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Seattle. September 3, 2011
I made the plunge into insect identification this summer. It started with dragonflies and then just kind of expanded. I may well be on the way to becoming the crazy old lady you occasionally come across in the woods, the one you find on hands and knees peering into barky crevices or examining the prey in spider webs.
The whole concept of insect ID is daunting. They are so numerous that many have never even received the honor of a name. My strategy is to take lots of pictures and to bring those pictures home. Then, in the quiet times I try to put my pictures together with those on the intertubes and/or in the old-fashioned books I keep on my desk and on the bedside table. Success is relative. I find myself joyful if I can identify a family. Here are some of the summer's efforts.
Northern Bluet. August 2, 2011.
Dragonflies are big, flashy and common. Occasionally they stop long enough for a picture. This one rested on a water lily leaf down at the marina. I believe it's a Northern Bluet (Enallagma annexum), which can be "very abundant in Northern regions" (Dennis Paulson. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West. 2009. Princeton University Press. p 87-88).
Blister Beetle. August 2, 2011. ~10mm
Red on green, this little critter was spotted easily. I think it's one of the local Blister Beetles. "Blister" refers the chemical some secrete when threatened, and which can cause blisters on human skin. I didn't try to touch this one so don't know about the blister part. A best guess is Nemognatha lurida. (Haggard and Haggard. Insects of the Pacific Northwest. 2006. Timber Press. p74-75.) Is the tiny white object next to its antennae an egg? If so, what kind?
Black Vine Weevil. September 1, 2011. ~10mm
I was trying to get a picture of one of next year's incipient Osoberry leaf buds when this guy caught my attention. My habit of perusing insect picture books while falling asleep paid off with immediate recognition: a member of the Snout Beetle family (Curculionidae), most likely a Black Vine Weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatusm) (Haggard and Haggard.Insects of the Pacific Northwest 2006. Timber Press. p66-67.). Not native and a known pest. Should I have smooshed it?
Stink Bug. August 30, 2011. ~15mm
There are insects and there are bugs. The dragonfly and beetles above are not bugs. They are insects. This is a bug, a green bug, a member of the order Hemiptera. One main differences between the two groups is that bugs suck. Their mouth parts are designed for piercing and sucking. Think aphid. Think bedbug.
The best I can do for an ID on this individual is that it appears to be an instar of one of the many stink bugs (family Pentatomidae) that haunt this region.
???. August 30, 2011. ~10mm
I'm going to call this a "feather moth". At first glance it looked just like a dropped feather lying on a leaf. I was a bit startled when it flew off the leaf and across to another in that fluttery way moths have. Once settled, it again looked just like a tiny striped feather. On a closer look it morphed into an oddly shaped moth doing a headstand.
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What have you? Where are you?
I'll be here until about 11am PDT, then will be gone until late. Will check in when I return.