Summer this time was particularly harsh. Also noticed a marked decrease in insect/activity.
The dry surroundings with their own adaptations
A gorgeous stick insect
The striking boxer mantis
Sleeping blue-banded bee
The ants rule the roost
This wonderful seed-pod of an Indian kino tree, the root-like structure within representative of the power and promise of life
An amazingly camouflaged Plataspidae nymph
An un-ID'ed Salticidae
The transition of summer to onset of monsoon..greens begin to emerge
A bark mantis
The first drops being lapped up by this Ichneumon wasp
Fireflies out in numbers!
Cicadas being their noisy best, after a long subterranean extistence
Leaf beetles seen in plenty
The mites not letting go of the opportunity
The rains also meant an increase in mosquito numbers, here's one sucking blood from my left hand. The proboscis and engorged abdomen turning red with blood.
With insect life bouncing back in good numbers, predators made the best of it
The two-tailed spider, Herisilia sp on the bark
This two-striped jumper, Telamonia sp female feasting on a blue bottlefly
A Lynx spider, Peucetia sp predating on a mantis
It's a spider-eat-spider world! A Rhene jumping spider predating on a Bomis sp crab spider
Robberflies rule the aerial space
Keeping the mosquitos/midges in check
Almost every perch/vantage point had a robberfly on it, truly the season!
The compound eyes which enables such high degree of precision
The forest floor with the Tmarus snacking on an ant
This season also brings out some spiders rarely seen
The oh-so-colorful Chrysilla
Asemonea sp
Cyrba sp, saw this striking little beauty for the very first time!
A curled-up millipede showing how nature works with classic design
A lot of arthropod life-cycle revolves around reproduction, fascinating to watch the life stages
Single egg of a common emigrant butterfly
A caterpillar ready to pupate
But nature had sinister plans, this was affected with a virus known as the "Black death". This caterpillar will not pupate successfully
A rarely seen caterpillar stage of the Double branded crow butterfly
A looper caterpillar of the Geometrid moth
Pupating ladybird larva
A weaver ant queen looking at expanding the colony
Owlfly larvae with those intimidating mandibles
An Ammophila sp wasp carrying back a paralyzed caterpillar to lay eggs inside and bury it. What a welcome gift to the progeny!
A Brettus sp jumping spider with her spiderlings
Got lucky with this full life-cycle of Coreidae (shield bugs)
Eggs
Freshly hatched nymphs
The multi hue/colors indicate how recently the nymph has moulted. Red is recent, green/yellow is older..how cool!
Hope you enjoyed these, it was fascinating and amazing to me, no matter how many times I experience this..oh, the wonders of nature!
Adios till the next one.
Cheers!
Hayath
The dry surroundings with their own adaptations
A gorgeous stick insect
The striking boxer mantis
Sleeping blue-banded bee
The ants rule the roost
This wonderful seed-pod of an Indian kino tree, the root-like structure within representative of the power and promise of life
An amazingly camouflaged Plataspidae nymph
An un-ID'ed Salticidae
The transition of summer to onset of monsoon..greens begin to emerge
A bark mantis
The first drops being lapped up by this Ichneumon wasp
Fireflies out in numbers!
Cicadas being their noisy best, after a long subterranean extistence
Leaf beetles seen in plenty
The mites not letting go of the opportunity
The rains also meant an increase in mosquito numbers, here's one sucking blood from my left hand. The proboscis and engorged abdomen turning red with blood.
With insect life bouncing back in good numbers, predators made the best of it
The two-tailed spider, Herisilia sp on the bark
This two-striped jumper, Telamonia sp female feasting on a blue bottlefly
A Lynx spider, Peucetia sp predating on a mantis
It's a spider-eat-spider world! A Rhene jumping spider predating on a Bomis sp crab spider
Robberflies rule the aerial space
Keeping the mosquitos/midges in check
Almost every perch/vantage point had a robberfly on it, truly the season!
The compound eyes which enables such high degree of precision
The forest floor with the Tmarus snacking on an ant
This season also brings out some spiders rarely seen
The oh-so-colorful Chrysilla
Asemonea sp
Cyrba sp, saw this striking little beauty for the very first time!
A curled-up millipede showing how nature works with classic design
A lot of arthropod life-cycle revolves around reproduction, fascinating to watch the life stages
Single egg of a common emigrant butterfly
A caterpillar ready to pupate
But nature had sinister plans, this was affected with a virus known as the "Black death". This caterpillar will not pupate successfully
A rarely seen caterpillar stage of the Double branded crow butterfly
A looper caterpillar of the Geometrid moth
Pupating ladybird larva
A weaver ant queen looking at expanding the colony
Owlfly larvae with those intimidating mandibles
An Ammophila sp wasp carrying back a paralyzed caterpillar to lay eggs inside and bury it. What a welcome gift to the progeny!
A Brettus sp jumping spider with her spiderlings
Got lucky with this full life-cycle of Coreidae (shield bugs)
Eggs
Freshly hatched nymphs
The multi hue/colors indicate how recently the nymph has moulted. Red is recent, green/yellow is older..how cool!
Hope you enjoyed these, it was fascinating and amazing to me, no matter how many times I experience this..oh, the wonders of nature!
Adios till the next one.
Cheers!
Hayath
