When I was a kid, I found the world’s biggest, hairiest spider in the gutter in front of my house! I should have left her alone, but I didn’t. I poked her with a stick, and then watched in horror as her “hair” ran in a thousand directions! My World Book Encyclopedia informed me that she was a Wolf Spider, a species known for carrying their babies on their backs. There are 10 quintillion insects in the world (that’s 200 million of them for each of us!), and we’ve only discovered or named about 20% of them. Which is a shame, because…We have a lot to teach each other.
Click on any image to enlarge it, or to start slide show.
Atlas Moth
BOGO Katydids on sale ths week only!
Happy hour
I love these all-you-can-eat aphid buffets!
Yes, I’ve “always been multicolored.” Now go away!
The exotic Antango!
Tiffany, Billy, get away from there right now! Remember what happened to your father!
Hey, babe, share a leaf?
A Chorus Line
This is my new pet. I call him Spot.
How does an ant change a light bulb…?
Rhinocerous beetle, Costa Rica
Raymondo Ant: Water Juggler Extraordinaire!
Heck, if I know, Bob!
Wetas are the world’s largest crickets.
“I’m puttin’ on my top bug, brushin’ up my tail.”
Do you hang out here often?
Gee, this branch is so soft!
I love my new dentures!
Giant Isopod – not your typical household roly-poly.
Borneo Cicada
Take me to the corner of leaf and vine, cabbie. And be quick about it!
Jeannie, stop biting Julie! Oh, wait, you’re not Jeannie. Jerome, Jason, where’s Jeannie?
Hurry up! We won’t be able to see a thing once the sun goes down!
Walking Stick
What the…?
I’m in love! Of course she’ll eat me later, but, hey, love is like that.
Wolf Spider mom: Stay together, kids, or we’ll never get to Grandma’s!
This Late Waspian Dynasty settlement must be a thousand years old, Professor!
No ant left behind!
Wait, I don’t think we’re all ladies here!
‘Scuse me, but that’s my flower you’re sitting on.
Oh! Hello.
‘Sup?
Ant aviators
And on a final, beautiful note.
“Insects are not drawn to candle flames, they are drawn to the light on the far side of the flame. They go into the flame and sizzle to nothingness because they’re so eager to get to the light on the other side.” ~Michael Cunningham (I.e. They’re a lot like us. ~MT)
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” ~Franz Kafka
“No living thing is ugly in this world. Even a tarantula considers itself beautiful. And a dung beetle couple in love constantly proves that you still can be in love living on sh-t.” ~Munia Khan
“Go to the ant, O sluggard. Observe her ways and be wise.”
~Proverbs 6:6
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About mitchteemley
Writer, Filmmaker, Humorist, Thinker-about-stuffer
Amazing pictures! Still, I’m freaked out by the huge, 1-inch black widow on our porch and her two egg sacs. Maybe I can relocate her without getting bit…
The Parsley Plot
She sowed a whole row every year,
tiny black seeds that sprouted and sprang up
into a verdant herb for cooking and grazing,
into a lush hedge for garden fairies,
into a plush pasture for caterpillars.
She planted plenty of parsley
to share with striped and spotted larvae
of green, black, and yellow,
because this sublime vegetation
sheltered a nursery for Swallowtails.
An amazing post!! Very, very interesting, informative and engaging.
Glad you enjoyed it, Ellen!
Thanks, Jerry! This was Pixar’s follow-up to the origingal ‘Toy Story.’ Need to see it again!
Those are some amazing photos!
Some of those bugs are entirely too large!
The only “cute” image is the pug with the butterfly on his nose. The other critters are wise to stay out of sight-except for bumble bees!
Good article and very good pictures Mitch! Enjoy the weekend and God Bless you and your family!
You too, Cora!
Thank you, Mitch.😀
There’s one very frightening thing we humans are going to learn about bugs. If global warming continues all those very bad disease-carrying nightmare bugs in equatorial regions will have a habitat now invading 1,000 + miles north
Not a pleasant thought, Carl.
A bug man, just like myself, and have been since I was without front teeth. I had an Atlas Moth here this spring as well as Monarchs, Honey Bee, Bumble Bee, an assortment of Wasp, Praying Mantis, Murder Hornets, Killer Bee, June and July Bugs, and every insect known in Texas, and we have some that no one else has. The Flying Purple Jigamajag can sting you as many times as it feels like it. The Crawling Death Centipede… up your leg and stings you around your personal area, death within a few minutes, worse than a Rattler or a Texas Cobra. Crickets the size of rats and grasshoppers that can be trained to pull a wagon. Come on down to Granbury and I’ll send you home with an entire bug eco system.
Dang, Phil, sounds like Texas gives Australia a run for their money in the killer critter category!
Yeah mitch, I believe we do. Today is the opening day for Dove hunting season, and it’s going to get loud around here. I told the Doves that hang around the Seed Café they had better stay close. I enjoyed your post about the bugs, good stuff.
I love spiders but am afraid of butterflies/moths. That giant one gives me the heebie-jeebies!
Now that’s a reverse perspective, Kerry!
Phobias are weird!
Great photography.
Interesting….our wolf spiders are rather smaller in Canada … must be the cold weather 😉
Maybe the babies huddle closer to mama. ;>)
I’m so curious what all those ladybugs were going for!
Great photos. I especially loved the one with the pug and the butterfly.
Great post, Mitch. I love the sound of singing cicadas – it’s the epitome of summer to me – but I do not want to ever encounter one of those from Borneo!
I know, right?
My last night in Arkansas before we moved our daughter and her husband with their micro-preemie back to Florida, I was bit in the night by what could only be a Wolf Spider. It got worse and worse until I went to my doctor. They gave me a tetanus shot as well as strong antibiotics. I’ve never had a fear of spiders but this changed all that. I must confess I scrolled past all the pics. Just can’t look or I’ll have nightmares.
I can relate to you, Debi, especially where spiders and beetles and bees are concerned. I am terrified of them. I am slightly better at 78 than I was at any younger age, but not much.
Understandable. Insects are fascinating, but…
I think God’s insect creations are masterfully made!
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Amazing.
As a kid I always played in the dirt and had a fascination for bugs and how large their communities and species were.
Me too, Nj.
I LOVE these pictures! Occasionally a cricket or some other form of insect will find its’ way into our house and, knowing the cats would have a field day with it, I try to lure it onto a sheet of paper and return it to it’s natural habitat in our tiny garden. Sometimes its not possible, but we do our best.
If you put a damp cloth on the floor, a cricket will crawl under it and you can pick it up and put it out.
I never knew that! Thank you!!!!
Thank you for these fantastic pictures, Mitch. I love insects! I hope you and Spot share many happy times together. 🙂
;>) Thanks, Lesley.
Wow, that is some amazing photography.
name the size of roaches & ants colby has in his clubhouse
Oh, I think Colby gently carries them all outside, Rudy.
what type of bug spray he has
No sprays, just kindness.
Waouh ils sont énormes, ils sont magnifiques..
Très vrai!
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