NEWS FROM THE MEADOWS - 22. April 2021
The spiky little creature on the following photograph ...
... is a minuscule leaf beetle (Chrysomelidae family) that feeds and reproduces on various wild grasses ...
... Hispa atra is the name of the species.
A bit further ...
... the Ranunculus repens flowers were growing ...
... and on & among those yellow petals ...
... I found another small beetle species ... of approximately the same size as the Hispa atra, but very differently shaped ...
... the very common and widespread pollen beetle Fabogethes nigrescens, from the Nitidulidae family.
Underneath another flower ...
... I found this aphid trio ...
... one relatively big, and two really minuscule Sitobion avenae aphids.
The flowers of the Scrophularia peregrina plant look pretty cool in macro view ...
... they are too small to appreciate without the help of some kind of magnifying equipment, at first sight these flowers can appear just like some red dots in the field of green ...
... but when seen up close enough, they reveal some interesting, very photogenic shapes.
While I was taking these shots ...
... the green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata) landed on the plant ...
(Enlargeable)
Here you can see the enlargeable portrait of this very common, but shiny species.
A few meters from there, I noticed a very different kind of fly ...
... that looked like a giant compared to the insects you saw till now in this post ...
(Enlargeable)
... this is the Tipula oleracea crane fly. They like humid, shady places with lush vegetation.
This dandelion relative, the Sonchus oleraceus plant also grows in that kind of places. Here you can see the buds that will become juicy yellow flowers soon.
This Meloe scabriusculus blister beetle, was chewing the juicy base of the young thistle plant nearby.
A bit further I caught a glimpse of another long-legged Tipula oleracea fly ...
(Enlargeable)
... and I got another enlargeable portrait out of this situation.
Here you can see the Empoasca decipiens leafhopper, another minuscule species.
Ranunculus muricatus it's a plant closely related to the Ranunculus repens that you saw near the beginning of this post ... the petals of the flower on this photograph are about to fall soon ...
... and when they do, the structure will look like this.
This is the much smaller flower of the neighboring Stellaria media plant.
Among the tiny flowers on the top of the Euphorbia helioscopia plant that appears in almost every entry in this meadow - news series ...
... I found this small black fly, of some species currently unknown to me ...
... the transparent wings of this minuscule insects look very colorful from some angles.
This shiny Psilothrix viridicoerulea beetle was feeding on the Plantago lanceolata flower head.
When crouched, this minuscule spider can look like some tick at first sight, only the up close look clearly reveals that it's a crab spider, some species from the genus Xysticus of the Thomisidae family.
Here you can take a wider look at the landscape in which these shots were taken ... and take a short break from all that macro stuff.
On this photograph you can see a multitude of Satureja thymbra flowers ...
... some fly was feeding on them.
The Argiope bruennichi spider has built a nest - cocoon by the thorny asparagus plant ...
... the female was guarding nearby ...
... they often built these cocoons in places sheltered by thorny vegetation ...
... some caterpillar, I don't know the species, was crawling on the asparagus ... and now ...
... with this nice Satureja thymbra & Bellis perennis flower bouquet ...
... and the last look at the landscape ... is time to end the post. As always, the photographs are my work.
The atmosphere of the shooting area looks very fresh and all the wild insects look so beautiful The beetles that are in first place are so tiny but they look very unique😍
Fantastic photography, finally i got to see a great post again.
:)