"Once you begin watching spiders, you haven't time for much else."
― E.B. White
I'm kind of tired and it's getting late to put much of thought and narrative to this post's photographs, so I'm going to keep my comments somewhat brief. Anyway, this morning after breakfast and coffee I headed back to the Pheasant Branch Creek Corridor for another round of bug hunting. There were some nice discoveries ― it's astonishing how much changes in just a week on the insect phenological clock: fewer butterflies, more hoppers, still no peacock flies, and finally some interesting spiders. And on that note, my favorite creepy-crawly for outing was this Bronze Jumping Spider Eris militaris. I didn't mean to be as much of a bother as I apparently may have been ― the little jumper hopped onto my macro lens a few times. I merely moved my lens above the wooden rail and he hopped back down. Goofy spider!
This rather aggressive pose belongs to a Bark Crab Spider in the genus Bassaniana, and may be versicolor. What appears to be a menacing face-off was not a reaction to me ― it was presenting an ambush posture well before I attempted to take any photographs of it. It would be something to watch it catch something, but I moved on after getting a few shots of this little monster.
Next we have a Long-jawed Orb Weaver of the genus Tetragnatha. The extremely elongated presentation of this spider makes photographing its entire body with a macro lens somewhat difficult. Instead, I took a snapshot of the entire spider with my smart phone, and then did a couple close-up shots.
This was a nice surprise (below) ― a Mantisfly! A member the genus Leptomantispa, I suspect. I think this may be the first one I've ever seen. Despite the similarity, they're not closely related to praying mantises. Actually, they're not a true fly, either. The encounter with this fascinating critter wasn't nearly long enough ― four exposures and it was gone! Rounding out this section, below we have a Laphira Robber Fly, Gnat Ogre Robber Fly, a Delphinia Picture-winged Fly, and an Alfalfa Weevil Hypera postica.
Hoppers! The first is Publilia concava, a treehopper. then a Two-marked Treehopper in the genus Enchenopa. The much larger and colorful Locust Treehopper Thelia bimaculata had its body aimed downward which necessitated me having to get on my back to get the shot. There were more Buffalo Treehoppers today than I think I've ever observed at the creek corridor. Lastly, two planthoppers: Citrus Flatid Planthopper and an Acanalonia Planthopper.
Lastly, and Eastern Forktail Ischnura verticalis and a Stiletto Fly Pandivirilia sp.
I'm totally beat! Soon, I'll be off to dreamland where occasionally have dreams about tiger beetles, often rendering a non-existent species that's kind of a dark coppery color with small dots for maculations. Oh! I just realized I almost forgot the obligatory tiger beetle content. Anyway, here are some B-Stock Ghost Tiger Beetles from a few weeks ago ― they really might be my favorite insect:
All images © 2021 Mike McDowell