🧵Signs of the 17-year #cicadas are already showing up in #Elmhurst#Illinois. The city is a 25-min drive west of #Chicago and had overwhelming numbers of these cicadas in 2006 and 1989. This year, sections of the state will also be hit with a 13-year brood, an event that hasn't happened since 1803.
If you're wondering if you might be seeing them near you, this is what to look for in the soil.
Gray bird grasshopper (Schistocerca nitens). This one was about 8 cm long. These guys usually don't let me get this close, but it was chilly and he was sluggish.
Great photos! For the arachnophobic, the article includes, right down the bottom, a picture of a spider but it's unbelievably well camouflaged, so you can look at the ant pictures without seeing it at all, and you'll have to scroll and scroll to get to the spider itself :)
Ultra-rare 'punk ant' with Sid Vicious-like mohawk photographed in Far North Queensland - ABC News
Hey, bug/insect folks on Mastodon? This post has been going around Tumblr and it's unclear whether this is legit or not. Do any of y'all have any info on this organization?
Just spotted this cute beetle on the wall during my workout. It's a Paropsine Leaf Beetle (Paropsis atomaria). First one I've seen around here. They're a pretty serious pest in Australia, feeding on Eucalyptus leaves. Recently (2022) introduced to California. #nature#NaturePhotography#bugs#insects#coleoptera#bugstodon#SouthernCalifornia
I saw yet another cool caterpillar to paint for my Perpetual Journal: a White-lined Sphinx moth larva! Check out those awesome colors & patterns! (The Fall foliage art is my PJ entry for Oct. 15-21 for last year.)
The aster was moving! Clearly something was there, but it seemed to be hidden under aster-bits. Magnification revealed that this crazy little dude had covered itself with flower petals as a disguise. It’s a camouflaged looper, the caterpillar of the wavy-lined emerald moth. What a treat! Now I wish I had a Halloween party to go to…. #bugstodon#caterpillars
I finally got an answer to a question I've had for quite some time: what the heck are these worm-like creatures with a weird shell that I see everywhere around the house?
I got a photo of one of them, uploaded it to #iNaturalist, and got the genus #Phereoeca, a type of moth, as the suggested taxon. Reading the description of the larvae of this genus, I'm convinced that this is the right answer.
Another reminder that as far as I can tell, the wonderful @Buglife are the only UK conservation charity with an active presence on mastodon, and they're great! Give them a follow #insectodon#invertebrates#bugs#bugstodon