WHAT I FOUND ALONG THE DRYSTONE WALL

Today, I drove about 20 - 25 kilometers north of my hometown to spend an hour or two searching for insects in the woods and meadows just outside the town of Vodnjan.

The first encounter was with a moth.

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A small moth on one of the shrubs ...

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... that grew around the old drystone wall built who knows when along the unpaved road that leads through the woods and fields. In some places, the branches grew through the narrow spaces in between the stones.

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I'm not sure about the species, but the family is definitively Geometridae. It could be the Asthena anseraria. Or the Idaea albarracina. Or the Idaea litigiosaria. Or Scopula subpunctaria. Or something else from that large and varied family.

Many small oak trees grew behind the wall and some of their branches were hanging above it.

I found quite a few interesting species on the oak leaves. This is the Philaenus spumarius. A species from the Aphrophoridae family. The froghopper was resting on the upper surface of the leaf.

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This weevil was photographed on the underside of another leaf. A bit higher on the tree. Can't tell you the exact species but the family is Apionidae, that's for sure. It could be the Omphalapion buddebergi. Or the Holotrichapion aethiops. Or the Cyanapion spencii. Or the Eutrichapion punctigerum. Or something else from that large family with many similar-looking species.

This little thing is a spider. A Cyclosa conica in its mimetic pose. It looks like a dry fragment of vegetation fallen from the tree and caught in the web. The web was built twenty or thirty centimeters above the wall, among the twigs of the oak.

This small fly is a member of the Hybotidae family. Can't tell you the name of the species. It was found on the oak tree. On the underside of the leaf.

Soon I noticed a jumping spider on the upper surface of a nearby leaf. I took this shot, and then ...

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... the small Salticidae jumped on one of the lichen-covered stones from which the great wall is made. I wasn't able to find the name of the species.

A bit further on the wall, I found a grasshopper.

The Aiolopus strepens. After taking this photograph ...

... I decided to walk back to the car.

In this last segment of the post, I'll show you a couple of insects that I found on my way there.

This is another Geometridae moth. The same kind of moth that was already shown earlier in the post. I wasn't sure about the name of the species back then, and I'm even more unsure now.

This is yet another Philaenus spumarius froghopper. This one was resting on the thorny Paliurus spina-christi shrub.

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Here you can see the Palomena prasina shield bug.

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The following links will take you to the sites with more information about some of the protagonists of this post. I found some stuff about them there.
https://www.leps.it/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philaenus_spumarius
https://www.kerbtier.de/cgi-bin/enFSearch.cgi?Fam=Apionidae
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/205888-Cyclosa-conica
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybotidae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiolopus_strepens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_shield_bug

AND THAT'S IT. AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK - THE END.



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9 comments
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That butterfly looks so different but I kind of like it.

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You've spent a lot of time walking and hunting the little animals it was great, I think it took a lot of extra effort to take pictures of the little animals, amazing!

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Crazy how a lot of small things happen around us, although it's in the woods. I doubt anyone would notice these little things.

is it just me or does that moth look like a painting on the leaf😂. The pictures are beautiful though, thanks for sharing 🤗

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Cool, when I see your blog, I am always entertained.
You always entertain us all here.

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Thank you. 🙂 It's great to hear that people enjoy these reports about insects and spiders from my area. That motivates me to explore my surroundings on daily basis. Thanks, and have a great day.

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Yes, you're welcome.
I hope you have a nice day there too.

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We appreciate your work and your post has been manually curated on behalf of Insects Of The World Community. It will be added to the weekly curation report. Keep up the good work.

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