Bug Life

Drat. I spent so much time trying to organize my thoughts for this blog post that I have now basically run out of time to write anything much for this blog post, because I have quite a lot of pictures today. Yes, that's right, I have a lot of pictures. It was sunny today, and pretty buggy by recent standards, so I took 557 pictures. About half of the pictures are of spiders, though, so if you're an arachnophobe, you're only going to be seeing half of what was so cool in the backyard today. And several of the bugs I just didn't manage to get a good shot of, so those won't be included, either.

Anyway...

The first time I had a butterfly eclose this summer I got up at the crack of dawn to be able to see it. Supposedly they usually eclose in the morning, so in order not to miss it I had to be up when it became morning. And then it didn't happen until almost 11:00. But I saw it happen. Since then, up until today ten more butterflies (I think) have eclosed in the dining room this summer, and I didn't see any of them, because I wasn't going to get up at the crack of dawn again to sit and wait. It something that happens fast, so if you're not sitting and waiting, chances are you're not going to see it. 5 of them eclosed while I was out of town, even (3 in one day!) One eclosed while I was at church on Sunday. So I am pretty casual now about when they eclose; having seen it once, I don't need to make an effort to see it again. So today, when the butterfly that I knew was going to eclose today hadn't emerged by 12:30, I just continued going about my day... for about 30 seconds. I took a picture of the chrysalis, posted it on social media with a caption saying I was still waiting, and then when I walked past the enclosure 30 seconds later, the chrysalis had burst and the butterfly was pushing its way out. I had to run for the camera.

 Sorry for the blurriness. Dim light, moving insect... But it's still a cool moment.

 Good look at how swollen the abdomen is before it pumps fluid into the wings to expand them.

 

 I brought it outside a few hours later. It was getting pretty feisty in the enclosure, but it wasn't ready to fly yet (In fact, last I saw at about 10:30 this evening, it was still resting on this flower).

 Male, as you can see from the black dots on the hind wings.

There will be another eclosure tomorrow, and I think that one will be pretty early in the morning, based on the progress of the chrysalis, when the butterfly first started to show through, and when it became really clear. I wasn't all that surprised that today's was a later eclosure, for the same reason.

Okay, what next...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I have been trying to get a good picture of this species of bee for a couple of years. I think this one is finally pretty good. I don't know why I like it so much; I think it's because it is so mismatched, like it was put together out of leftover bee parts, or it was laundry day and this bee couldn't come up with an outfit that matched. It is a sweat bee, from the genus agapostemon, but I don't know the species.

And look at that cool eye:

It takes a lot of shots to get a decent picture of a bee that is busy...

 ... and I only showed you the best ones.

The tree that is growing out of my back porch is nearly always covered with aphids:

That means it is a great place for anything that eats aphids. There are a lot of things that eat aphids, but specifically, the tree is a major hangout for ladybeetles. Today I managed to find every stage of the ladybeetle life cycle on this tree:

 This is where it begins...

 Then eggs are laid...

Larva hatch...

They pupate... (interesting how the pupa does look a lot like the imago–adult–when the larva does not)...

And then, you get a ladybeetle!

There are a lot of other bugs attracted to that tree for other reasons (I presume), including some wasps/bees, but none of them will sit still to have their picture taken.

Other Bugs:

 I am seeing a lot of grasshopper nymphs in and around the rock garden...

 ... from a couple of different species.

 I think this might be the same kind of weevil I found yesterday (was it yesterday) that was BBotD. I got a better picture of it today. That is an impressive snout!

 I found this huge (okay about 2 inches long), empty chrysalis on the side of the house. I wonder what came out of it.

 Katydid

 Hopper

 I have been seeing white hickory tussock moth caterpillars every day, and not bothering to take pictures of them because I see them every day, but it's been a while since I posted one, and I should have given the general caterpillariness of the blog lately, so... here's a white hickory tussock moth caterpillar.

 Tree hopper.

 Viceroy caterpillar. It's starting to look greener.

 Looper caterpillar covered in parasitic wasp eggs.

 Damselfly

 Dragonfly

It's eating something...

Today was quite a day (and evening) for finding spiders, so there's a lot to appreciate in Arachnid Appreciation:
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First, I think it's interesting that among all the spiders I found today, I didn't see a jumping spider or a crab spider. In fact, I think it was all orb weavers (or web weavers, anyway):

 This spider was building a web on a milkweed plant.

 "Hiding" on the seed pod of the plant.

There is a cluster of several webs in front of the front porch, spanning between bushes and the porch:

 I think these are female (above) and male of the same species.

 Six-spotted orb weaver

 Arrow-shaped micrathena

 I found this spider just because I saw its huge web on my bug walk; the spider itself spends the day hiding. So I went out after dark, and found it building a new web. I waited a while for it to finish and then got these pictures.