#insect eggs

Phasmid eggs | Levon Biss

Levon Biss (British photographer, b.1975)

Phasmid eggs - eggs of the stick insect family

my stag beetle survived the kiln!

he’s up on Etsy as of today.

and here he is before being fired:

Pictures of Caterpillars who look Very Scary or Very Creepy follow, so if you don't have the tag "Catepillars" or "insects" filtered I would scroll past this.

Want a great example of why it's so important to plant native host plants and not use pesticides in your garden?

We grow tons of native plants in our garden, including native passionflowers, and we have for years, since they're perennials. We started a fresh batch of seedlings this year in the new garden area from seeds we saved last year and one particular seedling has taken of like there's no tomorrow - it is easily 5 times the size of all of the other plants, including the established ones!

And it has single-handedly been a host for probably a few hundred caterpillars of two different native species in just this single season, and it wasn't even started in early spring or anything.

Here's some pictures of all the little baby caterpillars, including pictures of one that is much more rare to see in our area -- until now that is!!

Gulf Fritillary butterflies are common in our area, and even people who don't garden are used to seeing them around, but much more rare to see are Zebra Longwings, and thanks to this one single, extremely vigourous seedling in particular, we've helped support a few hundred of them this year and more and more people in the surrounding neighborhood are starting to see them in their own yards !

Usually, each year, we'd get maybe a few dozen Gulf Fritillary caterpillars-- the ones who have orange bodies and black spikes; but this year, it started with just one Zebra Longwing laying eggs... and now multiple generations have all been supported on this single plant, starting out as teeny tiny eggs, then teeny tiny white catepillars, until they're huge and dramatic looking bright-white catepillars that look like they're from an alien planet, then they turn into creepy, dramatic, dark brown and spiky chrysalises..

... and then they turn into gorgeous black and yellow butterflies :D

I've included a little collection of pictures below, including

what the plant itself looks like when it's not blooming,

the sheer number of native catepillars on the passion flower,

what the Zebra Longwing chrysalis looks like,

Adult butterflies of both species

Another native passionflower leaf (passiflora lutea), which in our area is naturally varigated (not sure if its a subspecies or not??)

last but not least, three examples of Passiflora Incarnata blooms, one of these is the parent of the Extremely Vigorous Seedling (EVS) all these catepillars are on, and I am excited to see what the flowers look like on the EVS when it eventually flowers.

Butterfly eggs on passion vine leaf

This is the idea... make a series of large fired vases based on stick bug egg cases. Just look at them!

This would be SUCH an amazing exhibition.

Every bug nerd on the planet will covet your vases.

Nature provides free ip!

(with my luck someone *will* do this & I'd never be able to afford one LMAO)

Ferocious Water Bug - Abedus sp.

I was so happy to visit the Toronto Zoo last weekend. It had been a long time since my last visit and it was wonderful to spend the day with some of my dearest friends! In addition to all the delightful outdoor mammalian and avian exhibits, there are plenty of indoor terrarium-based habitats to enjoy full of exotic and/or strange reptiles, amphibians, and insects (obviously) to discover. There are five species in total that I'll be covering over the next few weeks, beginning with a new branch of the Hemipteran order for the blog: Giant Water Bugs (Belostomatidae)! This exhibit mainly showcases the adults, but there are a few nymphs hiding around. As their common name suggests, these large insects make aquatic (freshwater) environments their primary habitat and are well adapted to it despite ultimately being creatures of the land. They all have a flattened, oval-shaped hydrodynamic body, flattened legs that can can tuck in and row, large eyes to visualize a wide view of their aquatic environment, and enlarged raptorial forelegs to seize prey that swims by. Stay clear of those claws, as anything caught in them gets painfully jabbed by the curved rostrum! Such a puncture has earned them the nicknames: "Toe-Biter", "Fish Killer" and "Alligator Flea". Furthermore, like their distant Nepomorpha cousin - the Backswimmer - Giant Water Bugs breathe air, and thusly need to bring it underwater with them since they lack a full set of gills.

To facilitate underwater respiration, these Bugs have adapted a rear abdominal respiratory siphon that they stick out of the water to obtain air while submerged. Yes, a butt-snorkel is the tool for the job! This is why many of the individuals here appear to be tilted as they sit in the water's flora. With larger specimens, it could be mistaken for a stinger, while different species use different types of snorkels to obtain air. From my research, Abedus Water Bugs use two reduced rear-tubes to obtain air and then store it underneath their forewings; they can store quite many a bubble due to their reduced wings beneath, effectively trading their ability to fly for an efficient scuba system. With efficient energy expenditure, they can remain underwater for minutes to hours, and thus have more time for hunting and other activities. Speaking of the latter, you may have noticed a few individuals covered in nodules here. These are male specimens. Females attach their eggs to the backs of males, and the latter will protect them...until they hatch. After they hatch, Abedus nymphs become fair game to hunt, and the nymphs share that behavior, with nymphs further along in development hunting and snatching smaller instars! With the number of eggs here, it looks like the zoo may have a feeding frenzy on its hands! When they aren't eating each other, Giant Water Bugs will eat anything they can grasp (even animals much larger than themselves, similar to Jagged Ambush Bugs) including struggling land insects, snails, tadpoles and fish.