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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Macros: The wheel bug, Arilus cristatus (Linnaeus); Eggs and Nymphs

I was outside with Abby Gail in my arms yesterday. She wanted to sniff and smell the branches of a crepe myrtle tree and I obliged her by getting closer and lifting her up. It was then I spied a weird hexagonal object on one of the bigger branches. Since I could not see it well with the naked eye, I grabbed my Macro lens and shot a few pictures.

I then noticed a few of the critters above the weird object and snapped a few pictures of them.

I did some research for this blog post this morning. When I discovered it is the Wheel Bug, I exclaimed, "holy sh--"! If you know what the Wheel Bugs are, you will understand my initial dismay. They are the assassins of the insect world and can have an extremely painful bite. However, they are beneficial critters for organic gardening (which I attempt to do since I do not like using pesticides.)

I can recognize the adults. I just never seen the youth and egg sacs until now. Just keep them away from me and I will be a happy person. Sometimes ignorance is bliss because if I had known what these were, I would have not gotten so close to snap pictures.

Here is a good article about this insect: The wheel bug, Arilus cristatus (Linnaeus)..

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