The Bugs in the Backyard: A Gathering Place

Today in the backyard there were sort of gatherings of bugs. Not intentionally on their part, really, but I feel like most of the bugs that I found were in the general area of the other bugs that I found. It created some conflict for me–which one do I photograph, in case it's going to fly away? This is the kind of decision I have to make sometimes. Do I go for the rarer bug, or the one I think most likely to fly away first, or... it might seem like I just take a picture of every bug I see, but there is an actual decision-making process sometimes. Today, though, it was more like an embarrassment of riches.
There are two Co-Bugs of the Day today, and I found both of them (and another bug) when I wasn't even on my bug walk (though actually, one of them would more accurately be described as finding me, but more on that in a minute), I found them when I went out to get the mail, bringing my camera with me, just in case.

I started by checking up on the baby stink bugs, who are showing the ultimate in togetherness:

They hatched, on the underside of a milkweed leaf. It's hard to believe they fit in those tiny eggs.

Then on a nearby milkweed plant I caught a glimpse of something underneath a leaf, and found Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

Firefly. Not a winter firefly, but a summer firefly (which is not the name of the species, just a comment on when you'll find one). I have only rarely seen a firefly other than a winter firefly (which are diurnal) during the day.

You can just see a glimpse of its light organ under its elytra.

While I was adjusting my camera I happened to glance at another milkweed plant and saw this insect crawling around:

Swamp milkweed beetle. You may remember it was BBotD not long ago. So I switched from taking pictures of the firefly to taking pictures of the beetle; the firefly was sitting still, and this beetle was crawling around, and I wanted to get a shot before it flew away (the firefly pictures are out of order for this story).

While I was vacillating between the two beetles on milkweed, a butterfly kept flitting past just in the corner of my peripheral vision, and then disappearing the way butterflies do. I caught a glimpse of orange, and thought maybe it was finally another monarch. At one point I was sure it had just flown between my legs.

Then I happened to look down and saw that it had landed on my leg, and there was Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

I have always had trouble figuring out the difference between a comma butterfly and a question mark butterfly, but I finally found a site today that did a pretty good job of differentiating them, and can say with some confidence that this is a comma butterfly. The number of dots on the dorsal side of the wings is one of the features...

... and that white mark on the underside of the wing supposedly looks like a comma. Notice the proboscis; I think the butterfly was gleaning minerals or something from my skin. I had just showered, but was kind of sweaty already anyway. The butterfly stayed on my leg for a couple of minutes. And let me tell you, it is not easy to take a picture of something on your own shin.

Obviously, this was a distraction from the beetle, and when I turned back to it, I had a chance to get a picture as it flew away.

Then the firefly flew away as well, and I went on down to get the mail, which was why I was outside to begin with. Granted, none of these three insects were together, they weren't even on the same plant, but I found all of them while standing in one place. Just as a side note, this evening I stood out on the back porch watching the fireflies flicker and there was one that looked like it was in pretty much the same spot where I had seen the firefly in the morning, and I wondered if it had gone back there, or if it was just a coincidence that a firefly was there.

There were other bugs communing in the backyard, with more of a feeling of togetherness:

A couple of syrphid fly (hover fly) larvae. On this same plant were a lot of aphids, but since the syrphid fly larvae were there to eat them, that's not quite the vibe I am talking about here.

These two hopper nymphs were hanging out together on a vine with...

... this hopper nymph...

... while elsewhere in the backyard, on another vine, these two hopper nymphs were hanging out.

Meanwhile, this plant (daisy fleabane) is host to three different kinds of insects; a bee, order Hymenoptera, feeding on the nectar of the flower; a caterpillar, the larva of a Lepidoptera, eating the stem of one of the buds; and an aphid, order Hemiptera, sucking out the juices of the plant. Each feeding on the plant in a completely different way.

And on another nearby plant of the same kind, another species of caterpillar, pretending to be a flower stem.

There were loner bugs around today, too:

Robber fly on the garbage can

Lady beetle:

I think this is an Asian multicolored lady beetle. I didn't know that one of the available colors is gray. I wonder if that's really a color for this insect, or is this a mutant, or has something happened to it?

Hopper nymph

Dustywing [Edit: I should have made this Backyard Bug of the Day, because it's a new species for me and the backyard, but I overlooked it when I was choosing BBotDs]. It is TINY. When I saw it I thought it was a whitefly, which is funny because when I found it in the bug book (and I wasn't even looking for it, I just happened upon the page while looking for something else), it said they are often mistaken for whiteflies. The thing is, both are very tiny. This is related to lacewings, which it does sort of resemble.