A white ball of silk is held in a loosely woven net of a golden thread. It is backlit and darker patches suggest a cluster of eggs inside the silk ball. Found attached to a fine wood fibre on a split log, this could almost be a Christmas decoration but for its size, it’s just 3.5mm across. Pirate spiders are nocturnal and prey on other spiders by tickling a web to attract the attention of the owner, then quickly biting a leg and retreating while the venom takes effect.

Egg sac of a Pirate spider (Ero tuberculata?)
#bugoftheday

Apologies to any sightless visitors, I had neglected the visual descriptions for some shots. The butterfly has its wings folded showing the greenish undersides and is still straightening the tips The eyes are particularly fascinating, the dark spots seem to have a slightly three dimensional quality. Also visible is its neatly coiled tongue.

While the wings stiffen the butterfly can only walk and can be picked up easily, so here it is sitting on my wrist.

Now thoroughly late for work, I transferred the insect to a flower stem in the oregano patch to let it complete the process undisturbed and with nectar to hand.

For about a week freshly hatched butterflies emerged, mostly from cocoons that were so well hidden that I was still finding the empty husks years later. From my initial estimate of about eight caterpillars on the leaves I had brought in, the final tally was closer to fifty. All safely released, doubtless to inflict more damage to the vegetable patch.

Large White butterfly (Pieris brassicae)
#bugoftheday

Metamorphosis part three
An adult at last! The final bit of unfurling, followed by about an hour where the insect recovers from its exertions and waits for the wings to become stiff enough to use.

It's rear is still attached to the surface, as is the safety belt. It was thrashing vigorously despite those constraints.

Half an hour later it had managed to split the case at "shoulder" level and the struggle continued.

It was clearly a tiring process, but it was free at last. Also, I was getting late for work, but stuck around to watch the wings unfurl.

What I hadn't expected was the drop of poop it expelled. That it had accumulated some waste to get rid of after ten days was not surprising, but it was bright red, exactly like fresh blood.

Large White butterfly (Pieris brassicae)
#bugoftheday

Metamorphosis part two
After about ten days I spotted a pupa twitching on a loose bit of laminated chipboard, so took it outside where the light was better in the hope of seeing the butterfly emerge.

The caterpillar, having selected a suitable spot, glues its rear end down and creates a silk safety cord (around its middle and secured to the wal). Annoyingly, I missed that part of the process, so maybe it makes the loop of silk first and reverses under it?

The next stage was to shed its skin and wriggling that down to its tail end where, after a lot of thrashing about, the exuvia finally broke away. It seems odd this is necessary as it seemed unlikely that the old skin would have been in the way, but I guess they know best.

With everything tidied away to its satisfaction, the chrysalis forms its characteristic shape, hardens and darkens.

Large White butterfly (Pieris brassicae)
#bugoftheday

Metamorphosis (part one)
One June I brought in a few leaves of kale from the garden which were being eaten by a few Large White butterfly caterpillars. I monitored their progress over the next few weeks…

A large (40mm) very hairy dark brown caterpillar with an orange stripe running down the centre of its back. One of the fastest caterpillars it could move quickly enough to make photography awkward. As the name suggests the adult is a beautiful furry-bodied moth with white wings speckled with black.

White Ermine moth larva (Spilosoma lubricipeda)
#bugoftheday

Cellar spider (along with craneflies and harvestmen, commonly called “daddy-longlegs”) hangs upside down from a sparse and untidy web. Only about 8mm long in the body, it has disproportionately long legs and a slender abdomen. It carries a large egg sac in its jaws. These are a very common indoor spider and, despite their weak venom and delicate appearance are effective predators of most other spider species. Their spindly legs and fast movements mean even giant house spiders have little defence against them, simply being overwhelmed by the cellar spider’s rapid silk production. They have the habit, when disturbed, of demonstrating their speed by jiggling so fast they seem to vanish.

Cellar spider (Pholcus phalangioides)
#bugoftheday

A pair of mating earthworms stretch right across frame, hind ends securely attached to their respective tunnels and front ends bonded from head to saddle. Famously hermaphrodite, both will lay eggs. When ready to lay, the worm sloughs off the clittelum (saddle) depositing the eggs and sperm in it and forming a cocoon where fertilisation takes place and development starts. In spring the minute young worms emerge and will reach adulthood in around six to eight months.

Common Earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris)
#bugoftheday

I narrowly avoided this amorous couple one damp summer night after work. Hopefully, the brief flash from the camera didn’t disturb them.

One of the UK’s most spectacular butterflies with colourful wings spanning about 65mm. The body has a brown furry appearance and the head sports a pair of antennae about 14mm long with clubbed tips. Forewings are mainly red, but the forward tip has a red and black patch in a white circle on a black background giving an eye-like appearance. The outer edge is bordered with a greyish brown band and the leading edge has a speckled black and white band near the head. The hind wing follows roughly the same design, but the ‘eye’ is better defined. They are quite common and can be found in temperate regions across Europe and Asia as far as Japan. Adults feed on nectar from a wide variety of flowers, Eggs are usually laid in nettles and develop into black spiky caterpillars.

Peacock butterfly (Aglias io)
#bugoftheday

Fuzzy orchard bees on a flower in the sun. The male is clinging to the female and they are both so fuzzy. For the pollens…

Today’s #bugoftheday is the European Orchard Bee!! Osmia cornuta! I saw these zwei bienen auf dem boden in der straße recently and just love how the male clings on!

A slender fly is at rest, facing left. The abdomen is covered by the neatly folded wings which are banded light and dark brown. The head and thorax are a glossy black and the eyes are a dark red. Aside from the prominent palps which almost look like extra legs, the main feature is the pair of unusually long antennae which are striped yellow and black, the left is swept back at an angle, the right one is at roughly ninety degrees and extends to the top of frame. They are approximately 25% longer than the body of the insect. This is one of many species of caddisfly in the UK. Most of their life is aquatic, with just head and legs protruding from a protective case made of silk with bits of grit and sand stuck to the outside.

Grouse Wing Caddisfly (Mystacides longicornus)
#bugoftheday

Like a tiny crocodile, ladybird larvae are fearsome predators, albeit of aphids. Harmonia, the Asian ladybird, is invasive in the UK, though I’m always happy to see them.

To pupate, the larva glues its rear end to a suitable surface and wriggles the final moult down to that end. The fresh surface hardens to form a protective carapace within which the metamorphosis to adult form takes place.

Larva of Harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)
#bugoftheday

A green caterpillar initially, they become darker as they grow and usually hide in soil or leaf litter during the day. The caterpillar reaches about 40mm length and after pupation becomes one of the UK’s larger moths. A pest of brassicas, though I found this one on dogwood.

Cabbage moth caterpillar (Mamestra brassicae)
#bugoftheday

I know I posted an example of the species a while back, but this one that I accidentally picked with a raspberry has fewer scales worn off. Also the casual butt scratch amused me.

Another nettle weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)
Managed to post the wrong image yesterday, this was the one I'd intended :)
#bugoftheday

Had a bit of a problem with depth of field due to the angle, but it’s good enough to show the colouration. One of the orb weaver tribe, usually making a neat web of about 30cm diameter, though this may be suspended by much longer lines The small abdomen and large “boxing glove” palps indicate this is a male.

Garden/Cross Spider (Araneus diadematus)
#bugoftheday

Not a large cranefly species at about 15mm body length, but one of our prettiest with a yellow and black colour scheme. The male (left) is relatively small. Eggs are laid in soil and the larvae (leatherjackets) eat plant roots.

Tiger craneflies (Nephrotoma flavipalpis) mating
#bugoftheday

Today’s #bugoftheday is the Common Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha) 🧪

I want to be a scientist. #bugoftheday is the June Bug (Cotinis nitida)

Today’s glitch: a pigeon getting pushed along the road by a car.
Not exactly textbook physics.
#WhenGamesGoWrong #BugOfTheDay #GameDev #DiscGolfCity #FunnyBug

Bug of the Day: someone in town took offence to a bin and sent it flying.
That’s one way to tidy up the car park.
#BugOfTheDay #GameDev #FunnyBug #IndieGame #DiscGolfCity

And here is the aforementioned cicada, which is pleasingly known as a Smoky Buzzer. This is the first live cicada I've ever managed to get a photo of.
Cicadas provide the soundtrack of an Australian summer, so it's cool to finally see one in person.
#bugoftheday #insects #cicadas

While looking for a cicada I could hear hiding in some grass this afternoon, I found a male Peacock Jumping Spider. This is one of my all-time favourite animals, so finding one near my own house had me buzzing more than the cicada I eventually found nearby. Isn't he stunning? 😍
#bugoftheday #spiders

Today’s Bug of the Day: the bus stop decided to go loco.
Turns out calling it “bus_stop” was one underscore too few. 🚌💨
#GameDev #IndieGame #BugOfTheDay #DiscGolfCity #IndieDev

Found a very important feature today 😌✨
When moving slowly, my character discovered the ancient art of Quantum Trembling ⚡(？)

It's too funny to fix immediately 😂

Any name suggestions for this “technique”?
(I promise it will be fixed… probably.)

#gamedev #indiedev #bugoftheday #BitHeroSurvivors

While #bugoftheday was fun, it was also very draining to do it every day. I think just posting when I feel like it or when I find something cool suits me better.
As such, here's something I found today. I'm not certain what this is, but it kinda looks like some sort of assassin bug.
#insects

🪰 Stilt-legged Fly (Micropezidae) — nature’s tiny dancer on stilts! With its shiny body and long legs, it mimics ants to fool predators. Often seen on leaves after rain, it moves with elegant grace. 🌿💧
Fun fact: It waves its front legs like fake antennae!

#StiltLeggedFly #Veinbug #BugOfTheDay

Championne du mimétisme, je ne l'aurais jamais repérée si elle n'avait pas bougé.
#BugOfTheDay
#linsectedujour
#nature
#biodiversite
#biodiversity

#BugOfTheDay
This little guy held still so I could get a picture. I googled the name but already forgot it unfortunately

Tweaked the logic.
Boulders still don't follow orders.
They might be unionizing.
#situationnormal #platformer #bugoftheday

#BugOfTheDay - a looped hit animation 🤘

#gamedev #indiedev #IndieGameDev

Ein blau-schwarzer Käfer mit langen Fühlern, der auf einem Buchenblatt sitzt.

Heute bin ich unterwegs an der #Donau einem eher seltenen und geschützten #Alpenbock begegnet. Wirklich ein sehenswertes Tier!

#Insektenfotografie #insektenschutz #draussenzeit #natur #naturschutz