invaders
About a year ago, I wrote this entry about my adventures with mantids. Featured that day was a Wheel Bug I had hoped to pit against a Praying Mantis. Do you capitalize insect names? Who can think of such things at a time like this!
Because not long ago, on a tree in our front yard next to the driveway, a strange hexagonal structure appeared, filled with very small white cells. And out of these cells emerged tiny orange bugs.
After a little while, these orange bugs turned black. The only remaining color was their orange-tipped antennae and their bright red abdomens. About a dozen or more of them clustered together, walking around slowly, enjoying their time together. And then came the cannibalism.
(A picture from Wikipedia)
Anyway, after several waves of orange nymphs and destruction, the colony has been whittled down to about five, one of which is about as wide as my thumbnail and a little longer. And what are these strange little buggers? Turns out they're a type of assassin bug (and aptly named. One of their most striking features is a long proboscis which is used to skewer, poison and drink the innards of their victims). They are a subset more popularly known as the Wheel Bug.
Which means that, as large as the nymph has gotten, fully developed he will be about 1 1/2 inches long.
Because not long ago, on a tree in our front yard next to the driveway, a strange hexagonal structure appeared, filled with very small white cells. And out of these cells emerged tiny orange bugs.
After a little while, these orange bugs turned black. The only remaining color was their orange-tipped antennae and their bright red abdomens. About a dozen or more of them clustered together, walking around slowly, enjoying their time together. And then came the cannibalism.
(A picture from Wikipedia)
Anyway, after several waves of orange nymphs and destruction, the colony has been whittled down to about five, one of which is about as wide as my thumbnail and a little longer. And what are these strange little buggers? Turns out they're a type of assassin bug (and aptly named. One of their most striking features is a long proboscis which is used to skewer, poison and drink the innards of their victims). They are a subset more popularly known as the Wheel Bug.
Which means that, as large as the nymph has gotten, fully developed he will be about 1 1/2 inches long.