Cold and Clumsy

We came very close to our first frost last night. A lot of people look forward to that because they think it kills off all the bugs, and they hate bugs, but they are totally wrong about that. We can have a frost, and then the next day the temperature is back up in the 50s and there are bugs everywhere. However, a frost will kill off the mosquitoes, and right now that is something everyone around here is looking forward to because of the eastern equine encephalitis outbreak that has been so tragic this year. It would be a great relief for everyone to feel safe from that right now.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Some kind of plant bug. Hemiptera.

 Check out those compound eyes.

Other Bugs:

 Crane fly

 Moth

 You know what this is.

 There's something funny about this picture. I thought I was just taking a picture of a looper caterpillar in a weird pose, but...

 ... look to the left side of the picture. I did not notice that insect when I took it! My guess would be spotted cucumber beetle.

 Leaf hopper

 Milkweed bug nymph. I don't know which species.

 Caterpillar

I spotted this interesting scene:

 Caterpillar spinning silk to pull a leaf together

 The caterpillar moves back and forth, adding lines of silk. I have seen them before pull on them and tighten the leaf, although I have also seen them just like this, the leaf is bent inward, and the caterpillar just shelters under these lines.

And this is the caterpillar after I clumsily destroyed all of its work:

 I feel pretty terrible about this. All that silk, this is a pretty heavy biological cost for this caterpillar. Now I worry that it won't make it through the winter, either as a larva or a pupa, whatever it does, because I made it waste all those resources. I came back an hour later and it had started over again.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Another picture where I took a picture of something other than the intended photo subject. The funny part about this one is, the spider is in focus and the caterpillar is not, but I didn't even know the spider was there!