Garden Creatures: Predators, Pollination, and More

I think of my backyard garden as its own little ecosystem, and I'm constantly amazed at the diversity of creatures that choose to make their homes there (usually because they want to eat the flowers or leaves, or because they want to eat the things that eat the flowers or leaves). Here's a small sampling of the creatures (mostly insects) I've noticed in the garden over the past two weeks. It's a jungle out there!

Flowers are a big deal in the garden, and there are always plenty of bees around. This bumblebee has its head buried in a bean flower and the pollen baskets on its legs are brimming full of collected pollen (I just learned about this part of bee anatomy, and I think it's super cool):
 

In addition to the flowering plants I actually put in the garden on purpose, a huge Pokeweed plant has sprung up in one shady corner, and I let it grow because I think it's quite attractive. Lots of flying insects apparently like it, too. This very small wasp is enjoying the Pokeweed's little white blossoms:
 

And this much larger wasp (probably a Four-toothed Mason Wasp, Monobia quadridens) is browsing over the Pokeweed blooms as well:
 

In the leaf-eating camp, several leafhopper-type bugs make their homes here (in small numbers, so I'm not worried about them damaging the plants). This fancy leafhopper (Graphocephala versuta, I think) is very pretty in subtle green/blue/yellow stripes, and as I watched it, it seemed to be exuding some sort of liquid and collecting the droplets with its legs. Weird!
 

I see these Citrus Flatid Planthoppers (Metcalfa pruinosa) pretty frequently, and I quite like their powdery gray outfits:
 

Baby leafhoppers look super strange. This leafhopper nymph was showing off its weird semi-translucent body on a bean leaf:

This stocky planthopper nymph (possibly genus Acanalonia) was eying me warily:
 

This next leaf-eater I am definitely not happy to see, as it takes huge chunks out of my bean leaves. Go away, Japanese Beetle, I don't want you here:
 

A few times now, I've noticed a strangely symmetrical bit of dried leaf, and then realize... oh, it's a moth! This is an Omnivorous Leafroller (Archips purpurana), I believe:
 

And speaking of leaf-like creatures, this Greater Angle-wing Katydid nymph (Microcentrum rhombifolium) does a fantastic job of blending in with these soybean leaves:
 

This creature isn't quite full-grown yet, but it's still pretty big -- about the size of my thumb. I've seen it several days in a row in the same spot, and I have to admire it every time. I love its mottled green skin, and those tiny baby wings are sooo cute:
 

When I saw this katydid most recently (I'm 99% sure it was the same individual, with that same missing leg and the same pattern of dots on its back), its little wings were bigger! Grow, baby katydid, grow:
 

Other cool creatures include this little cricket with antennae so big I couldn't fit them in the frame (they're about two or three times longer than this picture shows):
 

And this tiny adorable jumping spider who couldn't decide whether to focus more on the giant camera lens looming over its head...
 

Or the huge pink blob (i.e., my finger) that had invaded its home leaf:
 

The little spider was probably keeping an eye out for a meal, and there are tons of other predators all over the garden. Long-legged flies are particularly prevalent, little sparkling jewels in green, blue, and orange that cruise around looking for even tinier bugs to eat:
 

Mmm, this one got something!
 

But the long-legged flies can become meals, too.... This one wasn't very lucky, but I bet the spider's happy with its catch!
 

Robber flies are common predators around here, too. This one was hanging from the Pokeweed stem and munching on a nice fat beetle:
 

Finally, speaking of predators, I was very happy to find an American Toad living in the garden. I took this picture with my phone (I clearly need to always have my camera with me) in early July, but I saw the toad again last week, so I'm hoping it's sticking around:
 

This individual has just the most wonderful deep brown/maroon color, the likes of which I don't remember ever seeing on a toad before. I think it's a gorgeous creature, and I love that it's been out there on bug/slug patrol. Eat away, lovely toad!
 

Whew, so many things to see, and I don't even have to leave my yard! Summer is such a lively time, and I'm looking forward to meeting more cool creatures in my garden as the season continues.

Creatures of the Night: Moths, Leafhoppers, and More

There seems to be an endless parade of creatures who come to my porch light at night, and whenever I step outside and look around, there's pretty much always something new and interesting to see. Here's a selection of some of the awesome creatures (mostly insects) I've met on my porch over the past several days.

I think of leafhoppers and their relatives as primarily daytime creatures, so I'm still always a little surprised when I see these guys under the lights. This Speckled Sharpshooter (Paraulacizes irrorata) is pretty weirdly shaped compared to other leafhoppers I see more commonly around here, but it's also very cool looking -- its bulky head reminds me of a snake:

Two very pretty species of planthoppers have made several appearances as well -- Acanalonia conica:

And its paler, almost ghostly cousin, the Northern Flatid Planthopper (Anormenis chloris):

Every once in a while, I get another glimpse of a Green Stink Bug nymph (Chinavia hilaris), which I first noticed on my porch a couple weeks ago. This one has its sucking mouth part stuck right in the stem of this bean plant -- mmm, plant juices!

Another stink bug, though, I definitely wasn't happy to see:

This guy is a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys), an invasive species introduced from Asia only in the last dozen or so years -- according to the internet, those white bands on its antennae are a good way to distinguish it from similar-looking native species. This is the first time I've seen one of these bugs in Connecticut, but they've been a horrible nuisance for my family in Maryland in the past couple of summers -- they get so numerous that my dad has taken to vacuuming them off the back porch, and they get pretty much everywhere (in windows, in the dog's long fur...). Not to mention the agricultural damage they cause. So yeah, it's not a great situation, and I'm not at all pleased to see them in my yard.

But there have been plenty of other, happier bugs around, too, including several very pretty moths. I'm always amazed at how even all-brown moths can have just the coolest, most intricate patterns. This Adjutant Wainscot (Leucania adjuta) has some pretty awesome stripes when you get up close to it:

Even bolder was this carpet moth (I'm not sure the exact species):

 

(Update: A kind person on Bugguide.net helped identify the above moth as a Toothed Brown Carpet (Xanthorhoe lacustrata).)

 
And two American Idias (Idia americalis), a darker and a lighter individual, showed off some interesting variations on a striking design:

Finally, I'm not the only one benefiting from the bug-attracting qualities of the light. A few medium-sized spiders have set up webs in the corners around the door, and they seem to pretty much always have something on hand to eat:

I love expanding my knowledge of the huge variety of creatures who pass through our yard, and a porch light is a great way to get some of those creatures to come to me!

Really Weird (and Less Weird) Bugs

There have been some really strange insects showing up in our yard recently. And by "strange" I mean creatures that I can't immediately put a name to, not even a really broad family name like "bee" or "fly." Take this bug that I found on our front porch this afternoon, for instance:
 

What in the world is that?! With that long body and those long shiny wings, it looked a lot like a big wasp. It even moved like a wasp, cleaning itself with quick, graceful motions, and starting up at me menacingly when I got too close:
 

But what are those hard shells in the middle of its back? And those aren't a wasp's antennae, nor is that a wasp's face...
 

It was actually those square-shaped shells that tipped me off as to what type of insect this creature might be, and pointed me in the right direction toward identifying it. Those shells are elytra, the hardened forewings of beetles that usually cover their entire abdomen. And searching for "beetle with short elytra" led me to the rove beetles (family Staphylinidae) and the probable identification of this creature as the species Platydracus maculosus. It's a beetle! Totally weird!

Another bug that I didn't have even a general name for has shown up in the garden a few times this year, and I spotted it again today:
 

I don't remember seeing anything like this before, and the body shape seems utterly strange to me. But those long hind legs suggest something in the grasshopper family, and indeed, with some looking around, this turns out to be a nymph (juvenile) of some sort of tree cricket (possibly Neoxabea bipunctata).
 

Tree crickets are supposed to live, well, up in the trees, so I'm not sure what this little guy is doing in my garden. Maybe it'll stick around as it grows up, and then I can see what an adult tree cricket looks like.

I'd seen a Fishfly (genus Chauliodes) last summer, otherwise I would have also been stumped by this individual who came to our porch lights last week -- what a monster!
 

And although very familiar to me by now (since there are always a few hunting in my garden), Robber Flies do still bring a certain weirdness factor, especially the big ones:
 

Finally, I wouldn't call these last bugs "weird" (at least, not in the same sense as all the previous creatures in this post), but their bright colors make them pretty unusual compared to most other insects around here. I like these fancy leafhoppers a lot, so I was happy to see them in the process of making more leafhoppers!
 

Just when you think you have a handle on bugs, there are always crazy new creatures waiting to appear!

Garden Bugs Up Close

Well, the garden's up and thriving, which means that there will (hopefully) be yummy food in our future. It also means that there's a whole jungle of amazing tiny creatures right outside our door! I've been taking my macro lens out into the garden for the past few days to put it through its paces (and try to learn how to really use it), and I've seen some very cool bugs in the process. Here's a sampling!

Long-legged Flies (family Dolichopodidae) are very common in our garden -- small hunters zooming around and sporting iridescent costumes in green or orange. The hunting must be good here, because so many of these creatures were munching on smaller bugs when I saw them, including this one:

This next Long-legged Fly seems to me to be striking a heroic pose -- off on an adventure, are we? (I admit that I'm probably crazy for thinking this.)

Another winged hunter, this larger Robber Fly (family Asilidae) paused on a sunny rock between flights:

And a small pretty beetle (species unknown) watched me from its mint-leaf platform:

Do you want to see an aphid up close?

We have Flea Beetles on our potato plants, but thankfully not enough to do any serious damage -- they just leave a few tiny pin holes in the leaves and pose for dramatic pictures:

This little Potter Wasp (possibly Parancistrocerus perennis) was inspecting the area:

And a leafhopper (family Cicadellidae) tried to hide behind a stem:

Speaking of leafhoppers, this Red-banded Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea) was absolutely the fanciest thing around:
 

I love that we have these gorgeous little creatures here -- they look like they should be somewhere tropical, not in my back yard:
 

This individual was very patient with me, and eventually I left it in peace in its nice hiding spot beneath the potato buds (where it seemed to practically glow in the shade):
 

I had to go back to a regular lens to take a picture of this last creature -- a lovely big Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata), a type of damselfly, and identifiable as a female because of those white spots on her wings:

I've been seeing one of these creatures in the garden for several days in a row now -- could it be the same individual? Perhaps she's also finding the garden to be a good place to hunt. Such a pretty girl:
 

I have one more garden bug (well, spider) to share, but she's just too cool and so will need her own post. Stay tuned!