Top Photo: Passionflower flea beetle. Beetles are insects. They belong to an order of insects called Coleoptera which, translated from the Greek, means sheath wings. Beetles have two pairs of wings, the front of which are, in most species, hardened and serve to cover the hind wings, the flight wings, when not in use. When on foot, most beetles fold their flight wings and store them under the hardened forewings, the elytra. Beetles constitute about 40% of all insects on theRead more
Posts tagged: #Chrysochus auratus
Two Spiders, a Beetle, and a Caterpillar
The spider in the above photo had found what it thought was a safe and secure hideout, in a tarp that covers the winch at the Take Off in Catch the Wind. Spiders can be identified as to family, and sometimes to genus, by the arrangement of their multiple eyes, that is, where the eyes sit on their head (most spiders have eight eyes). The above spider is definitely a wolf spider (Lycosidae) but I wasn’t able to go any furtherRead more
Summer Starts to Buzz
The First-of-the-Year Great Blue Skimmer appeared on the 27th of June, perhaps adding to the confusion of novice oders (oders = dragonfly watchers). There are now 3 species of dragonfly cruising the Wetlands in which the mature males are overall blue in coloration. They differ in size as well as in several less obvious characteristics, but to the beginner it can be a tad confusing to sort them out, especially if they’re not perched next to one another. While leadingRead more