Four-spurred Assassin Bug (Zelus tetracanthus, Reduviidae, Hemiptera) on Coastal Goldenbush (Isocoma menziesii, Asteraceae)
Trip photos are nice, but today's photos are always the best!
This is looking head-on at a different Assassin Bug in the Reduviidae family of the order Hemiptera - probably the Four-spurred Assassin Bug (Zelus tetracanthus). You can see its mighty proboscis and the four spurs across the back of its thorax behind its head. I found this one today on yellow composite flowers of Coastal Goldenbush (Isocoma menziesii) in the Asteraceae plant family on a dry bluff above the Santa Ynez River. See my [Previous] photo of the same insect. (Paradise, Santa Ynez River, 6 September 2013)
I was hoping for butterflies by the river today, but I only saw a few. Maybe it was just too darn hot for them - it was 104°F where I was at the river today! But insects are generally missing in the drought-weary woods this year. I'll be happy when we get some real rain, but that might not be for another month or three. It's a tough year for nature.
Four-spurred Assassin Bug (Zelus tetracanthus, Reduviidae, Hemiptera) on Coastal Goldenbush (Isocoma menziesii, Asteraceae)
Trip photos are nice, but today's photos are always the best!
This is looking head-on at a different Assassin Bug in the Reduviidae family of the order Hemiptera - probably the Four-spurred Assassin Bug (Zelus tetracanthus). You can see its mighty proboscis and the four spurs across the back of its thorax behind its head. I found this one today on yellow composite flowers of Coastal Goldenbush (Isocoma menziesii) in the Asteraceae plant family on a dry bluff above the Santa Ynez River. See my [Previous] photo of the same insect. (Paradise, Santa Ynez River, 6 September 2013)
I was hoping for butterflies by the river today, but I only saw a few. Maybe it was just too darn hot for them - it was 104°F where I was at the river today! But insects are generally missing in the drought-weary woods this year. I'll be happy when we get some real rain, but that might not be for another month or three. It's a tough year for nature.