Look at this beautiful green soldier fly (Odontomyia cincta) that landed on my hand while I was sitting next to a pond!
Soldier flies are best known for the species that feed on decaying matter like manure and compost, but O. cincta is one of many where the larvae are aquatic and feed primarily on algae.
(Massachusetts, 6/17/22)
The long-headed toothpick grasshopper (Achurum carinatum) lives and feeds among tall grass in the southeast US.
They’re flightless and not very fast or agile by grasshopper standards, but like a stick insect their camouflage seems to make up for it!
In Florida, they breed year-round and are abundant in this prairie habitat in January when few other insects are active.
a mite (Daemaeidae sp.) feeding on Stemonitopsis typhina by Barry Webb
Spilomyia fusca, large hoverfly that does an excellent job of mimicking a bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata). Really neat fly that I’ve wanted to see for a while!
In the second clip, taken just moments after, you can see a real D. maculata butchering a horsefly. Flies are common prey for the hornets, so the mimicry of S. fusca might afford it some protection from its own model as well as other predators.
(Massachusetts, 8/17/24)
Velvet ants are so common in the Florida sand that I don't always give them a second look (unless they're miniscule), but this one caught my eye because it suddenly buried itself in the sand, by scooting backwards. 👀👀
Brachynemurus nebulosus - an ant lion mimicking velvet ants!
Gnamptopelta obsidianator is a large ichneumon wasp whose coloration mimics a spider wasp (Entypus).
It’s a specialized parasitoid of sphinx moth caterpillars, especially those in the subfamily Macroglossinae (such as Eumorpha species). Many of these caterpillars feed on grapevine and related plants, so G. obsidianator seeks out those plants to find hosts.
(Massachusetts, 6/6/24)
It’s a fly-eat-fly world out there… in the sandy scrubland of central Florida, a hanging thief robberfly (Diogmites esuriens) devours a beefly (Exoprosopa fascipennis).
Interestingly enough, the beefly is a parasitoid that lays eggs in the nests of sand wasps (Bembix), which are themselves specialist hunters of flies including both beeflies and robberflies (though I’m not sure whether this hanging thief is too formidable to be on the wasps’ menu). Insect food webs are amazingly convoluted.
(9/30/23)
Metrobates hesperius is a small, wingless water strider that forms large swarms on the surface of lakes and rivers, feeding on insects that fall in.
Their swarming behavior and erratic movements might help them avoid being picked out as a target by predators, like the dragonflies I saw flying past and trying to pluck them from the water.
(Massachusetts, 7/9/24)
Phrynus marginemaculatus babies have molted off their mother’s back and I counted 34 of them! That’s a lot for this species, usually they’re reported to have more like 10-25.
Here’s the eggsac and hatchlings, which only spend a week or so clinging to mom but may continue to cluster near her for several months.