#September2018

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Common Blue Mud Dauber Wasp - Chalybion californicum

Returning from the long weekend cottage trip in Caledon, I'm so excited to share all the new insects I photographed there! There'll be quite a few to explore over the next few weeks, but before that, a prelude featuring an insect on hunt while we were loading the car. I've also added a few pictures from the beginnings of my insect photography hobby to show the insect in a more neutral position. As mentioned in earlier posts, solitary Digger Wasps make ground burrows or nests (this specie builds cells into a nest out of mud) and place their eggs inside. The eggs await a provision of food which the mother Wasp tirelessly hunts for; when the former hatch, they will have enough solid food to last them through to pupation. The Blue Mud Dauber's prey items of choice are spiders: any kind as long as they can be captured. While a video would've been better in hindsight to show how she hunts, they pictures before you here showcase the stinging and seizing inflicted by a mother Wasp. When we all first noticed her, he was flying around the garage door but not in an erratic fashion.

She was flying around systemically, combing as much air space as she could along the border of the garage door (occasionally landing) until reaching the top where she found cobwebs. I was grateful as while flying and landing these Wasps are very skittish making photography difficult, but little did I know what was really going on. After navigating her way closer to the web, she used her legs and head to twang and create movement in web, drawing the attention of a spider that crawled out from a dense web ball. The trap was set! In about 3 seconds, the spider rushed to investigate the "prey" entangled in the web and at the last second, the Wasp launched herself and enveloped the spider with her legs. By grappling the spider, the Mud Dauber can orient herself to navigate her paralyzing sting into the spider and then restrain it for easier transportation. This, along with the advantage of flight allows Wasps to effectively hunt and capture spiders, but they shouldn't get too arrogant as the winner is always the one who gets the last bite. This time, mama Wasp won. After the spider stopped struggling, the Dauber dropped from the threads and flew off, carrying her prize with her back to her muddy nest.

Pictures of the hunt were taken on June 30, 2023 with a Google Pixel 4. Supplementary pictures were taken on June 27 and September 11, 2018 with a Samsung Galaxy S4.

[drdadbooks]

Like Magic 6U8A4848 by Daniel D'Auria Via Flickr: Like the wizard of the same name, this small raptor disappeared before I even had a chance to get comfortable. I managed a few quick frames of this merlin before it took to the sky and out of sight. I am always amazed at the variety of birds that grace our coastal preserves. They aren't all seagull! I was also overjoyed to find the access to Holgate had improved. Even at high tide (despite hurricane Lee) I was able to make it to the southern most tip of the island. Hopefully, no major storms will change that before the winter season.

[kendall-kennye]

[beachbums2020]

Lily Maymac 🌸💋🍒🌸

[pretspons]

Ik weet dat ik overdreven gevoelig reageer wanneer je niet belt en het voelt alsof ik niet kan ademen wanneer je vergeet te zeggen dat je van me houdt. Ik weet dat de dingen die ik soms vertel na 11u ‘s avonds me gek doen laten klinken. Ik weet dat ik een klein beetje teveel van je hou. Ik weet dat alles op dit moment pijn doet. Ik weet dat ik me te vaak zorgen maak om kleine dingen. Ik hoop dat je weet dat ik er altijd zal zijn om je slaapwel te wensen ook al val ik daarna zelf huilend in slaap. Ik hoop dat je weet dat jij de enige reden bent dat ik nog sterren onder mijn huid heb rusten. Ik weet dat ik je soms verdrietig maak. Ik hoop dat je weet dat het me spijt. Ik hoop dat je weet dat ik jou in alles zie. Ik hoop dat je weet dat jij al bent wat ik wil. Ik weet dat niets van de pijn die ik nu voel nog zal uitmaken wanneer ik uit de trein stap en ik je eindelijk weer kan vasthouden. Ik hoop dat je weet hoe bijzonder jij bent. Ik hoop dat je weet dat ik jou elke zonsondergang en onweer of orkaan vind. Ik hoop dat je weet dat je mijn wereld bent. Ik hoop dat je weet dat ik van je hou.

- alles wat ik weet, alles wat ik hoop dat jij weet

[nncastle]

Misty evening.

[sergei-gussev]

#võrumaa #estonia #september2018 (at Võru County) https://flic.kr/s/aHsmAv4kSV

[styleandsin]

Louis cheering for a contestant. 

[ac3thetic]

[wyverwithy]

Been studying the 4:05 frames from the Transference, and I originally thought it was the Kill Jacksepticeye Anti, but most of y’all were right in this being a new Anti altogether.

In the circles you can see the headphone cord on both Chase/Jack and Anti.

In these circles you can see the button on both of their shirts, indicating that this is the same shirt and not the black T-shirt we usually see Anti wearing.

There isn’t a throat wound. Just something to take note of, even though this was already pointed out.

In these frames, if you watch the cord on his chest/neck, you can see that Anti is simply staring into the camera breathing/shifting slightly to our left. The glitching and distortion is chaotic enough that it specifically hides Anti’s mouth, so it’s difficult to tell if he’s flashing his signature grin or not. But as far as I can tell, his expression seems fairly...neutral? I’m honestly not sure.

What I find striking about this is that Anti isn’t in his most recent color--red. “Red Anti” is meant to be specifically associated with Chase, which means that Anti definitely wasn’t intending for Chase (who can be strongly assumed was in Transference) to see him, but was instead making a show for us in this exact moment. We mostly associate Anti with the color green, as seen here. I just find that interesting, and I think it’s maybe worth pointing out.

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Eastern Band-Winged Hoverfly - Hypocritanus fascipennis 

Alright, one more new Hoverfly to showcase, and then back to exploring the other insect orders next week! Up until 2020 (please refer to this article), this specie was originally classified under the genus: Ocyptamus. It has since been folded in to the Hypocritanus genus as a means to reduce restrictions with recent comparative evolutionary genetic analyses in mind. As new discoveries are found in the insect world, changes in nomenclature (naming) happen to better organize and understand them and their lineage. The specie name hasn’t changed, which should help to reduce some of the confusion. To identify this Fly, I bounced back and forth between species, eventually settling between H. lemur and H. fascipennis. I settled on the latter due to the wide, darkened band on the wings that resemble a chunky “Y”. It seems to be distinct. Compared to the other Hoverflies we’ve examined prior, this one definitely stands out as strange looking due to that elongated and thin abdomen that can flexibly curve. This specie seems to be part of another branch of Hoverfly that takes a different approach to mimicry. Most Hoverflies discussed before have a morphology that is recognizable by us as Flies while simultaneously trying to mimic other insects such as Bees, but this one is clearly different, even if it has a few stripes.

Even the smallest Hoverflies on this blog such as the Eastern Calligrapher or the Common Oblique Hoverfly have Bee-like striping and proportions, but it would be hard to mistaken this individual for a Bee. From what I’ve been able to read through, this Fly and its relatives have been described as “Dragonfly-mimics”, and after the first, second, and what seems like the 50th glance, this insect has elements that resemble a miniaturized Dragonfly. With its ability to hover, control its flight precisely, and zip around suddenly, it may be an effective mimic. Both Flies and Dragonflies have large, head-spanning eyes as well, so maybe some creatures would be fooled by this guise and its behavior. I doubt that would stop other Dragonflies (particularly the larger ones) from hunting these Flies, boosting into them and seizing them with their mighty spined legs and sharp mandibles! Looking at it myself, while there is a passing resemblance to Dragonflies, maybe this slimmed down form is meant to evoke the shape of Ichneumonids. There are many small, parasitic Ichneumonids that match this shape, and predators generally leave them alone, but without a stinger, this fly is in trouble if it gets caught. Hopefully it is effective enough a mimic of either insect to obtain delicious nectar from the flowers that it visits (differently shaped or not, it’s still a flower-loving Hoverfly).

Pictures were taken on September 11, 2018 with a Samsung Galaxy S4. If you’re interested in the behind the scenes of insect phylogeny, I do recommend that you read New generic concepts for orphaned lineages formerly treated as part of the genus Ocyptamus Macquart, 1834 (Diptera, Syrphidae) by Miranda G., et al for more information.

[natur-nah-dran]

Helenium

[kendall-kennye]

[gamecube-arts]

A quick animatic featuring @copcritical 's warden, Loghein Cousland. Loghain Mac Tir was a big name in the Cousland household, Loghein being named in his honor and she was a big fan of his growing up ;;

Also a few years later and Alistair knows better:

"Your braids look badass this morning 💕"

[frederikpeeters]

[nncastle]

Feeding time.