We have queen butterfly larvae on our milkweed vines right now.
Some of the caterpillars are resting on the plant in the morning.
Others are on the move.
Do you have any ideas why some queen caterpillars might be resting and others moving at the same time of day?
Leave us a comment if you have an idea.
Crickets come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
These husky crickets are called field crickets, genus Gryllus.
Even though they are good-sized, they are still nymphs because they lack wings.
The two projections on the end of the abdomen are called cerci. The cerci look like antennae, and serve some of the same sensing functions. Can you see the hairs on the cerci? Those can detect movement.
Compare these field crickets to slender, delicate tree crickets and the light brown Indian house crickets. Even though they look quite different, you can see crickets all have cerci at the end of the abdomen and have enlarged hind legs for jumping.
What kind of crickets live near you?
We have had bugs on our barrel cactus almost all summer.
By bugs, I am referring to true bugs called cactus bugs, genus Narnia.
Although they look like leaf-footed bugs, notice the enlarged hind legs with spines and lack of the leafy expansion that gives the leaf-footed bugs their name.
The cactus bug nymphs are bright red. Like the adults, they move slowly away when approached. They tend to hide behind the cactus spines and in the folds of the cactus.
Quiet and cautious, no one really pays much attention to them. Just some simple bugs spending their lives on a cactus.
For more information, see Roberta Gibson Writes.
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