Reader Mark Sturtevant gives us a batch of arthropod photos:
First, we have the bizarre spinybacked orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis). Common out east, I would see them around when visiting family in New Jersey. This lateral view demonstrates that they are weird on all sides.
One day, while walking along a wooded trail, I chanced to lift up a tree leaf and found one of the weirdest insects I ever did see. Check out the next picture, and be as startled as I was when seeing it through the viewfinder.
Clearly, it is a plant-sucking plant hopper of sorts, belonging to the expanded order Hemiptera (formally in the order Homoptera). It is either a fulgorid or a related family, as clearly indicated by laterally flattened wings. Various species in this group can have odd looking and expanded heads. But what about the ‘face’? There is a sort-of similar and famous example of a giant fulgorid with a scary face known as the peanut-head bug, and there it is possible that the face is used to deter predators. But this insect that I found is maybe ¼ inch long. I personally don’t think the face would have the same effect, given the size of the insect. What I suspect is going on here instead is a crude attempt to make the anterior end look like the posterior end (really the distal ends of the wings). Note that both are decorated with white, red stripes, and dark spots on purple. The purple + dark centered spot on the head is the compound eye, and so the spots on the wings might be false eye spots. Many insects try to deceive predators by having their heads and rear ends similarly marked, so that sometimes the predator attacks the rear, giving the insect a chance to escape. True, the front and rear patterns do not match strongly, but camouflage and other anti-predator measures do not have to be perfect to provide a benefit.
So, what is this bug, exactly? It took me a long time looking, but I eventually discovered that it was not in the fulgorid family but rather in a related family known as the Derbidae. The species seems to be Apache degeeri, and if feeds on fungi. So now we know. And now I also know where to look for it.
JAC: Here’s a closeup of the head from Bug Guide; the dark round spot is the compound eye:
The next couple pictures are very routine. Here is a blister beetle (looks like Epicauta pennsylvanica). I rather like the blue tinge of this species.
Next is a silver-spotted skipper butterfly (Epargyreus clarus). These large skippers are pretty common, and this one was one among many feeding on flowers next to a lake.
And finally, just because I cannot resist, a parting shot of the Chinese praying mantis (Tenodera sinensis) that I had staying with me last summer.
Finally, if you need your mammal fix, reader Tracy Hurley sent some ground squirrels, though the species, some sort of ground squirrel, isn’t identified (readers?)
I visit Descanso Gardens [near Los Angeles, in La Cañada, CA once a week, usually to see birds and flowers, but today four young squirrels caught my attention. Two of them were particularly rambunctious. I think the bottoms of their feet are cute.
JAC: Note that they’re off the ground in the second photograph, so they’re really air squirrels:
Mark – your pictures are coming a long nicely. Those are some lovely ones.
I like blister beetles. They almost look like big, blue ants.
Thank you. I don’t think I noticed the blue sheen on this species of blister beetle before until I looked at my pictures of it.
Growing up in Coconut Grove Florida I saw lots of Spiny Backed Orb Weavers, locally they were called Queen or King spiders, at least among children, I guess because from top their spiny abdomens look like a crown. I don’t know if I ever heard adults name them. I live down in the Keys now and I’m constantly clearing their webs away to keep them off of my face and out of my hair. They can be pesky little boogers, especially in the spring. I like seeing them though, they make me feel at home. They normally don’t come inside but I found one crawling on my bed a couple of days ago. I slid a piece of cardboard under it and took it outside and released it into a more suitable environment.
They are amazingly clumsy spiders, since their abdomens give them a weird weight distribution. It is a wonder that they have survived.
Lovely blister beetle on Solidago (goldenrod). Very nice Silver-spotted Skipper on Lythrum (loosestrife).
Sometimes I can’t help myself – I must speak up on behalf of the plants. These are truly interesting and attractive photos despite my quibble.
Everyone know flowers only exist to serve as backgrounds to insects.
😀 I’m definitely kidding! I always love it when you show up and ID the plants. You and Mark complement each other.
Last year I visited a friend in California. At a park, I stood very still so I wouldn’t scare a couple of ground squirrels of the same kind pictured. After a little while I noticed a third. And another. And then more and more climbing on the rocks and trail near the picnic area. There must have been 20 or more of them, and they weren’t at all scared of humans, just a bit cautious I’ve never seen that many ground squirrels together.
That’s an abundance of squirrels! I thought four was a lot, and I suspected they were from the same litter.
A scurry of squirrels!
The spider in the first picture is Micrathena gracilipes. Micrathena is an American genus. This species makes the most regular, fine-meshed orbs.
Gasteracantha cranciformis does not occur so far north.
Wonderful photos, Mark! Love the spider making its lines–so cool the way you’ve captured the back leg catching the silk as it emerges from the spinnerets. The way its other feet are grasping the lines is also fascinating, as it how thick the silk looks at that magnification.
That Derbid is just bizarre! Loved the link to the peanut-head, too.
Funny, even though I knew those mantids were called Chinese mantises, it was only recently that I realized they were an introduced species. Introduced but not invasive, apparently.
Tracy, those are the cutest squirrel pictures! I especially love the one of the squirrel jumping into the air, complete with shadow. Those feet are a little bit…weird…from that angle; they look so much like miniature hands! Fascinating shot.
Thank you, Diane G!