Behold the honey bee (apis mellifera):
… the six-legged masterpiece of engineering and the only creature on Earth who can show up to work in a fur coat, shove her face into the buffet, and still be considered the most productive member of the ecosystem
not a bee, not a wasp; just a fly, a spotted eyed drone fly (eristalinus punctulatus), working hard on its disguise and weighing its life choices from this leaf.
.. tiny, and then so close their whispers sound more like thunder
honey bee (apis mellifera)
honey bee (apis mellifera) collecting nectar from the pink flowers of an Escallonia shrub.
hover fly (eupeodes fumipennis) on dendelionn (taraxacum officinale),
on the mexican orange bloom (choisya ternata) is the soldier fly (odontomyia)
honey bee (apis mellifera) foraging amongst lavender
blow fly (calliphoridae)
the meat ant (iridomyrmex purpureus)
ommon drone fly (eristalis tenax), mimicking a honey bee & foraging amongst thyme (thymus vulgaris)
on a leaf's edge, is the citrus flower moth (prays nephelomima)
unmistakeable with its long antennae, is this katydid
banded sugar ant (camponotus consobrinus)
tiger crane fly (nephrotoma australasiae) on a dead leaf - often mistaken for large mosquitoes but are harmless to humans and do not bite or suck blood
.. its a pelecinus polyturator is a species of wasp in the family pelecinidae.
orange assassin bug (gminatus australia)
lynx spider (oxyopes species), devours hoverfly (syrphidae)
honey bee (apis mellifera) at rest on a leaf
honey bee (apis mellifera)
short-tailed blue butterfly (cupido alcetas)
honey bee (apis mellifera) foraging amongst lavender
honey bee (apis mellifera) foraging amongst lavender
about to pounce, is the adanson's jumping spider (hasarius adansoni)
leafroller moth larva, suspended in mid-air by a silk thread.
under side of the daddy long-legs spider (pholcus phalangioides)
nature’s irony: creating one of its most beautiful metallic finishes, and then giving it questionable taste buds.
greenbottle fly (lucilia sericata)
… ensuring the planet’s future, with the vital dance of existence - but mostly just for the snacks!
.. all aboard! on a rather crowded garden daisy express - with 9 little creatures? ... the tachinid fly (phasia obesa), carpet beetle (anthrenus verbasci), and the bunch of thrips (order thysanoptera)
honey bee (apis mellifera) collecting nectar and pollen from a lavender flower.
resting on a lavendar stalk is a yellow-shouldered stout hover fly (simosyrphus grandicornis)
resting on thyme flowers (thymus vulgaris) is a green bottle fly (lucilia sericata)
short-winged conehead green katydid or bush-cricket (conocephalus dorsalis) - its thin antennae exceeds its body length, distinguishing it from a grasshopper.
atypical of the lynx spider (oxyopes species), is the web its spun
the same, but from a different angle is a green bottle fly (lucilia sericata)resting on thyme flowers (thymus vulgaris)
well camoflauged is a grass moth (agriphila selasella)
honey bee (apis mellifera) collecting nectar and pollen from a lavender flower.
to the Japanese Spindle trees (euonymus japonicus) ... they have, rather than bees, flies that choose to swarm because of the plant's small, often inconspicuous flowers that produce scents (like acetoin) that are highly attractive to flies which act as pollinators
hoverfly, mimicking a bee (syrphus ribesii or Eupeodes corollae)
bluebottle fly (calliphora vicina)
green bottle fly (lucilia sericata)
green bottle fly (lucilia sericata)
green bottle fly (lucilia sericata)
green bottle fly (lucilia sericata)
eight eyes versus two mega-eyes.
The speed and stealth of the Lynx Spider overcome the broad, motion-sensing vision of its prey. A perfect, brutal snapshot of the arachnid's simple eye clusters versus the insect's complex compound eyes.
