Beautiful critter

Once again, my open window policy has paid off. This curiously patterned moth has been hanging about in my kitchen, where the portable air conditioner requires an open, unscreened window. I'm sure the critter showed up to enjoy the bright lights of Chez GrannyJ.

I had not realized how showy this insect was until it opened its wings. Wow! Time for pictures. After flying about, said moth landed on my left hand, while I somehow managed to get the camera operational with my right. Oops, wings closed. One picture, then two and three. I had to poke at the critter to get it to display its spectacular set of R.E.D. rear wings for this view.

As well as the red and black abdomen. Q: do all moths have those lovely silky hairs where wings meet abdomen? Below, a close up view of the pattern on the wing. Note how the grey color is achieved by alternating lines of black and white scales. Very much like old fashioned newspaper half-tones.

For the record, this particular moth is called the painted tiger moth or, officially, arachnis picta. Why arachnis, which sounds pretty spidery to me, I don't know. Googling, I found physical specs for the critter and plenty of pictures, but nothing about how it makes a living. However, one insect collector in American Fork Canyon, Utah, had posted a splendid series of 12 life-cycle pictures. Starting with a female who laid 400 eggs in the first week of September, subsequent pix followed the caterpillar and pupa stages on to emergence of a new generation of arachnis. Great stuff!

Links for the End of August: The site where I found those pix was most interesting: Insect Net, a network for insect collectors (which means primarily butterflies and beetles, of course.) Forums, photo galleries & videos, news, shopping -- all in one place. While in the realm of nature, a picture from NASA of a curious cloud formation down under in Queensland -- they are called morning glory clouds, though they look more like rolled up crepes. Closer to home, I found a set of Flickr photos of our Citizens Cemetery.

Giant four-eyes

One byproduct of my new portable air conditioner now at home in the kitchen is that it was necessary to remove the window screen so the exhaust tube could do its job (see picture here). Not surprisingly, I've had some interesting visitors. By far the most glamorous was this giant antheraea oculea moth I discovered sitting on a hanging basket of geegaws last night. And I do mean very large: the wingspan is 5-6".

A glance at his/her battered wings says that the critter has been around for a while this summer; it proceeded to batter them further flying at the fluorescent ceiling fixtures periodically and then resting up. Thanks to The Google, I found pictures and a discussion at What's That Bug. Interesting -- this is very much a local southwestern special. The Bugman points out, The World’s Largest Saturniidae Site indicates: The Antheraea oculea moth (wing span 3 15/16 – 5 7/8 inches) closely resemble the widely distributed polyphemus, but oculea occur only in the Southwestern corner of New Mexico through the mountains of southern Arizona north to Flagstaff and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Aren't those eye spots super? The Bugman noted Exactly one year ago on 19 July 2008, when we received our first photo of the Oculea Moth, Antheraea oculea, we thought we were looking at a Polyphemus Moth with exaggerated markings. The eyespots looked heavily made up, as though they had added eye shadow. The three reports about this moth that were posted on What's That Bug were from the Verde Valley and the Payson area; I usually see one or two of these moths every few summers, but never had a chance to photograph one so intimately.

I was fortunate to get one picture of an antenna showing its feathery form.

Also quite interesting -- the silky "hairs" that not only covered the body of the moth (right) but spilled over onto the wing. The critter was resting when I turned out the lights to go to bed; this morning, he/she had disappeared. Now, if I am really, really, really lucky one of those pretty scarab beetles will land in front of my camera lens and it will deploy its delicate feathery antenae. Hah -- not very likely!

A surprise from the freezer

Strange (and wondrous) events follow in the footsteps of one's Sson, when he is an ecologist. As an example, today I decided that I should thin out those freezer containers that have been sitting around as the contents dessicate. This particular container held only a small rattle, which clued me that it was, indeed, a very small dab from a long-forgotten meal. So I lifted the red lid to empty the contents into the waste bin...

...and here's what I found! At which point I recalled the night Sson caught the fellow; he followed his standard procedure for preserving insects and popped him into the freezer. In one of my standard portion containers.

Here's another view of the critter. No, I didn't save it for the Sson's next visit, though perhaps that would have been the right thing to do.

The beauty of bugs

A curious -- and welcome -- side effect of the digital revolution in photography -- ever more people are discovering the insect world. Cause? Effect? Who knows. All I can say is that arthropods and their kin are wonderful subjects, often beautiful subjects. And, oh, such variety as you can see in the pictures that follow.

This is an elusive swallow tail butterfly that patrolled the road in front of my house almost all summer; I never, never spotted him/her near one of my flowers or, for that matter, landing anywhere that I might catch a picture. My neighbor was considerably luckier, as you can see above. Thank you, Andy, for letting me use this image.

The cool weather has almost stopped their high-pitched summer song and, presumably, we won't be seeing spent cicadas on the sidewalk the rest of this year. The sign above and the critter samples were at the registration desk at the Sharlot Hall Museum, likely there to answer the many questions posed by local people and visitors.

No, those are not shadows of this critter's legs, they are reflections; he's perched on my bathroom mirror. I discovered him late one night when I had to leave my nice warm bed. The worst part of the encounter was pulling myself together sufficiently to locate the camera; perhaps I should keep it on my bedside table, just in case.

Now this fellow is one of many similar true bugs that I see wandering about my potted garden. Looks pretty businesslike in that black outfit. I know nothing of his life style or what he eats....

...as opposed to this ant colony, which I photographed because I had previously never seen a seven-hole hill. Otherwise nothing remarkable about this particular domicile.

Imagine my surprise when, on my walk yesterday, I discovered this big, fat tomato horn worm crawling over a nearly denuded and drying datura plant. I wondered just where he had come from, inasmuch as I regularly check out that particular plant and had never seen him before. Also, the cold will soon be upon us; he should thinking about his future! Of course I asked myself, why a datura? Shortly the answer occurred to me, both the tomato and the datura, as well as potatoes and deadly nightshades and buffalo burr, are all of the same family, solanaceae. If he survives, this critter will shortly shed his green skin to become a pupa, overwintering and emerging next spring as a five-spotted hawk moth. No, not the handsome pink-spotted hawk moth that hovers like a humming bird at dusk, but instead, a drabber cousin.

Today, I rescued this beauty from a mini spider web. Above is the moth's not-too-shabby underside and, below, his gorgeous upper body. I was lucky; he didn't recover from his ordeal with the spider until long after I had taken downloaded these pictures.

Mid-summer munchies

Plants are prospering with our sun and rains. And, the more they prosper, the yummier they get.

This poor petunia, complete to root plug, was pulled out of its pot, probably by a javelina, tho he/she didn't eat much. As a rule, I find that my petunias, the dianthus and the snaps are not buffet favorites.

Quite unlike morning glory leaves, which provide sustenance to all kinds of critters, including snails, slugs, grasshoppers, as well as leaf miners (below). Many years ago, I did see a leaf miner, which was a teeny-tiny caterpillar like animal who made his home in the middle of a leaf 'til it was time to emerge. The example below looks to have been eaten by two types of leaf miners, one leaving just a squiggly trail.

Fashionable restaurants boast of the nasturtium leaves and flowers in their salads, so why shouldn't arthropods eat them, too?

However, the leaf eater that has always puzzled me is our old friend, the javelina, who will munch out on prickly pear pads. He must have a belly of steel to handle those thorns.

Here is one of the chief munchers in my garden -- a genuine escargot; yes, the snails were imported from France long ago as a delicacy, but escaped and made themselves quite at home throughout the southwest. Somehow they manage to hang in there, hidden, through our drought months, only to emerge once the rains come. I haven't seen their cousins, the slugs in the past couple of years.

Another culprit -- he's still very small, yet look at how he's decimated that blossom! Grasshoppers can get pretty pesky later in the season.

This huge moth (5-6" wingspan) shows up periodically at night on my windows; therefore, you are looking at his underside. While I'd bet he/she only eats nectar, I'm sure there will be offspring sooner than later with a voracious appetite for greenery. Ditto for the butterfly (below) who was hanging around on one of my logs waiting for the sun to emerge from the clouds.

Gifts of winter

Not that winter is my favorite season, mind you. Oh, no -- I'm still in the process of shaking down a new heating system that's challenged when the early early morning temps drop down to the mid and lower 20s, as is predicted for Sunday and beyond.

Nonetheless, winter brings its surprises. such as this full grown critter which dropped onto the window sill from one of the hanging basket plants in my office the other day. I don't know his family, genus, whatever, but he stood still for a rather neat portrait and then disappeared, never to be seen again.

Today, the remains of those big Pacific Coast storms started rolling in, wetting everything from ivy leaves to stones with a high gloss.

Even a pine needle on cement created its own particular glow.

And, as every rockhound knows, the secret to beautiful stones is a surface coating of water. These rocks are all part of my big retaining wall. They're never quite as beautiful as when the rain heightens their color.

BTW, I'm dedicating the pictures of these stones to k, who has to travel miles and miles to gather stones for her remarkable southern Florida garden.

Late Call for Critters?

A week, 10 days have elapsed since I photographed the critters on this page. But the climate has changed. No, at my elevation (5400 ft.), there's been no frost; however, a friend at a slightly higher elevation in Mountain Club has already suffered two frosts! Nonetheless, none of the critters shown here are evident any longer. (No, don't ask what kind of moth or butterfly will emerge from that handsome caterpillar above...)

Strange. One day, all of the sudden, the wild Fremont's pincushion was covered with these black fellows. Ants were tending them, so I presume they are some sort of aphid, though they don't look like any of the black aphids on display at The Google's image site. Within a week, they were gone and the plants didn't look particularly distressed. (If you were to ask me, I'd say these look more like weevils -- but do ants tend weevils?)

Wasp? Bee? Fly? Whatever. He or she is happily harvesting some sort of goody from the goldenrod. By the way, do note that the golden rod's rod consists of many, many tiny sunflowers.

Here's why I was truly pleased with myself one day in late September -- I actually caught a hawk moth doing its thing.

If you look closely, you may be able to see the long, long tongue that it unwinds to sip nectar as it hovers, humming-bird style. According to the folks at What's That Bug (a wonderful site, by the way) this critter is officially a 2-striped sphinx moth. sheoflittlebrain had more to say about hawk moths over at The One Acre Wood recently.

Celtic Links: Two of the regular visitors to this site have posted fascinating entries about the ancient Celts. Box Elder photographed the ruins of a Celtic church in northern France, while Olivia tells of the Celts in the Taunus Mountains of Germany, near Frankfurt. Well worth your time.

Screen Critters

We all know that the reason for window screens is to keep the creepy-crawlies out. In my world, there's another reason: to provide a landing place for various flying creatures, so that I might photograph or examine them (or both.) As a certified night owl, I have my lights on at least until midnight so the catch should be good. But our rains have been sparse this summer and the critters have followed suit. Nonetheless, an interesting handful now reside on the hard drive.

Number one is a hawk moth. This is the fellow who hovers like a humming bird and unrolls an unbelievably long tongue to sip nectar, preferably from night-blooming flowers. However, this week, I've seen this moth at almost all times of day as well as at dusk. Probably means his season is drawing to a close. Too bad I didn't use the flash -- the pretty colors might have shown up (pink and black.)

This was a medium-sized moth whose colors popped quite nicely. No idea what he looks like on top, however; that's one problem with window screen photography -- you see the undersides of a critter.

Once in a great while, one of those huge moths puts in an appearance. About a 4-5 inch wing-spread, I'd say. Quite spectacular.

Usually toward the end of the rainy season, mature praying mantises gather on my screens at night. This year, there's been a grand total of one. However, I did find a first cousin -- a walking stick -- on the screen one evening. On the inside, yet. Must have come in when I called the cat!

Bug Photos Galore: Wow! I've just visited Cindy's Bug Safari. She's got some beautiful photography and interesting posts. Do take a long look!

Four Portraits Plus an Insect Circle

When the moth settled down on my keyboard space bar, it was picture taking time! One of several recent insect portraits, tho this has not been a really good year for bugs. I've offered a lot of bright flowers -- enough to keep a very proprietary hummer happy -- but I've only seen a couple of butterflies most of this summer. One, a white guy with a couple of spots, and the other a yellow swallow tail. Neither has parked long enough for this slow-on-the- uptake photographer to fetch the camera.

However, I did get some advice from Box Elder on how to take macro shots with my PowerShot, which I tried out on my favorite neighborhood ant nest. Almost, but not quite.

My shortage of insects has included caterpillars. No woolly bears, for instance, at least at Chez GrannyJ; the housekeeper who takes care of Mom's apartment mentioned that she has two big mulberry trees over in PV that have been decimated by woolly bears. However, I did come across this pretty green fellow (above) while out walking. He was dining on a four o'clock.

I also discovered these curious insectoid rings on a ceiling in my utility room. Data, anyone?

Here's the exception to the shortage. I always have plenty of grasshoppers. The picture above shows the reason why. And for the really kinky, there are 2000+ more like it at insect porn, a Flickr site.

Later, a Circus Note: I should have mentioned earlier that my post about the mysterious critters that turned out to be box elder bugs got a mention at the Circus of the Spineless, along with a lot of other interesting insect sites. BTW, the Naturalist Notebook, which hosted the Circus, has a number of interesting nature sites worth looking at.

Further PS: I hear today is International Rock Flipping Day. Idea is that you turn over a rock (avoiding known rattlesnake havens and the like) and photograph who and/or what was living there. Let Via Negativa know your results.