Turning on a Light

Some days it's just not worth going outside. Well, from a bug hunting standpoint. There are lots of other great things about going outside. Maybe not as many when the weather is this gross, but still, I am not going to advocate staying in the house all the time. So, my bug walk was a waste of time. Eating my lunch outside (when the temperature dropped a few degrees) was quite nice.

However, I had to turn on the porch light tonight in the hopes of finding a good bug to be Backyard Bug of the Day. Lately the porch light has not been all that attractive to bugs, so I didn't have a LOT of hope, but it paid off for me this time.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 I think this is a new species of planthopper for me. I'm so glad I turned on the porch light! Possibly species Telamona salvini.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 A moth with a really lovely pattern. It could be a new species, too, but with moths it's really hard to tell.

There were a LOT of bugs attracted to the porch light tonight:

8 in this shot. They were mostly very small. Tiny, even. And mostly flying around in the way that you keep your mouth closed so you don't inhale one (which my husband did when he went out on the porch earlier), and hope they don't all fly in the house when you open the door.

Many different orders were represented; this picture shows Diptera and Lepidoptera, but there were also Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Arachnids...

Moth and leaf hopper. Both tiny; the leaf hopper is about an eighth of an inch, maybe.

 There were several cool moths, mostly not in places where I could get pictures of them.

 Plant bug

 Meanwhile, inside the house:

 When I got up this morning the caterpillar with bad judgement in pupating locations had successfully become a chrysalis. When the current caterpillars have moved on I will remove this part of the rack and put it somewhere where it will have room to emerge.

 I know it's pointless to post a picture of this caterpillar to say what I want to say about it... or maybe not, if you look at yesterday's post you can probably see a difference... Anyway, this is the "hatchling" caterpillar, and I swear it doubled in size since last night. That probably means it molted, and it did spend a lot of time yesterday just sitting in one spot, so that checks out.

Note how few things I have to show you in Other Bugs today:

 Bumblebee on autumn joy sedum

 Assassin bugs

Here's another lurking among the goldenrod, waiting for one of the many unsuspecting insects that like to feed on the plant.

Don't worry, this huge tachinid fly (which would have been BBotD if it had agreed to sit still for better pictures) did not become prey.

 This is a tiny pupal case made by a tinier caterpillar out of pieces it has cut out of a leaf and attached together with silk, and then attached to a tree with more silk.

 Some other kind of chrysalis. About a quarter of an inch long.

 Tree cricket

 I have been seeing a lot of hover flies lately, but have been unsuccessful in getting pictures of any. Until today.

 Very young assassin bug nymph. Obviously not the same species as above. I don't know the real name of it, but in my mind I think of this as the umbrella assassin because when they feel threatened they pull their legs in around them and they look like the ribs of a partially folded umbrella. But that's just me.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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