Tiny fly on a Pale Swallowtail caterpillar - Biting Midge (Ceratopogonidae)
These aren't my best photos today, but they're probably the most interesting for natural history. I found this newly molted green caterpillar of a Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon) butterfly on a leaf of California Coffeeberry (Frangula californica, Rhamnaceae) in the woods today. As I approached it, I noticed something tiny on its head, and managed to get the photo on the right before it flew away. This is a 1:1 640x800 crop from my 6000x4000 pixel original, so please don't judge it too harshly! After the critter disappeared, I got the photo on the left. I'm not sure what the tiny critter is or what it's doing on the caterpillar. Maybe it's a Biting Midge (Ceratopogonidae) fly, see Ian Jacobs' comment below. (San Marcos Pass, 4 July 2020)
Tiny fly on a Pale Swallowtail caterpillar - Biting Midge (Ceratopogonidae)
These aren't my best photos today, but they're probably the most interesting for natural history. I found this newly molted green caterpillar of a Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon) butterfly on a leaf of California Coffeeberry (Frangula californica, Rhamnaceae) in the woods today. As I approached it, I noticed something tiny on its head, and managed to get the photo on the right before it flew away. This is a 1:1 640x800 crop from my 6000x4000 pixel original, so please don't judge it too harshly! After the critter disappeared, I got the photo on the left. I'm not sure what the tiny critter is or what it's doing on the caterpillar. Maybe it's a Biting Midge (Ceratopogonidae) fly, see Ian Jacobs' comment below. (San Marcos Pass, 4 July 2020)