#inverts — Public Fediverse posts

@NatureMC @enriquericos As promised. When I went to fish this person out of a water bucket, I thought it was a wasp from a distance but seeing the chunky body it was obviously a fly :) antennae are another giveaway. Not great shots, the spot was darker than I realised. It looked very soggy but quickly moved onto the pots from where I placed it on a bench + by the time I got the camera + took a few shots, it was dry enough to buzz away!
#FlyDay #insects #inverts #Alberta

I was talking about #wasps (etc) with @enriquericos + @NatureMC here's a cool local one not huge but good size- maybe close to 1 inch/couple cm long? but very narrow. I *think* this is the same kind I saw earlier in the year laying eggs in cocoon of the Forest Tent Caterpillars (of which we had a major explosion this year- did I ever share videos?) if so, this should have been a great year for them! #insects #Alberta #BorealForest #inverts #nature #photography

Black Raspberries continue to deliver: tons of #pollinators even as berries (tiny + green) begin to develop on earlier flowers + still a few surprises. Saw this nifty little #moth yesterday Synanthedon bolteri Northern Willow Clearwing- looking very much like one of the long skinny wasp species to the naked eye.
I'm not a fan of gifs but when I noticed I had pics of its tail going up + down I couldn't resist
#insects #inverts #Alberta #Canada #summer #garden #photography

2 Second sighting 6 days later; again I blelieve it is Giant Birch #Sawfly Trichiosoma triangulum but not certain. This second one seems a bit more robust, and it posed long enough for me to go change to my micro lens. Critters really love this Aralia plant- tons of pollinators in season, and things posing on the leaves at other times! details in alt
#insects #entomology #inverts #biodiversity #nature #Alberta #Canada #garden #photography

1 One of my favourite sightings of the year- I believe it's Giant Birch #Sawfly Trichiosoma triangulum -I'm just not sure it's large enough + not clear whether there are any very similar spp a bit smaller..I saw it twice over 6 days, thought maybe it was the same one- same spot, on same plant- but looking at the close shots 2nd looks a bit different/bigger. 4 shots of each, details in alt
#insects #entomology #inverts #biodiversity #nature #Alberta #Canada #garden #photography

This was my excitement for the day :) Seems to be a Mesopolobus wasp parasites of various caterpillars usually some used as biological control.
Mix of sun + cloud this afternoon with rain + small hail! Then the sun came + went again (+again). I've started looking at foliage as much as flowers for places to find critters, + this tiny one was on the leaves / stems of poplar suckers.
#wasp #insect #biodiversity #nature #inverts #macro #Alberta #Canada #wildlife

Can anyone tell me what this Ladybug is doing? It's clinging to some fuzzy mass stuck to a dry leaf on a wild Gooseberry stem. *Not* the 'nest' of the beetle itself, i had to look it up, but they lay a batch of eggs right on a leaf surface etc, no fuzzy covering. So, raiding the eggs or larvae of some other critter?
#ladybug #beetle #insects #inverts #Alberta #spring #nature #photgraphy

Okay @vlrny Here are a couple of these cuties- I believe they are some sort of Lappet moths, I'll see if get a better id when I get some posted on iNat. I've seen a nmumber of them over the last week or two, on walls near outdoor nightlights. They blend in well with dried leaves, wood etc- can be more obvious on walls, but where there's some dbris caught in spider webs etc, they can still be hard to spot!
#moth #inverts #insects #InsectFriday #Alberta #Canada #nature

Tiny native bees among other critters enjoying the flowers in the rock garden- native plants have not started to flower yet (except poplars and willows, the first herbaceous could be any day). On Draba aizoides and Tulipa urumiensis (or something) #garden #insects #bees #pollinators #spring #Alberta #Canada #inverts #BloomScrolling #Florespondence #photography

Bonus shot.
#moth #inverts #nature #Alberta #insects

This is a cool mid-size #moth (a couple/several individuals shot over a couple of days) that I saw for a week or so (2?), shot during the day on the wall/screen door of the old trailer, below a night light. They perch mostly wings out, looking very much like an autumn leaf! Possibly Maple Spanworm Moth Ennomos magnaria we don't really have maple trees here, but they also use other species including Poplar which we have lots of! #insects #nature #Alberta #Canada #inverts

Another #wasp on the #Aralia in the #garden I've only had a couple of brief poor views of similar in the past, so I was excited to see this one! At first I just got a couple of distant snaps and it was gone! I spent more than half an hour traipsing around the acreage to all of the flowering plants, finally found it again on another Aralia plant. Not great/close shots, but I was still stoked! Waiting for id on #iNat (maybe) #insects #Alberta #inverts #nature #Canada

Aralia racemosa (ex wild Ontario seed- I'll post the plants some day) is in flower. It's #pollinator central- mostly #wasps of many sizes, shapes, colours + a similar variety of flies, few if any bees. The plants are huge (like a mid size shrub, but herbaceous) with thousands of tiny flowers, so I'm spending lots of time with them! This particular wasp with its bright cinnabar colour looked like a little #dragon! #insects #inverts #garden #Albera #Canada #nature

I've been mentioning this #wasp for ages finally got photos edited. I said green + red, but it's also blue + gold!
As crazy as this looks, I learned there are other species with even brighter / wilder markings! Still, I'm thrilled to have seen this, even more so that it hung around long enough and still enough that I could get lots of photos 🙂
More on iNat https://inaturalist.ca/observations/309659975
#InsectThursday #inverts #nature #garden #Alberta #Canada

Not long ago I showed some images of Dianthus barbatus Sweet William. More of them are in bloom now, in a range of colours. Here's another with one of the army of European Skippers (Skippers -and other #Butterflies -*love* Dianthus flowers and can often be seen with their faces deep in, using their long proboscis to reach nectar in the tube below the face).
#insects #inverts #nature #gardening #Alberta #Canada #BloomScrolling #pollinators