dead. I assume they do this with other threats as well - they can't possibly have developed this behavior just for me. I just don't see how it works. It annoys me sometimes, because sometimes when the bug drops to the ground it gets lost in the grass, so I can't find it to take its picture, but sometimes it drops where I can see it, and if I meant to cause harm to the bug, well, I could easily do it. In fact, I could figure there's no harm in it at all, because what difference does it make if I squish a dead bug (not that I would). So this must convince some other creatures whose intent was to eat those bugs that they should not. Maybe there are predators who don't like to eat already dead prey? Maybe prey that is already dead has no internal juices to suck out? But then there are the ants, who will carry off dead bugs. They are perfectly happy to eat dead bugs, apparently. So doesn't that make playing dead a dangerous ruse?

Of course, another reason it doesn't work on me is because I know they are not dead, and as long as I can still find them, I will still take their picture. Even if they are lying on their backs.

Such as... Backyard Bug of the Day:

 In this case the beetle was on a rock, and when it did its fake death fall it landed on another part of the rock, instead of on the ground (well, it did another fall later, and then it landed on the ground and I lost sight of it).

 I like how here it has its antennae neatly tucked over its chest.

 The other side of the beetle.

Sort of coincidentally, just before I found that drama-queen of a beetle, I found this:

 I really don't know if ants kill bugs than then drag them off, or if they just pick up dead bugs they find. Ants are famously able to carry things that are very heavy compared to their own weight, and yes, that is impressive, but they kind of stink at making their way through the grass with them. They are constantly bumping into things and trying to go through gaps that are too small for whatever they are carrying.

Most of the bugs I saw today were ants. And by that I mean that I saw about a thousand ants, and fewer than ten bugs that were not ants. I saw many species of ants, all over the yard, on flowers, on the ground, climbing tree trunks, living the ant life:

 Funny thing about ants - my nearly life-long perception of them is as picnic pests and pantry raiders, but I don't think I have ever been at a picnic that was overrun with ants. Wasps, yes, but not ants; maybe you'd see a stray ant or two on your picnic blanket, but they've never been a problem for me at a picnic. I have had invasions in my kitchen, which annoys me, of course. But mostly ants are just outside doing their ant thing. They don't just eat picnic food. The whole world is a buffet for them.

Random Bugs:

 Moth

 Stinkbug

These leaves have barely unfurled and are already covered with galls.

 The insects are very efficient.

 We came home this afternoon to see a new birds' nest on the wreath on the front porch. For all I know it's been under construction for days, but this is the first I have seen of it. They made quite a mess on the porch.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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I don't think I have seen this kind of mite before.