Insects & Arachnids

There's no story line here -- simply a collection of pictures of challenging subjects! My little digital box camera is not really up to macro photography, but I keep trying! Besides, insects, spiders and other creepy crawlies make fascinating photos. Even their homes are interesting -- take a look at the ant lion holes above. Surely you recall that as a kid you carefully pushed a little sand or gravel into those little holes to watch the ant lion kick up a fuss to capture whatever poor critter had fallen into his trap.

I hadn't seen one of these creatures all summer, but the other day this katydid flew by and landed in the grass. The only reason you knows it is not a leaf is that it landed on the wrong type of plant.

I don't know this fellow at all, but he is a pretty light green and has a wonderful criss-cross pattern on his folded up wings.

This remarkable spider web appeared in my kitchen recently. In between the two hanging baskets is this third basket, made by a small spider, which reflects the form of the two manmades. Effective, too -- there were skeletons of small insects in the bottom! Sorry I couldn't get a more definitive picture, but this was truly a tough call.
This little hunting spider was a lot easier to capture -- he was right there on the garage wall, holding his own captive for anyone to see. Not a web builder, he was a lot smaller than...
this fine tarantula that my neighbor alerted me to this afternoon. Kind of late in the season for a male to go looking for his lady love! Husband & I made the trip back and forth through the mountains on the White Spar when we first moved to these parts. About late monsoon time, many male tarantulas would emerge from their burrows and strut down the highway, looking for potential mates. One day we saw a parked car along the highway, with father and son looking at a frightened tarantula. "He's in Attack Mode!" the man warned his lad. Poor misunderstood spider! Poor foolish Flatlander!


Note: One of my regular readers, k at ksquest, is raising a brood of io moth caterpillars. You should go take a look and read about her many adventures with such critters. Be sure to page down a couple of posts. The greatest picture is of caterpillars, head-to-tail around a bottle of rubbing alcohol!