This is quite possibly the most “nature is metal” photo I’ve ever taken. This Hentz orb weaver spider (Neoscona crucifera), about 2″ radius max, has taken down a fully grown great blue skipper dragonfly (Libuella vibrans), which is about 3 1/2″ inches long. Imagine the rodeo that must have been!
Category: Insects
Io Moth
The io moth, Automeris io, is notable for large eyespots in the middle of the hind wings. There are seven species in the US; Automeris io is the only one found in Florida. Its range extends through most of the eastern US. These moths are sometimes also called the corn emperor moth and peacock moth….
Citrus Flatid Planthopper
The citrus flatid planthopper (Metcalfa pruinosa) makes me happy. It is a member of the family Flatidae, whose name amuses me greatly (and, yes, references the fact that these insects are “flat” when viewed from above). Also known as the frosted moth-bug, Pruinosa is common in eastern North America, ranging from Canada to Mexico. Adults…
Stilt Legged Fly
Grallipeza nebulosa is a species of stilt-legged fly from the family Micropezidae. These little guys are notable for their “dancing” — they can often be seen running back and forth, waving their brightly marked forelegs around. The tiny white feet are visible even at a distance to the human eye. There is not a lot…
Eastern Black Swallowtail
This is a newly hatched baby eastern black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes). It’s only about 6mm long, practically invisible on this plant. By the time it’s ready to become a butterfly, it will have molted four or more times, and will be about four inches long (see photo below)! The white spot on its back is…
Whitefringed Weevil
The whitefringed beetle, or whitefringed weevil, Naupactus leucoloma, is originally from South America but can now be found across the southern US, Australia, and South Africa. They are a type of weevil with a broad, down-pointing snout. Adults are relatively large for a weevil, around 12 mm long. N. peregrinus is light to dark gray-brown…
Dog Day Cicada
Growing up in Kentucky and Indiana, I saw one or two of the big “cycles” of the 17-year cicadas. Those periodical cicadas don’t live in Florida, but here we get serenaded each summer by a variety of annual cicadas which brood every year. The dog day cicada (Tibicen canicularis or Neotibicen canicularis, depending on whom…
Halloween Pennant Dragonfly
I love these dragonflies, because they are so easy to identify — they are the only dragonfly in Florida with those multiple big, brown spots all over their wings. Also, who doesn’t love Halloween?!? Celithemis eponina lives all over the eastern United States, mostly near bodies of water. They mostly appear in the summer in…
Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillar
I got all excited, thinking this was a monarch butterfly, but no, it’s a (still gorgeous) impostor — the caterpillar of the eastern black swallowtail butterfly (Papilio polyxenes). The monarch caterpillar has long “antennae” or tendrils on both ends; the swallowtail lacks these appendages. The eastern swallowtail is known by a variety of other names,…
Thread-Waisted Wasp
Originally I thought this was some sort of fly. Then I thought it was a wasp. Then I thought it was a wasp mimicking a fly. /r/insects didn’t know what it was. Months later, while searching for Polistes wasps on google, I scrolled past a picture of a similar species of sand-digger wasp, and —…
Paper Wasp
Paper wasps (Polistes sp.) are named because of the paper-like nests the queens build. They are members of the family Vespidae. Paper wasps are primitively eusocial, like bees. There are three castes: fertile queens, infertile female workers, and fertile males who do nothing but fertilize the queen. Founding queens sometimes start a nest in a…
Metallic Blue Lady Beetle
Entomologists can’t always be good at naming. At least the metallic blue lady beetle, Curinus coeruleus, is easy to remember, as well as identify. C. coeruleus is a native of South America which has traveled all over the world, where it has largely been introduced by humans as a means of controlling insect pests such…
Punctured Tiger Beetle
The punctured tiger beetle, Cicindela punctulata, is common throughout North America and is primarily recognized by the twin lines of indentations on either side of its midline. It is also known as the sidewalk tiger beetle. Tiger beetles are a group of more than 2,600 known species and subspecies living all over the world. They…
Leafcutter Ants
A column of leafcutter ants (could be Atta sp., could be Acromyrmex sp.) — possibly the coolest thing I saw in Costa Maya, Mexico. They formed a column a foot wide and more than a hundred feet long, something I’d seen in a thousand documentaries and never in person. I could hear David Attenborough narrating…
Sumac Flea Beetle
The best way to really get an understanding of how many beetle species there are in the world is to try to identify one. Behold, the sumac flea beetle (Blepharida rhois), whose Wikipedia article consists of four entire sentences. This was a BUGGER (pardon the pun) to identify.
Saltmarsh Moth Caterpillar
This little fellow is (very probably) a Saltmarsh Moth caterpillar (Estigmene acrea), but again this is one of those “identifications” wherein this could also be any one of a number of closely related species. Below, an earlier instar salt marsh moth caterpillar does an amazing yoga pose: The just-hatched caterpillars are mostly yellow, with little…