This adult barred owl (Strix varia) and almost-fledged juvenile were out and about in the early morning in May. The adult was absolutely silent in flight, and I would not have noticed it if it had not flown directly in front of me. Barred owls live all over the eastern half of the US. They…
Author: Long Leggedy Beasties
Yellow Mocis
Moths in the genus Mocis are generally medium-sized (about 26mm across), and yellowish with closely related spot patterns. There are five such moths in North America, all in the southeastern US, more or less. The range of the yellow mocis is roughly from the east coast of Texas, all along the Gulf coast, through to…
Humpbacked Orbweaver
Humpbacked orbweaver spiders (Eustala anastera) are identified primarily by the little bump on the end of their abdomen (sort of visible in this photo) and by lichen-green coloration (although they also come in orange and rusty brown colors). They are pretty variable, pattern-wise; you can see some of the color variation here. This one has…
Milbert’s Proctacanthus (Robber Fly)
I have a special love for this family of flies, who are all voracious, energetic predators (both as larvae and adults) and who all look like grumpy Muppet hobos. Robber flies in general tend to be large, with long legs, a long, tapered abdomen and a big, fluffy “beard” obscuring some pretty serious mouthparts. They…
Spurge Spanworm Caterpillar (and Predator)
This spurge spanworm caterpillar (Oxydia vesulia) is expertly camouflaged as a stick, but that did not do it much good against the nest of tiny scorpions it happened to wander over. I saw the caterpillar on the wood and took a photo of it — and only saw the suspicious, grasping claws after enlarging the…
Cottonwood Leaf Beetle
Meet the cottonwood leaf beetle, Chrysomela scripta. These charming little beetles are about 6mm long. They are red, orange or yellow with black spots/broken black lines on the elytra, and a reddish or yellow margin on the thorax. Both adults and larvae really love leaves, to the point of skeletonizing them, and are serious defoliators…
Collared Ground Cricket
I am somewhat nervous about this identification. The collared ground cricket (Neonemobius nr. mormonius) which is found in Florida may or may not be the same species as the geographically separate mormon ground cricket (Neonemobius mormonius), which lives in the western US. All I can say is that this dainty little (probably juvenile) girl is…
Yellow-Striped Armyworm Moth
As far as I can tell, this individual was taking a drink out of a tiny puddle on an overturned flowerpot. Its forefeet were not even breaking the surface tension; and, when I checked by later, it had flown safely away. The yellow-striped armyworm moth, which has the enchanting Latin name Spodoptera ornithogalli, is a…
Stiletto Fly
About the size of a house fly but unaccountably much longer in the abdomen, with long legs, and in color resembling a flesh fly (red eyes, black and white striped thorax, black and white striped abdomen), this is in fact a stiletto fly, Penniverpa festina. You’d think something this big would have more than a…
Blapstinus Fuscus
This petite (8mm) black beetle, Blapstinus fuscus, was late to a party somewhere on my driveway, but still paused to let me catch a photo. Ordinarily I’d refer to this by its common name, “darkling beetle”, but “darkling beetle” refers to the entire family, Tenebrionidae, and eventually this page would have 12 billion photos in…
Surinam Cockroach
Honestly, living in Florida, I’m surprised I didn’t run into a photographable roach sooner. You are, at this moment, eye to eye with the nymph of a Surinam cockroach, Pycnoscelus surinamensis. She’s adorable, isn’t she? When she’s an adult, she’ll be about 18-25mm long (almost an inch) — right now, she’s about 8mm long. Surinam…
Carpet-Grass Webworm Moth
This handsome little fellow is demonstrating a “downward dog” position. The carpet-grass webworm moth (Fissicrambus haytiellus) is a nondescript moth in the family Crambidae, which includes grass moths. “Grass moths” fold themselves up like the photo above when at rest to blend in with grass stems. (It does not work as well when the moth…
Spiny Orb Weaver
You can tell that a lot of people notice this brightly-colored, distinctive spider in their gardens, as it’s collected so many common names: spiny orb weaver, jewel spider, spiny-bellied orbweaver, kite spider, jewel box spider, smiley face spider, crab spider, crablike spiny orbweaver. Good heavens. The Latin name means roughly “thorn-belly” (Gasteracantha) and “crab shaped”…
Tmarus Floridensis
Crab spiders are much like jumping spiders — they don’t build a permanent web, and instead go hunting for their prey. Crab spider have smaller eyes than jumpers (relatively), and the eyes appear to extend out of a “hood” on the head. Their first two pairs of legs are much longer than their last two,…
Shepherd’s Needles
This small, white, daisy-like flower with white petals and a yellow center made out of smaller, yellow flowers is Bidens alba, a fast-growing wildflower also known as shepherd’s needles, beggarticks, Spanish needles or butterfly needles. Bidens means two-toothed, and describes the twin projections at the top of the plant’s thin, elongated, black, stick-to-clothing seeds. This…
Oxalis Debilis
I originally took the plant this flower was on to be a clover, but now I am slightly smarter and know that plants in the genus Oxalis just happen to have triplet, round leaves that look like those of clover plants, and are not actually clover (Trifolium sp.) at all. I can’t claim to be…