butterflies
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Some More Southwestern Insects
The largest beetle I’ve ever run across. It was wider than my thumb. Giant Palm Borer? Like the butterfly below, this dragonfly, a Pale-faced Clubskimmer (Brechmorhoga mendax) I think, was deceased.Queen male (Danaus gilippus) and the spider who caught him. This stink bug — genus Eleodes? — has assumed the position and is ready to…
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Some Southwestern Insects
Milbert’s Tortoiseshell (Aglais milberti). I’ve only identified a couple of the following, so holler if you know any of them. Mexican Amberwing (Perithemis intensa). Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor).This katydid was dropped in front of me by a surprised Western Tanager. I think the katydid was surprised too, if not in shock.Like the chimney-shaped ant colony…
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Ant, Wing
An ant wrestles with a lepidoptera wing. An aerodynamic challenge.
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Ahoy, Skippers!
The Skippers in the family Hesperiidae are small, fast, confusing, and perhaps not even butterflies. But we will leave that to the taxonomists…Also, they are all over the place: walking through a meadow or even a semi-feral lawn now can stir them up. A subsection of the Skippers, the Grass Skippers, have a characteristic “jet…
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Flying Now
Barely… actually she seems to be doing ok with those chucks missing from her forewings. This is an Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas); a female, with brown wings on the upperside; the male has blue. Wingspan is close to an inch, so about half inch when perched. And the tails made much of in the common…
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Flying Now
There are moments when the beauty of the world takes your breath away. Like, for instance, when a Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) spreads its wings in a patch of sunlight, opening and closing them in quick succession — as if were silently clapping — and flashing this incredible blue iridescence. And then you remember why…
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Flying Now
The Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus). A tiny — wingspan is less than an inch — fluttery butterfly, that looks black from a distance, but up close is revealed to be a rich brown.
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Flying Now
Another black and yellow animal for the day. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). All over the place right now, but hard to get a lens on unless they are feeding. Mostly I see them moving. This is the largest regional butterfly, and pretty much unmistakable, although further north the slightly smaller P. canadensis is…
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Flying Now
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) are out and about now, moving fast. One of the large “dark swallowtails,” which I find impossible to identify in motion. That’s the point. Both the Spicebush and the Black Swallowtail (P. polyxenes) mimic the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor), which evidently tastes disgusting after loading up on Pipevine toxins. Predators learn…
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British Bugs
A selection of the insects spotted on my Dartmoor walk, most of which I can’t identify, so if you know ’em, holler below in the comments.This one was easy to look up. (And be sure to click on the image to get a closer look at the wings.) There are only two damselfly species with…
Backyard and Beyond 