Plains Lubber Grasshopper – IUCN Conservation Status: Insufficient Data Grasshoppers have 5 eyes! Matt, Kenny, Nick, and I were descending from Emory Peak in Big Bend National Park when we came across this plains lubber grasshopper. We were at the end of a long hot hike, and we were all pretty low on energy. I […]
Chalk-fronted Corporal Dragonfly – IUCN Conservation Status: LEAST CONCERN Each eye has up to 30,000 facets! I took this photo the day before my birthday in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Matt and I were camping there enjoying the beginning of summer. We had been out on a loop hike through the park when we came […]
Most blow flies live in temperate to tropical regions. The larvae of blow flies are used for a medical treatment called “maggot therapy”. Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) uses laboratory raised fly larvae to treat stasis ulcers, postsurgical wounds, pressure clots, and diabetic foot wounds. The larvae eat only the dead tissue, which improves the healing potential of […]
WHEEL BUG – IUCN Conservation Status: INSUFFICIENT DATA They sink their proboscis into the prey and inject a paralyzing enzyme This photo is of wheel bug nymphs in the first instar stages. They go through five instar stages before becoming adults. Here, they can be seen with the egg cases that they hatch from in […]
WOLF SPIDER – IUCN Conservation Status: INSUFFICIENT DATA They lay more than 100 eggs Have you ever seen a spookier looking insect?! This wolf spider is carrying its recently hatched young on its back! When I first saw this spider on the trail at Indian and Celina Lakes in southern Indiana, I thought I was […]
EASTERN LUBBER GRASSHOPPER – IUCN Conservation Status: INSUFFICIENT DATA Approach slowly to get a close look at this wild creature! This bright colored grasshopper is hard to miss. The eastern lubber grasshopper is an interesting creature that can grow to ~2.5” long. They can be found throughout the southeastern United States (North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, […]
GOLDENROD CRAB SPIDER – IUCN Conservation Status: INSUFFICIENT DATA Goldenrod crab spiders tend to lay webs on goldenrod and milkweed flowers For Wild Boyz Photography, October’s theme is “Weird Wild”. It might be my favorite gallery theme of the year because we can showcase how wild nature truly is. This strange pink spider is called a goldenrod […]
CAROLINA GRASSHOPPER – IUCN Conservation Status: INSUFFICIENT DATA I got this photo just in time! I first saw this insect at the beginning of the summer. As I was working in my garden, it startled me when it flew into the air with an erratic leap. I of course hadn’t seen the grasshopper because it […]
BROWN-SHADED GRAY MOTH – IUCN Conservation Status: DATA INSUFFICIENT This isn’t the world’s most exciting photo Look closely, and you can see the brown-shaded gray moth in the center of this photo. It was almost perfectly blended in with the tree. I surprisingly took this photo with a super-telephoto lens that my brother and I […]
EASTERN TENT CATERPILLAR – IUCN Conservation Status: DATA DEFFICIENT “How will I ever find the camouflaged animals?” I asked I have to give credit for this photo to my cat. We occasionally take him outside on a leash, and he lead me right over to this tree. I bumped my head against a branch, and […]