Big Mama Bug

 I went for a really long walk today. For various reasons there have been several days in the last week that I wasn't able to go for a walk (mostly weather related), and it was wonderful to be able to wander all over my woods at my leisure. I brought my camera for my first full bug walk in over a week. I am always on the lookout for bugs, and yet, somehow I managed to walk right by an amazing bug–a huge one, too, one that should have been hard to miss. However, my husband saw it, and called me back to see it.

And here it is, Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

Broad-necked root borer beetle. Female.

That is not a stinger, it's an ovipositor. She is gravid, full of eggs, which is why her abdomen is so large.

Compound eye

My husband's finger for scale. I don't think he wanted to get it to close to her.

He spotted the beetle near the start of our walk, and then we went on. I went for a longer walk than he did, and after about 2 1/2 hours, when I was on my way back to the house I detoured to see if the beetle was still there. She was not in the spot where we saw her, but I looked around, hoping to find her again, because her condition made me think she might be laying eggs.

And she was!

She would walk around, stop to stick her ovipositor in the ground, pump some eggs into the ground, and then move along to another spot.

It looked to me like she was not quite as large as before, and was probably getting smaller as she laid eggs.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

I think this is a spiny slug caterpillar. This is a new species for me. It's quite a small one, so it's an early instar. You can just barely see the legs underneath all this weirdness. And speaking of weirdness, it looks like it has frass or some other kind of debris piled on its back, but when I looked it up, no source said anything about them doing that (although there are other insects that do, so it's not outrageous to surmise so).

Those little spikes are spines to deliver venom into anything that attacks or touches it. In this shot you can get a peek at its head underneath.

The back end. In general I wish I'd gotten better pictures of this (normally pictures this quality would not make it as BBotD, but this is a new species for me), but it was really small, and in an awkward location-this plant was covered with thorns, even on the leaves. At least I didn't get stung in the attempt.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #3:

Wedge-shaped beetle. I haven't seen one of these in years. This may be species Macrosiagon limbatum.

So... what else did I see today...

Other Bugs:

I have seen these caterpillars a couple of times recently, and they move astonishingly fast. I have never seen a caterpillar move this fast. It's weird to watch.

Can you see the tiny, flying insect?

There's mushrooms everywhere at the moment. Sometimes I find them knocked over like this. I am sure that ant had nothing to do with it.

I saw a lot of orthoptera today, mostly in the meadow in the woods, but also on another open path nearby. I spotted one big, fully grown grasshopper, but it hopped out of sight before I could take a picture. Then I saw this one almost in the same spot:

This one is a nymph.

The order Orthoptera includes grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets. I saw all three today:

Grasshopper nymph

Another grasshopper nymph:

Okay...

Katydid nymph

Cricket:

I think this is also a nymph. I was unable to find it in my books, but they tend not to have nymphs.

Wasp. That's an ovipositor, not a stinger.

I couldn't find this caterpillar in my book.

The lavender in my rock garden always used to attract these Thick-headed flies, but today I saw more than I have ever seen before. And I haven't seen these in a couple of years, either.

This is becoming a theme, seeing bugs I have not seen in a long time. I like it.

Hopper nymphs:

Candy striped leaf hopper

Japanese beetles.

 

There's a small patch of milkweed around the small pond, and I haven't seen any monarch caterpillars there, but today I found a leaf hosting milkweed tussock moth caterpillars:

Early instar.

Here's what they have done to the leaf in the short time since they hatched.

I saw a lot of butterflies today. This was the most cooperative one.

Can you spot the assassin?

Assassin bug nymph:

And another species of assassin bug nymph:

With beetle prey

I used to see these all the time, but it's been a long time since I have seen one. I still remember how amazed I was when I first saw one, it was such a strange and exotic bug, like nothing I had ever seen before. I didn't even know what a nymph was back then.

 When I finished my walk in the woods I walked around my backyard (that's where the lavender is, I am not sure how those pictures ended up out of order), and checked up on a few things, like...

... there seems to be only one caterpillar left from the ones on the back porch tree, but there may be others hiding inside this leaf that has been curled over and covered with silk.

The new milkweed tussock moth caterpillars I found yesterday have spread out a bit:

They are still on the same leaf, some on the underside...

... and some on the top. Those on each side appear to be eating through different layers of the leaf, leaving the ribs.

Meanwhile, on the back porch:

Baby wren has been fed, but it looks like it didn't want to swallow whatever that was it was given.

I have been finding these spider egg sacs all over the woods lately. I have never seen so many of them before. 

And on that subject... Arachnid Appreciation:

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Jumping spider