SOME INSECTS FROM MY BACKYARD

Sometimes, when I come back home after walking and photographing somewhere in the woods or along the sea shore, I take a couple of shots in my yard as well, before entering the house.

Here you can see a little collection of species photographed in those, usually evening moments, on the vegetation that grows just outside my house. This is the Rhopalus parumpunctatus, a bug from the Rhopalidae family that feeds on the sap of various herbaceous plants.

Here you can see an interesting cricket that I rarely see.

This is the small, wingless nymph of the Trigonidium cicindeloides.

Here you can see another bug from the Rhopalidae family. Stictopleurus abutilon is the name of this species.

On this wider shot, you can see the small bug in its environment, the intricate mix of plants on my untrimmed lawn.

Various grasshoppers can be seen jumping around my yard and garden. Here you can see a young, wingless version of one of them. I don't know the name of the species.

The strange white thing on this photograph, it's a larva of some minuscule lady beetle species, probably from the genus Scymnus of the Coccinellidae family. The larva is attacking the aphids, while the ant is trying to defend them. The strange, white fluffy stuff on the larva's body is made of wax. These larvae produce wax from glands lining the sides of their bodies. This wax isn't just an extravagant styling. Studies of this kind of waxy lady bugs reveal that the wax reduces the effectiveness of ants and other predators that might like to make a meal of a ladybug larva.

Shield bugs are present in big numbers in my garden. Here you can see the young nymph of the Brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys).

Here you can see the minuscule, well camouflaged nymph of some leafhopper. I don't know which one exactly. Quite a few similar looking species are present in the area.

Here you can see the Hypocassida subferruginea, a tortoise beetle from the Chrysomelidae family.

On this wide - angle shot, you can take a look at the setting - my backyard.

(Enlargeable)

Yesterday evening, while I was searching for insects on the lawn, two of my cats, Bembo and Palchich, were wrestling behind my back. At one point, I noticed them, and I took a series of pretty funny cat - shots. But this is another story, and this triptych it's just a teaser for another post that will be published later in the day, probably at the end of the day.
Right now I have to go outside, so I'll prepare the rest of those feline photographs in the evening, when I'm back home.

As always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work - THE END.