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The adult Spotted Lantern Fly or Lycra deliculata (Order Hemiptera), a plant hopper accidentally introduced from Asia, and now a "quarantined" epidemiologic pest throughout Bucks and Montgomery Counties, threatens the grapes, pines, stone fruits and apple trees.
The body is approximately 3 cm long, with legs approximately 11-12 cm. It also known as Banana Spiders, their metallic gold webs blocking off pathways entirely. There’s support strands, sticky catch strands, they even set up a 3-D array of strands outside of the web itself to act as a warning for you, so that you don’t walk the rest of the way through it and ruin all of their hard work. As for why they need a web that is so strong, keep in mind that their prey is also large, such as dragonflies, and very rarely hummingbirds and even small snakes. One of their favorite food items are horseflies, which are possibly the fastest flying insects clocking in at 90 miles per hour. At that speed, horseflies punch through lesser webs like bullets, but when your web is as strong as Kevlar, not even they can escape.
They are not known to be aggressive towards humans, only biting out of self-defense if touched, and their relatively harmless venom has a low toxicity, posing little health concern to healthy human adults.
beidler.audubon.org/news/species-spotlight-golden-silk-or...
• The *Scuttles hyperactiva* is a lively insect known for its ceaseless energy. Darting through dense underbrush, it thrives on nectar and tiny seeds, building intricate burrows with lightning speed. Its kaleidoscopic exoskeleton dazzles predators, while its rapid movements make capture nearly impossible. Social and industrious, it communicates with rhythmic leg vibrations. Revered for pollinating rare plants, this tiny dynamo embodies nature's restless, colorful vitality in a world of constant motion.
This Polyphemus Caterpillar was munching away almost non stop on a bunch of Maple Leafs.
Click on the image to zoom in progressively ....
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The length of this dragonfly is 36 to 48 mm (1.4 to 1.9 in).
The eastern pondhawk is an athletic, swift-flying predator, able to catch damselflies and other insect prey on the wing. In between hunts it rests on vegetation, ready to take to the air if prey comes within sight.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythemis_simplicicollis
Columbia, South Carolina. USA
A nice surprise to find at John Heinz NWR, after a disappointing morning of birding. Unfortunately, I did not have my macro lens with me.
Found this little beauty soaking up the light on a crumbling wall, ivy reaching in from the edges of the frame. A small tortoiseshell, wings thrown wide open like she owned the place. There's something about the contrast — all that fire-orange against cold grey stone — that stopped me in my tracks.
Photographed in Bourne Woods, Lincolnshire. Charming little creatures that don't seem quite so bothered by a camera lens at close range.