Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Reader Mark Sturtevant has another puzzler for us today. Can you spot the katydid? Click twice in succession (with a pause between clicks) to enlarge the photo. I’d rank this one “moderately difficult.”
I’ll put up the answer at noon Chicago time.
Here’s the first “spot the” for 2017, and it comes from reader Mark Sturtevant. His note and photo:
It has been an age since I did one of these. Can the readers of WEIT spot the praying mantis? As with one of the others I did, this is probably a European mantis (Mantis religiosa) that is common around here.
Click on the picture (twice with an interval between clicks) to enlarge it.
I’ll put up the reveal at noon Chicago time. I rate this one “pretty hard”. And don’t forget, you too can submit “spot the” pictures, but make sure that a. the animal is not easy to find and b. it isn’t places in the center of the photo!
Did you spot the praying mantis in Mark Sturtevant’s photo? Here it is!:
Reader Mark Sturtevant has another “spot the. . ” picture. Click the photo to enlarge, and I’ll reveal the answer at 11 a.m. Chicago time. (I’d classify this one as “hard”.) As always, try not to give it away in the comments below, though you can say whether you spotted it.
Mark’s notes:
This summer has been a summer full of photographic adventures, and it included a multitude of mantises, which is great because there is nothing in the insect world like a preying mantis. The lady hiding in this scene was a big one, perhaps the largest of this species that I have come across. I will let the readers identify her, and that will not be hard once she is spotted.
She stayed with me for about a week, and I have plenty of candid shots to show of her later. Some of those are gruesome since she was always hungry. In any case, here I have released her again near where I found her. Can the sharp-eyed readers of WEIT find her? She is lurking in there somewhere, and woe to any grasshopper or katydid that gets in her line of sight!
Did anyone find all three? I sure didn’t. Here is the original photo and Alrich’s reveal:
Here they are! Be sure to enlarge both photos.
In lieu of “readers’ wildlife” today, and in view of my impending trip, we’ll have a modified reader’s wildlife:a “spot the X” quiz.
This qualifies as pretty hard, I think; it comes from reader Mark Sturtevant, who says this:
Katydids are really good at hiding. After I see one fly and settle into the weeds, I often have a hard time seeing them up close even when I know exactly where they should be. Most are much harder than this one. Can you spot the katydid?
I’ll put the answer below the line (click on “read more”, but I’ve learned that sometimes the reveal is on Twi**er, and there’s not much I can do about that.
I’m guessing that not many people found the green dragonfly from this morning, but maybe I’m wrong. I’ll put the original photo below, and you can then click on the arrow at bottom that says “Read more” to see the elusive odonate.
Ready? Go ahead and click.