I just learned that this coming week- July 19-27 is #NationalMothWeek a funny title, since it is international 😜Nonetheless, I'm going to post date the above Police Car Moth (Gnophaela vermiculata) to include it..lol #InsectFriday #moths

Wider view with more of the stem and young leaves and buds of the plant visible to the left. connected (and possibly rear legs touching?) Their eyes are very large for their size, a matte dark red brown with short, fat, dangling antennae. Their thorax- front body part- is shiny black with a sparse coating of short bristly hairs. The thorax seems very beefy like a body builder who builds only the upper body massively and abdomen- rear body- is very thin- almost atrophied looking, also shiny black with a bit more hair. The leaf is a wavy elongated arrowhead shape, medium green with a reddish blush especially in the centre and along the edge which is finely toothed and with very short sparse white hairs along the outside. A few fine white threads can be seen here and there- bits of poplar fluff and/or spider silk. Background is blurred dull green.

Closer crop of same image, only part of the leaf and flies. connected (and possibly rear legs touching?) Their eyes are very large for their size, a matte dark red brown with short, fat, dangling antennae. Their thorax- front body part- is shiny black with a sparse coating of short bristly hairs. The thorax seems very beefy like a body builder who builds only the upper body massively and abdomen- rear body- is very thin- almost atrophied looking, also shiny black with a bit more hair. The leaf is a wavy elongated arrowhead shape, medium green with a reddish blush especially in the centre and along the edge which is finely toothed and with very short sparse white hairs along the outside. A few fine white threads can be seen here and there- bits of poplar fluff and/or spider silk. Background is blurred dull green.

#FlyDay #InsectFriday These tiny shiny persons were busy working on the next generation! (Robber Flies?) on a Diervilla leaf in the #garden #Alberta #Canada #nature #inverts #insects 🌿📷🌱

A Tiger Swallowtail stands out against a patch of mud.
#insects #bugs #butterflies #insectfriday #photography #wildlifephotography #nature #willowriverstatepark #wisconsin #bugsofbluesky

A pale lilac coloured flower which looks almost triangular viewed from the top- 3 petals and 3 sepals- or they may be fused into 6 tepals. The insides of the purply tepals are dotted with orange pollen. In the centre are large orange sexy bits with a tiny dark bee climbing up the inside. In the blurred background are several green, white striped grassy leaves and a few old dry leaves against gravel and rounded stones.

A closer view of the tiny bee emerging from the Crocus flower. Its head and upper thorax are shiny black, the rest obscured behind the sexy bits of the flower.

#FlowersOnFriday meets #InsectFriday One of the first Crocus flowers of the year (only 1 golden flower beat this, by a few hours!) and a tiny #NativeBee found it. much more to come as days warm.. I saw a couple (different ones) on wild Pussywillows also. #bees #Bloomscrolling 🌱📷🌿

A closer view, the insect is facing downwards on the piece of bark, and its head is in focus, tail end a bit blurred. Sitting on a narrow piece of dry bark which is upright among stems of coarse dry grass is a small dark insect about the size of mid-size housefly. In person it was just off-black but it's dark grey body and wings are actually elaborately striped with red and white with other tiny whitish markings. The fly-like look ends with its head, without the large conspicuous eyes of a fly, its features small and hard to make out.

Another closer shot and crop, this time the back end (facing up) is in focus the downward pointing head is less clear). Sitting on a narrow piece of dry bark which is upright among stems of coarse dry grass is a small dark insect about the size of mid-size housefly. In person it was just off-black but it's dark grey body and wings are actually elaborately striped with red and white with other tiny whitish markings. The fly-like look ends with its head, without the large conspicuous eyes of a fly, its features small and hard to make out.

Sitting facing upwards at the top of a narrow piece of dry bark which is upright among stems of coarse dry grass is a small dark insect about the size of mid-size housefly. In person it was just off-black but it's dark grey body and wings are actually elaborately striped with red and white with other tiny whitish markings. The fly-like look ends with its head, without the large conspicuous eyes of a fly, its features small and hard to make out.

#InsectFriday new for me + 1 of the first active critters fof the season, first day of solar #Spring ! I 'felt' this looked like a #leafhopper though much larger than the little green guys (size of medium sized house fly) and it is! Probably (?) Cuerna striata Striped Leafhopper #BugSky #Alberta

The top of a tall plant of Gobo/Burdock which is crowned with a number of spikey balls- these are the flower heads, the base of the flowers which will become the seed case is covered in narrow stiff bracts with tiny hooks at the end which when dry and fallen will attach to passing critters/humans and get carried to new growing places! This mechanism was the inspiration for velcro. Before all that happens, at the top/centre of the ball is where the tiny flowers emerge- like thistle flowers. The flowers are mostly or all closed in this view, the plant- both the flower head and few small upper leaves seen are turning golden, contrasting with the dark purple brown stems. At the top/centre of the cluster of flower heads, sits a single grasshopper- it is on the other side mostly and we just see its ead and antennae pokin gover the top. Background is blurred shady green and dark foliage of trees farther back with light circles created by the camera lens where light comes through.

#InsectFriday Grasshopper on Gobo (Arctium lappa -this is not a local weed, we don't have them here, I actually planted seed from the Japanese vegetable form years ago (it's biennial), though I've never harvested any! Bees do love it in late summer/early autumn
#insects #Bugsky #Alberta #Canada 🌱🌿📷

A single flower a couple/few inches across 5-7cm with 3 large white petals, longer than wide, with linear veins and slightly wavy, close together at the base forming a bit of an open tube. Sexy bits are inside that tube, include yellow pollen bearing stamens just partly visible. Behind/below the petals are three pointed green sepals, then lower on the stem a large 3 part leaf. The beetle is headfirst in the floral tube, we see the back end. General description of beetle: A medium size beetle- maybe around 1 inch/a couple of cm long.It is roughly shield shaped, wider at the 'shoulders' narrower toward the back end. It is light yellowy tan coloured on top (wing casings, I presume) with several small black dots and on each upper side a row of irregularly shaped near/black markings. Its legs are dark red-brown, as are its segmented antennae. It seems to have a long neck (not an actual beetle body part..lol) between its small dark head and wider body (front body is the thorax, rear body called abdomen- I'm not sure in this case whether the thorax is only the small section between head and where the wing casings start: the lower part of the body is hard to see).

side view of same flower as previous alt.

2/2 Same kind of #beetle, same time, but I think a different individual, on Trillium grandiflorum in the #garden #FlowersOnFriday #InsectFriday #inverts #flowers #Alberta #Canada #GetOutside #SolaceInNature 🌿🌱📷 Wrong day, but remember these for #MacroMonday ...lol

The beetle is left of centre on the nearly ball-like flower head; a greish fly with reddish eyes is at the top of the cluster, another flower head and leaves visible behind. General description of beetle and flowers: A medium size beetle- maybe around 1 inch/a couple of cm long.It is roughly shield shaped, wider at the 'shoulders' narrower toward the back end. It is light yellowy tan coloured on top (wing casings, I presume) with several small black dots and on each upper side a row of irregularly shaped near/black markings. Its legs are dark red-brown, as are its segmented antennae. It seems to have a long neck (not an actual beetle body part..lol) between its small dark head and wider body (front body is the thorax, rear body called abdomen- I'm not sure in this case whether the thorax is only the small section between head and where the wing casings start: the lower part of the body is hard to see). Overall, the beetle is finely dusted with yellow pollen. It is busily feeding on flower heads (pollen and presumably nectar also) a couple of inches/ handful of cm acoss composed of many many tightly packed tiny yellow flowers with a forest of tiny pollen bearing stamens. There are many of these flower heads, with flowers open to varying extents, borne at the end of stems clothed with whorls of closely placed blue green toothed leaves narrowly rhomboid to oblanceolate with mostly pointed tips.

Another view with beetle and fly they have shifted position, moving clockwise the beetle is not nearing 12, fly is around 3. # flowerheads lined up in a row from lower centre right to upper left. General description of beetle and flowers: A medium size beetle- maybe around 1 inch/a couple of cm long.It is roughly shield shaped, wider at the 'shoulders' narrower toward the back end. It is light yellowy tan coloured on top (wing casings, I presume) with several small black dots and on each upper side a row of irregularly shaped near/black markings. Its legs are dark red-brown, as are its segmented antennae. It seems to have a long neck (not an actual beetle body part..lol) between its small dark head and wider body (front body is the thorax, rear body called abdomen- I'm not sure in this case whether the thorax is only the small section between head and where the wing casings start: the lower part of the body is hard to see). Overall, the beetle is finely dusted with yellow pollen. It is busily feeding on flower heads (pollen and presumably nectar also) a couple of inches/ handful of cm acoss composed of many many tightly packed tiny yellow flowers with a forest of tiny pollen bearing stamens. There are many of these flower heads, with flowers open to varying extents, borne at the end of stems clothed with whorls of closely placed blue green toothed leaves narrowly rhomboid to oblanceolate with mostly pointed tips.

Close view of the beetle from side kind of, back end nearer us. We can see some interesting/complicated mouth parts! It sits near the edge of one of the flower heads, some blurred leaves visible behind. General description of beetle and flowers: A medium size beetle- maybe around 1 inch/a couple of cm long.It is roughly shield shaped, wider at the 'shoulders' narrower toward the back end. It is light yellowy tan coloured on top (wing casings, I presume) with several small black dots and on each upper side a row of irregularly shaped near/black markings. Its legs are dark red-brown, as are its segmented antennae. It seems to have a long neck (not an actual beetle body part..lol) between its small dark head and wider body (front body is the thorax, rear body called abdomen- I'm not sure in this case whether the thorax is only the small section between head and where the wing casings start: the lower part of the body is hard to see). Overall, the beetle is finely dusted with yellow pollen. It is busily feeding on flower heads (pollen and presumably nectar also) a couple of inches/ handful of cm acoss composed of many many tightly packed tiny yellow flowers with a forest of tiny pollen bearing stamens. There are many of these flower heads, with flowers open to varying extents, borne at the end of stems clothed with whorls of closely placed blue green toothed leaves narrowly rhomboid to oblanceolate with mostly pointed tips.

1/2 #InsectFriday #FlowersOnFriday From June: Evodinus monticola a Flower Longhorn Beetle on Rhodiola rosea ex Newfoundland seed #garden.. #Beetles are one of the first (before bees)+ still important #pollinators.
#inverts #BloomScrolling #florespondence #NaturalGardening #Alberta #Canada

Hoverfly hanging out on a daisy. Not a yellowjacket! #daisy #flowers #bloomscrolling #insects #photography #insectfriday

A colourful rhododendron leafhopper is sitting on a chili

Tomcat Simba is sleepy

Today is #InsectFriday and during #hedgewatch in my #chili plantation i met this beautiful #rhododendron #leafhopper 😻. Beautiful isn't it and fortunatly it isn't interested in my #plants 😻 I wish you a pawsome weekend😻
Simba

#Insect #nature #animal #CatsofTwittter #cats