I’ve been told that, when a species does not have a common name, I should give it one. This little fellow deserves one, don’t you think? This handsome Metacyrba punctata jumping spider was wandering around on my garage door when I spotted him. He gave me a few choice leg gestures (“Go away! I’m busy!”)…
Author: Long Leggedy Beasties
Grizzled Mantid
Also known as the lichen mimic mantid or Florida bark mantid, Gonatista grisea is very well camouflaged — I would never have noticed this 10mm baby if it had not moved! (When it’s grown, it will only be about 35-40mm long.) Their coloring resembles that of lichen, and they are practically invisible on tree bark….
Limpkin
This handsome bird is about 25-29 inches long, with a wingspan of 40-42 inches, with males slightly larger. Plumage is identical for both sexes. It is a wading bird native to warm parts of the Americas, including Florida, and its primary diet is the huge, destructive apple snails of the genus Pomacea. Aramus guarauna is…
Bothriocera Cognita
This tiny, black and white spotted cixiid planthopper does not seem to have a common name. Bothiocera cognita is about 3-5mm long, and appears to range through the southeastern US. Other than that, it’s a nondescript little planthopper, without even a Wikipedia entry. Planthoppers, in general, live on, and eat plants, eating the roots as…
Swift Crab Spider
Crab spiders get their name from their widely-splayed and elongated first two pairs of legs, which they use to catch prey bigger than they are. They do not build webs but wander around and hunt, often in flowers. Wrestling with prey several times their size can damage the spider — this one is missing a…
Flatoidinus punctatus
How do these crazy little bugs (these are true bugs, too) not have a common name? Flatoidinus punctatus is one of (it feels like, having looked for this guy on bug-guide.net for hours) hundreds of very similar, but not identical, hopping insects in the family Flatidae. Hoppers generally have a strong, pointy proboscis hidden under…
Common House Gecko
Another of Florida’s seemingly infinite number of invasive species, Hemidactylus frenatus is another of those critters I just can’t bring myself to remove. Three to five of these generous little lizards live in my roof, emerging at night to eat insects attracted by our porchlight. I find it to be a good trade. They’re supposed…
Oak Beauty Caterpillar
There is a surprisingly large number of moths in the family Geometridae whose caterpillars “look like a stick”. Beyond that very general description, the caterpillars have huge variation: little pinstripes, big, bold black markings, warts and bumps and protuberances, and generally it is very difficult to pin down just which Geometrid moth caterpillar, or inchworm,…
Episemasia cervinaria caterpillar
Ordinarily I prefer using the common name as the title for the post, but this caterpillar, and the moth it will become, has no common name, and unfortunately “Geometrid Moth Caterpillar” does not narrow it down far enough. Its scientific name is Episemasia cervinaria. For those who follow Hodge nomenclature, this is Hodge #6714. When…
Twin Flagged Jumping Spider
Wikipedia wants to tell me that the twin-flagged jumping spider’s name comes from those white marks on its cephalothorax, but I’d put my money on the name coming from those bright white pedipalps, which look like little flags waving around as she moves. This glorious little twin flagged jumping spider, Anasaitis canosa, is almost invisible…
Pantropical Jumping Spider
I assumed at first this was a wolf spider, Lycosidae sp. I am hesitant to call it a jumping spider because this individual was “huge” — I would have put it at half an inch long — and pantropical jumping spiders seem to max out at 12mm with the females. On the other hand, half…
Blue-Winged Grasshopper
This photo was taken in Costa Maya in 2019. (I’m walking around visiting ancient ruins — Kohunlich, for the curious — and taking photos of insects. I know, I have problems.) These little red-and-black insects are juvenile (probably about second instar) blue-winged grasshopper nymphs (Tropidacris collaris) clustering together. As adults, they’ll be huge — up…
Slender Meadow Katydid Nymph
This is not an adult; it’s a mid-range instar (aka nymph, aka baby). You can tell because it has no wings — adults have long, reddish wings which extend past the end of their body. In a couple more molts/instars, the wings will emerge! This tiny little creature (about 5mm long) took a ride on…
Southeastern Five-Lined Skink
The southeastern five-lined skink lives, as one might expect, all over the southeastern United States. It looks a great deal like the American five-lined skink, Plestiodon fasciatus, but based on geographic range (this individual was found in central Florida) this is more likely the southeastern than the American five-lined skink. The scientific name “inexpectatus“, which…
Acrobat Ant
I love encountering entirely new species! I had never heard of an acrobat ant before I got a photo of this little (3mm!) lady. Acrobat ants get their name from their ability to raise their abdomen over their thorax and head when disturbed (you can kind of see this one lifting her butt at me…
Eastern Green Grass Springtail
This is an entirely new genus for me — and family — and class! These tiny little insects (only about 2mm long) are very common, but also extremely small, and they like to hide under decaying plant and animal matter so we don’t really see them much. This is the eastern green grass springtail, or…