Tiny black flies mob a honeybee in the grasp of an ambush bug

A swarm of tiny black flies drew my attention to a flower cluster. They were mobbed all over a dead or dying bee. I looked for a crab spider dining on the bee, and only when I returned home and looked at this photo did I notice the ambush bug with its beak plunged into the bee’s throat. The flies were minute, the type you might find on a rotting mushroom or decaying persimmon. I presume the scent of the bee drew them in.

Apis mellifera
Phymata sp
Muscomorpha
Verbisina virginica

Fairy mushrooms sprout from a moss bed

After heavy rains, tiny mushrooms sprout from a bed of moss along an ephemeral stream. I believe this family of mushrooms is called fairy helmets.

Mycena sp.

A clouded skipper rests on a leaf

Skippers are a family of butterflies recognized by the hooked tip on their antennae. Most are drably colored, usually brown, and they are often mistaken for moths. Here you can also see this skipper’s coiled tongue, which lets it reach deep into flowers or sip from numerous flowers when alighted on an inflorescence. Some species, including this clouded skipper, hold their wings in a unique position that makes all four wings visible while the butterfly is at rest.

Lerema accius

gulf fritillary feeds on frostweed nectar

Unlike most insects that lurk under flower clusters, the short-horned grasshopper below this butterfly is not waiting to ambush prey. Virtually all North American grasshoppers are plant eaters.

Frostweed and its close relative wingstem both grow thin bands of leaf tissue from their stems. This growth pattern could just be a genetic aberration serving no purpose, but it could also be a bargain with grasshoppers, an offering of bite-sized meals in the relative safety of the plant’s interior. The true leaves, where direct sun drives vigorous photosynthesis, may be spared damage, and the herbivores spared the risk of exposing themselves to birds.

Verbesina virginica

Agraulis vanillae

Melanoplus sp.

Lynx spider guards her egg sac

Hidden in a frostweed flower cluster, a lynx spider guards her large, knobby egg. She is an active hunter who ambushes prey rather than snaring it in a web and a common but well camouflaged denizen of meadows.

Verbesina virginica

Peucetia viridans

A wheel bug perches on an unripe persimmon

Easily recognized by the gear-like structure on its thorax, the wheel bug is a large predatory insect common in open woodlands. It grabs prey with its long forelegs then pierces it with its sharp beak.

Diospyros virginiana
Arilus cristatus

Metallic green bee sips from butterfly weed

Among the many insects attracted to butterfly weed is this iridescent bee, which looks green or orange depending on the angle of light.

Augochlora pura

Asclepias tuberosa