Annoying Insects

Recently I have posted pictures of caterpillars reacting to me in ways that are weird and defensive. In both cases I wasn't really doing much, but it was enough to alarm them, causing them to display their displeasure with weird (and possibly stinging!) protrusions. I found it fascinating, of course, and enjoyed the opportunity to witness nature showing its wildness. Then today I found a new-to-me caterpillar in my backyard, and when I looked it up I found out that it has an interesting defensive display (not as interesting as the eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar's osmeterium, but still), and I feel a little bit disappointed that I obviously didn't annoy the caterpillar, so I didn't get to see it! Now, I know that I should not annoy nature just for the fun of it, and I don't, but still...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 The Angel caterpillar. That is really its name. Including the The. I find that peculiar, but there is much about taxonomy and nomenclature that is perplexing. Anyway, with a name like that you might expect this to turn into a beautiful butterfly, or at least a really stunning moth, but no, it turns into a fairly drab, brown moth like so many other caterpillars. It's quite big, I'd guess about 3 inches long. A couple of weeks ago I saw a caterpillar on a leaf way up in a tree, too high for me to be able to get a good picture, or even a good look at it, but I think this might be what it was.

 Here's the head end of it, and you can catch a glimpse of the defense mechanism, which is that when it's annoyed, it's hairs stand up and it has a red ruff, or mane that is mostly hidden the rest of the time. I'd like to see that.

It was a bit tricky to spot; when I saw it I wasn't sure if there was really a bug there, or if it was just part of the branch.

Other Bugs:

 There are fewer grasshoppers in the rock garden lately...

 ... but today, I found one in another part of the backyard, and that seems to be how it works with them. they spend their youth in the rock garden, and then when they grow up they venture out into the greater world of the backyard. This one is an adult, as you can see from the fully grown wings, and it a red-legged grasshopper, identifiable by its red legs.

Yesterday I could not find the smaller parasa (the second one. I have not been able to find the first one for days), but today I found it farther up the vine:

 It's still pretty convincing in its pretense at being a brown bit of the leaf.

This is the branch where the contracted datana caterpillars were the last two days:

 They devoured quite a few leaves.

 I found them farther up the branch, all piled together.

 Looper caterpillar

 I saw a few honey bees today on the Japanese knotweed.

Along with a lot of other insects:

 Wasp

 Fly

 Stilt bugs on asters

Two tree crickets on milkweed...

 ... male...

 ... and female.

 Looper looping

 

 Net winged beetle in flight

 Net winged beetle

 

 Net winged beetle takes off. I like this picture because I think it's funny, even though it's not a good picture, but it does also give you a look at how the insect flies.

 I haven't posted any in a while, but I do see this kind of katydid quite a bit still. Today I only saw this one.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Flower crab spider