Dodging Rain

Another gloomy, rainy day in the backyard, but the rain was so sporadic that I was able to do my bug walk by just heading into the wooded areas when it started to rain, and the open areas when it stopped. This resulted in a much less methodical meandering than I usually engage in, but that's not a bad thing. At first I thought I wasn't going to find anything but gypsy moth caterpillars and slugs (ugh), but I persevered and found more interesting things.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think this is some kind of bee fly.

 Eastern tent caterpillar

 The discarded exoskeleton of some king of hopper

 March fly

 This looks like yesterday's Backyard Bug of the Day, but it is actually a different species, an eight-spotted forester moth. Highly uncooperative.

 Mayfly

 Assassin bug

 At first I thought this was a gypsy moth caterpillar, but I think it is actually some kind of tent caterpillar? I'm really not sure - it doesn't seem to have the right spots for the GMC, but maybe it's just an instar that hasn't developed them yet? It would be very nice if I could find a good picture of ALL the instars somewhere, but so far I haven't, and my confusion here is just adding to the bad information on the internet... Sorry about that...

 Some kind of Hemiptera nymph

 Aphids tending their young

 Some kind of larvae–not caterpillars

 Wasp

 A very cuddly pair of hoppers.

 This might be a tufted bird dropping moth. It's so much prettier than its name, but I can see how in certain circumstances if would look like bird droppings.

 Beetle–potato beetle, I think.

 This is only indirectly a picture of an insect. It is a gall on an oak tree, about the size of a golf ball. There is an insect larva inside.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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