A pair of predators - Crab Spider and Ambush Bug
Here is a remarkable pair of predators apparently coexisting on flowers in the mint patch of the garden - I've never seen them so close together. That's a Crab Spider (Thomisidae) on the left, probably genus Mecaphesa again, and a little Pacific Ambush Bug (Phymata pacifica, Phymatidae, Heteroptera, Hemiptera) on the right. Hah - it looks like they're racing down a track, but they're actually quite still. (San Marcos Pass, 2 September 2017)
All of my photos today feature a crab spider. I figure that's appropriate because it's now September - not autumn yet or Arachtober, but getting close. Predators like these two have the job of picking off all the pollinators before winter comes and kills them anyway.
The season of the predators has begun - but it was still god-awful hot today. It's been very warm at night, 92° at 3:00 AM last night. It's hard to sleep. It got up to 109° this morning according to a neighbor's weather station ... but then it started to cool down as monsoon clouds started to move in. There's now a 40% chance of monsoon rain on Sunday afternoon and evening with extra moisture from what's left of Hurricane Lidia down in Baja. The clouds will cool us down some more, so this is hopefully the end of our triple-digit days for a while. Hah - it's already cooled down into the upper 80s this evening. That's the coolest its been for a couple of days and nights!
A pair of predators - Crab Spider and Ambush Bug
Here is a remarkable pair of predators apparently coexisting on flowers in the mint patch of the garden - I've never seen them so close together. That's a Crab Spider (Thomisidae) on the left, probably genus Mecaphesa again, and a little Pacific Ambush Bug (Phymata pacifica, Phymatidae, Heteroptera, Hemiptera) on the right. Hah - it looks like they're racing down a track, but they're actually quite still. (San Marcos Pass, 2 September 2017)
All of my photos today feature a crab spider. I figure that's appropriate because it's now September - not autumn yet or Arachtober, but getting close. Predators like these two have the job of picking off all the pollinators before winter comes and kills them anyway.
The season of the predators has begun - but it was still god-awful hot today. It's been very warm at night, 92° at 3:00 AM last night. It's hard to sleep. It got up to 109° this morning according to a neighbor's weather station ... but then it started to cool down as monsoon clouds started to move in. There's now a 40% chance of monsoon rain on Sunday afternoon and evening with extra moisture from what's left of Hurricane Lidia down in Baja. The clouds will cool us down some more, so this is hopefully the end of our triple-digit days for a while. Hah - it's already cooled down into the upper 80s this evening. That's the coolest its been for a couple of days and nights!