COASTAL CREATURES ... Part Four (THE FINAL PART)

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Many small flies can be seen ...

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... at the end of summer ...

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... when the Crithmum maritimum plant is in bloom ...

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... here on the coastline ...

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... about 5 - 6 kilometers from my house.

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I'm pretty unfamiliar with most of these species ... and I can't tell you their names.

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This gray, striped one looks a lot like some flesh fly ... but is attracted by nectar, as you can see here ... so ...

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On this up close, macro shot ... this fly looks pretty large ...

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... but ...

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... this is actually one of the smallest species here.

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This one ...

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... is even smaller ... and has just created a shiny little droplet.

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Meanwhile ...

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... in the dry grass, along the dusty little road by the sea ...

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... this carrion beetle ...

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... the Silpha tristis ... or some other similar species from the Silpha genus of the Silphidae family ...

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... is feeding ...

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... on the small carcass ...

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... of some ground beetle ...

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... probably from the Harpalinae family.

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As the day is turning into night ...

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... snails are getting active ...

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... you can see them crawling across the rocks in search for some juicy edibles.

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With this ... and the following few photographs ...

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... the focus is again on the Crithmum maritimum plant ...

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... the brown variation of the European mantis (Mantis religiosa) is hunting ...

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... on this rich feeding ground ...

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... with many flies.

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The diet of this adult stiletto fly ...

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... the Thereva nobilitata ...is a bit of a mystery. Through my internet search, I found only two sentences about this subject : "It is not known for certain what the adult flies feed on, but one was observed on a rabbit corpse and another seemed to be drinking at a stream bed."

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The Eristalis tenax drone fly on this photograph is feeding on nectar and pollen ... and mimics the bee with its shape, size and colors.

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Among all these flies ...

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... here on the Crithmum maritimum ...

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... I noticed also a bunch of medium - sized wasps.

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I don't know the name of the species.

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Some flies are resting on the dry grass that grows around the green plants covered with tiny flowers.

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This is the Paragus haemorrhous hoverfly.

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This interesting planthopper was also photographed on the dry grass near the sea, in the late afternoon.

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Dictyophara europaea is the name of the species.

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This cool plant ...

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... that grows between the rocks ...

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... very close to the sea ...

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... is the Plantago subulata.

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Sometimes it covers larger patches of coastal terrain ...

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... creating dense, carpet - like patterns.

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In this interesting case ...

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... two young sprouts of the Euphorbia cyparissias plant ...

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... are growing ...

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... on the top of a small but picturesque Plantago subulata island.

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While photographing all this herbal stuff ...

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... I noticed these strange structures close to the ground. I don't know what plant, or plant part, is this.

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Here you can see an interesting fly resting on the rock. It has a very peculiar, large head and small wings. I noticed this species only once, this summer, on the occasion when these photographs were taken.

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Here you can take a wider look at this habitat.

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This is a small, young nymph of the European mantis.

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Here you can see a small, glittering jewel beetle ...

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... the Agrilus cuprescens.

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This looks like another carrion beetle ... much smaller than the one you saw before in this post ...

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and it also looks like some seed, lost among little stones and various fragments of dry plant material ...

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... but is actually a pretty different, plant eating beetle from the Tenebrionidae family - the Opatrum sabulosum ... which I learnerd only today, a day after publishing the post, thanks to mister @akukamaruzzaman. As you can see HIVE can be also a great learning & insect identifiying tool when you hang out with the right crowd :D

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This Calliptamus italicus ...

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... is one of the most common grasshopper species in this habitat.

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And now ...

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... with this grasshopper nymph of some species unknown to me ...

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... and the last look at the Crithmum maritimum at the end of the day ... is time to end this post ... and the entire mini - series ... as always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work - THE DEFINITIVE END.



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21 comments
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Your current Rank (73) in the battle Arena of Holybread has granted you an Upvote of 5%

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These macro photos make the small insects looking like giant insects with lots of hidden power!

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(Edited)

The photographs are amazing, you can see many details that in a normal photo could not be appreciated, this photo catches my attention, it seems that it poses for you and it looks very comfortable, excellent photos I congratulate you.

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Guaooo total mente increíbles estás fotografías me encantaron.

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Gracias :) Me alegro que te guste esta flora y fauna.

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I'm totally amazed by your shots, @borjan. I like seeing the insect kingdom :D

By the way, I will try to help you to identify this species of beetle. Opatrum sabulosum, it is a genus of beetles in the Tenebrionidae family.

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Thank you for the species !

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Hi borjan,

This post has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed). Have a great day :)

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These are amazing photography! Great shots.

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Thanks :) These are summer memories, now I have to wait till springtime to catch some insect on camera.

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