Baby Leucauge venusta
I think this is Bembidion quadrimaculatum — a ground beetle, except it seemed to be hanging out in the flowers. But could it be Lebia fuscata instead? Sure, what the heck.
On a dead mushroom. Perhaps Drosophila.
What the hell is in its mouth?
Basilica orb-weaver, with its web (Mecynogea lemniscata)
Some miscellaneous insects found around the house, and rather more insects than are strictly desirable found inside it.
First, the copper underwing, Amphipyra pyramidoides. If this photo seems a little strange, it’s because it was sitting on a mirror.
Next, a dermestid beetle larva.
Finally, a planthopper I found when taking out the recycling, sitting on the bin. Best guess: Acanaloniidae, genus Acanalonia, maybe Acanalonia conica?
Well, this first one is actually from Devil’s Rock, but I didn’t want to make a new post just for one photo:
Tipulidae: perhaps a Limoniid crane fly?
Fireworks:
A Limoniid crane fly? (EDIT: identified as Limonia annulata.)
Mangora maculata in Araneidae. This has only one photo from Massachusetts in bugguide.net, and none in iNaturalist.
Leafhopper, Jikradia olitoria. A female, males are more uniformly green.
Lauxaniidae?
Uloborus glomosus, I have a soft spot for these spiders:
Pine needles
Linyphia triangularis? But it could also be Frontinella or Neriene. Linyphiidae, at any rate.
This could be Haplandrus fulvipes. Except that it was pointed out to me that Xylopinus also has a red-legged race (see this and this). So, well, $@&!! that ID. Note the large numbers of mites on the poor thing.
The Isle of Skye, folks. Somewhere I’d always read about, never thought I’d actually go!
Fossils we found at the Flodigarry fossil walk:
The fairy pools walk on the Isle of Skye:
Armadale, while waiting for the ferry to Mallaig:
Cairngorms National Park, no longer on the Isle of Skye:
Speyside Dolphin Center.
Like I’m going to go that far and not take photos of insects. A syrphid fly:
Ain’t no love like outlaw love! Two robber flies (Asilidae) making baby robber flies. Perhaps Efferia estuans (EDIT: better identification given was Neoitamus flavofemoratus. Notice the bicolored legs.)? I’ve nicknamed them Bonnie and Clyde.
Dun skipper female.
Terrible photo, but I think it’s a velvet ant, so I’m enthusiastic:
Slaty skimmer
No surprise: shooting dragonflies aflight is hard.
Lacewing larva:
I got my act together and collected some of my favorite insect and spider photos from 2015 onwards into one page: https://alittlewild.blog/best-insect-photos/insects-and-spiders-2015-17/ .
