Bring out your wildlife photos (good ones, mind you); I can never have enough of them on hand.
Today have another slew of great insect photos, with documentation, by Mark Sturtevant. His notes are indented.
Here are yet more pictures of insects taken over the previous summer.
UH VICON EXTRA 223 SIDE MOUNT DISC MOWER DUSTY CONVERSION 4286 UNIVERSAL HOBIES.
Britains Land Rover New Discovery 00042 Diecast 1 32 New Vintage Unopened Box
The picture of the female is one of my favorite pictures from last summer. It is especially recommended that people embiggen this one, for she is a creature of great ethereal beauty.
Next is a mating pair of six-spotted tiger beetles (Cicindella sexguttata), by far the most common of our local species of these predatory beetles. One can see here that males have slightly longer mandibles, and that their added length assists them during mating.
Cat Mini excavator with workerUH4042 UNIVERSAL HOBBIES 1 32 SCALE KUHN RW 1400 BALE WRAPPER (MIB)UH4011 1 32 SCALE VALTRA A850 gold LIMITED EDITION TRACTOR (MIB)BRUDER Massey Ferguson 7480 Tractor Toy 1 16 AGE 3+
Next we move on to Odonates. The first two are male and female vBritains 9490 Fiatagri M160 Tractor Scale 1 32 NEW & BOXED (Argia fumipennis). The male is young. As he matures, he will gradually turn a violet color as shown in the linked picture.
Mercedes Zetros Afzetcontainer - Siku 150 3546 Scale Skip Roll Rolloff
Moving on to dragonflies, the last three pictures are from the large family of ‘skimmers’ (Libellulidae). The first is a young male (Libellula pulchella). They will develop white markings on their wings as they age.
Bruder John Deere 5115M Toy Tractor Without Tipping TrailerUniversal Hobbies BOBARD 1096 STRADDLE TRACTOR 2090 1 32 SCALE IN ORIGINAL BOXBRITAINS 09594 BAUER VACUUM TANKER 1 32 Green Yellow Boxed Farm Toy TractorSIKU Massey Ferguson 4270 Tractor 1 32 No 2654 Diecast Model Farm
The second dragonfly is a female (Libellula semifasciata), and seeing it was a big surprise since I thought their range did not extend as far north as where I lived. It wanted to perch up high so the views were fore-shortened, unfortunately. So the picture is actually several different pictures that were taken at different focal points and then blended together by hand.
Finally, we have a male Eastern amberwing (Perithemis tenera). The amberwing is one of our smallest dragonflies, with a body barely an inch long
Bruder Toys 03081 Deutz Fahr Agredron X720 Loader Tractor Scale 1 16 CG There are so many dragonfly pictures from last summer, including many new species, that I probably should prepare some posts here that are dedicated to them. This is a Good Thing since I love dragonflies most of all.