Insect Finds of the Week
Look at this giant swallowtail, yes that's its common name because it is pretty large.
The Latin name is Papilio cresphontes. It is slightly larger than many of the other butterflies around here like the tiger swallowtail.
The giant swallowtail was focused on this leaf for some reason. I wondered what it was doing while I was taking pictures. Usually they are on flowers not leaves.
Now that I processed the photos I can see it is laying eggs inside the leaves. I wonder if the larvae will hatch this year or next year... Time for a bit of research.
In contrast here is a tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). You can see the tiger stripes on its wings and the slightly smaller tails on each wing.
I also saw a monarch feasting on these stinky flowers.
Here is a little wasp on a different type of stinky flower.
By mistake I caught a crab spider in one of the photos. The wasp above had flown away and I thought I got just a twisted looking flower. Now I can see the crab spider has bent the leaves around itself as a disguise for catching anything that lands on the flower.
Here is an Ebony Jewelwing with a Latin name of Calopteryx maculata. These guys are helpful in reducing the mosquito population.
The skippers are out finally. I'm not sure of which kind of skipper this is as there are many species of them around here. My best guess is fiery skipper (Hylephila phyleus).
Finally I saw a young fishing spider about half its full grown size. Its sitting on an ancient rotted dryad's saddle. These guys are fun to catch when full size, they are quite friendly similar to a tarantula.
They literally have attempeted my murder and are trying to kill me with V2K and RNM. Five years this has been happening to me, it started here, around people that are still here. Homeland security has done nothing at all, they are not here to protect us. Dont we pay them to stop shit like this? The NSA, CIA, FBI, Police and our Government has done nothing. Just like they did with the Havana Syndrome, nothing. Patriot Act my ass. The American government is completely incompetent. The NSA should be taken over by the military and contained Immediately for investigation. I bet we can get to the sources of V2K and RNM then. https://ecency.com/fyrstikken/@fairandbalanced/i-am-the-only-motherfucker-on-the-internet-pointing-to-a-direct-source-for-voice-to-skull-electronic-terrorism ..... https://ecency.com/gangstalking/@acousticpulses/electronic-terrorism-and-gaslighting--if-you-downvote-this-post-you-are-part-of-the-problem
Thanks @ewkaw :-)
Great collection! The spider is really terrible 😮
Haha those fishing spiders only look scary, they are quite tame and handleable.
Wow, the butterfly you photographed is very extraordinary.
I never knew how they laid their eggs until now.
A😃mazing shots
Thanks for looking :-)
What a great captures @sketch.and.jam
So vibrant full of colour. Always nice to catch the butterflies with the camera. We see them here a lot too, the swallowtails. Beautiful 😁
Have a great Tuesday!
I always thought there was just one form of swallowtail but it turns out there are quite a few different ones around here. There was a cocoon on my balcony I was hoping to see hatch but I ended up missing it. I think it was a black swallowtail.
That’s pretty cool, more types. Have seen only one so far. Will keep an eye out if I see different ones.
What a shame you missed it.
I had one a hatch a couple years ago on my balcony that I was able to see while its wings dried out.
Sooo beautiful 🤩
Great moments…
Wow, your photos are amazing @sketch.and.jam Your photos are very clear and you can capture them perfectly.
Would you like to share your cool photo-taking technique?
(Let me guess, you are a pro?)
I just use an old olympus evolt 510 with a zoom lens. It works really well out in the bright sun.
Nice camo work by the spiders 🙂 I now have a love/hate relationship with butterflys and moths because I am fight off a caterpillar problem on my apple trees 🙁
Oomph what sort of caterpillars are on the apple trees? If you introduce some fiery searchers they will take care of that problem. These guys chew up caterpillars like crazy. https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/BENEFICIAL/BEETLES/Calosoma_scrutator.htm
I would gladly switch out my caterpillars for some cute beetles. I'm not sure what type caterpillars. I don't think they are tent caterpillars which is good.
Those fiery searchers are fierce, fast and stinky, but they sure do take care of any caterpillar problem.
Yay! 🤗
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Great post and spectacular photos my friend, would you mind sharing the area you found the spider?
Loved all your butterflies and I wish I had some Ebony Jewelwings around here for the mosquitoes.
Someone has to figure out a way to sell their larvae for ponds to rid them of mosquitos.