Browsed by
Tag: insects

Swarming Citronella Ants

Swarming Citronella Ants

When I came home from work earlier this week, my front walkway was covered in winged ants (referred to as alates). They were crawling on the bricks, the timber border, the solar-powered perimeter lights, and the nearby vegetation. Closer inspection revealed that in addition to the larger, darker winged ants, there were also clusters of tiny yellow ants on the ground. Although different morphologically, both are the same species of citronella ants, likely Lasius claviger. The smaller yellow individuals were…

Read More Read More

A new generation of assassins

A new generation of assassins

This weekend, while sitting on my back porch between thunderstorms, I noticed a small fuzzy patch of something on one of the deck chairs. From a distance, I thought it might be a small patch of lichen; this wouldn’t be odd, as the chairs are fairly speckled with various small lichens. But as I got closer, part of my potential lichen started to move!  What I had found was a cluster of newly hatched spiny assassin bugs (Sinea spinipes). Although…

Read More Read More

Mini beast photo safari

Mini beast photo safari

Below is a compilation of a few tiny creatures I’ve come across in the last week or so. All photos were taken using a macro lens on my iPhone. This is a carpet beetle in the genus Anthrenus, likely Anthrenus verbasci, in the flower of a China girl holly. Adults of this species eat pollen, so it’s a logical place to find this one. For those unfamiliar with the scale of holly flowers, this beetle is tiny – only a…

Read More Read More