Tiny hatchling of an Assassin Bug (Reduviidae)
On October 16/17 we had a hatch of tiny Assassin Bugs (Reduviidae, Heteroptera, Hemiptera) on a Prickly Pear (Opuntia, Cactaceae) cactus in our garden, see this photo. The hatchlings have since scattered, but I happened too notice this one today on a different cactus in the same cactus patch. It's interesting that it seems to have the same defensive pose as the adult in this photo - front legs and head up in the air. It is about 600 pixels long at 1:1 magnification in this macro shot, which I figure is about 2.4 mm long - about 1/10 inch, really tiny. (See here for how I figure.) Hah - if you think that's tiny, follow the spider web down from the upper-left to the bundle of cactus spines in the lower-right. Now there's a really tiny spider - 1/100 inch long? I wonder if it has an even tinier mite on it! I won't add this to the Arachtober group, but it shows that you see spiders everywhere when you really look! (San Marcos Pass, 28 July 2017)
Tiny hatchling of an Assassin Bug (Reduviidae)
On October 16/17 we had a hatch of tiny Assassin Bugs (Reduviidae, Heteroptera, Hemiptera) on a Prickly Pear (Opuntia, Cactaceae) cactus in our garden, see this photo. The hatchlings have since scattered, but I happened too notice this one today on a different cactus in the same cactus patch. It's interesting that it seems to have the same defensive pose as the adult in this photo - front legs and head up in the air. It is about 600 pixels long at 1:1 magnification in this macro shot, which I figure is about 2.4 mm long - about 1/10 inch, really tiny. (See here for how I figure.) Hah - if you think that's tiny, follow the spider web down from the upper-left to the bundle of cactus spines in the lower-right. Now there's a really tiny spider - 1/100 inch long? I wonder if it has an even tinier mite on it! I won't add this to the Arachtober group, but it shows that you see spiders everywhere when you really look! (San Marcos Pass, 28 July 2017)