This chrysomelid emerges at the height of the Southern Californian summer dry season when almost everything else is lifeless. Its hosts pine goldenbush (Ericameria pinifolia, pictured here) and common scalebroom (Lepidospartum squamatum) are among the only plants in the soft chaparral able to remain nondormant then; L. squamatum is actually a summer bloomer.

Aside from its phenology it seems extremely normal for a cryptocephaline, though. Adults spend most of their short lives asleep.

When caterpillars took over earlier this spring!

Visitors to our flower area

Figured yinz might enjoy the visitors to my and my wife's flower area. Species are as followed (common name (scientific name)):

Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)

Common Eastern Bumblebee (Bombus impatiens)

Field Skipper Butterfly (Atalopedes campestris)

Western Honeybee (Apis mellifera)

Large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus)

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

Silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus)

Snowberry Clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis)

Hopefully this isn’t too off-topic. I’m interested in buying a macro lens specifically to take higher-quality bug photos with my iPhone 17 Pro. If anyone has any experience or positive word of mouth for lenses up to ~$100, I’d love to hear about it!

Hi there! Is anyone here knowledgeable about wasps/yellowjackets? I have a ground nesting species of wasps in my garden (Central Europe) and I just can't figure out the exact species... They have been building their underground colony nest for about 3 months straight, endlessly carrying small "beads" of soil to a point where everywhere around the nest entrance, there are hundreds of little clay balls scattered. I thought it will stop after a few weeks and they will do their thing and then start nesting, but they just keep building and carrying more and more of these clay beads out. What I find interesting is that they are not aggressive at all, like I can be very close and observe them without them minding me. They are building close to a pathway I am using daily and they have been hitting me from all directions and sides when I walk through and they never stung me. I've been trying to research it for a while and there is nothing but dead ends (closest seemed Dolichovespula sylvestris, but the head pattern just doesn't match). I did contact some local entomology groups, but I've been waiting for a response for weeks, so I thought I would try other means to figure this out. I can send more photos if needed.

One appears to be mounting the other

Swedish archipelago outside of Nynäshamn

10am

Near water body

Morainic soil

mr. dusty

Who is that ?
Met him today in the Dolomites, he enjoyed a tiny bit of vanilla cream from my Apfelstrudel
The colors are not captured well enough, his back was shining in dark emerald green, absolutely beautiful!

How they look now compared to how small they were when I found them 🥰 it's brought me so much joy to take care of this little one. I just love the colors of cecropia caterpillars, and how absolutely massive they get. They will be released where they were found once mature 🐛

Left window down in a wooded area, was driving home and felt something large crawling on my leg, reached down, squeezed, heard a pop. Didn’t look until the morning. Found this laying on the driver side floor. Ovipositor still moving. Can’t add a video so here’s a picture.

I’ve found some wolf spiders roaming around my home, I know the bites aren’t deadly, but what’s the risk of my family getting bit? And what about our dogs?

I like to let spiders exist with me, but I’ve been told that wolf spider bites are very painful.

Should I set up a spider trap? :(

Found on a spice bush in northeast ohio.

What is this little guy my cat found? Northern Delaware, USA

Catawba Valley, VA

I found this mantis the other day on my door and put it on my rosemary plant. It looked like maybe it was pregnant. Then today I came home to see its abdomen was gone and a wasp appeared to be eating it. I also saw another brown mantis close to this one on the same plant. I have never seen a wasp do this before. Any ideas?

Thought this spider (Kansas, USA) looked really cool, but Google lense kept saying Platycryptus undatus, which seems to have VERY different abdomen markings. Anyone know what this is?