Big Wheelbug
Wheelbug on Boxwood Dunnellon, Florida. Wheel bugs are beneficial assassin bugs that prey on pest insects. While common, they are quite shy and difficult to see.
Busy Bee Collects Nectar and Pollen
A bee collects nectar from a purple flower in Canmore, Alberta. The garden along the Bow River is host to many pollinators, including insects and hummingbirds.
Caterpillar Mimics a Snake
The giant Swallowtail caterpillar mimics a snake when disturbed, rearing it’s head and extending hidden antennae that resembles a snake’s tongue and emmitting a foul odor.
Dragonfly Nymph Becomes an Adult Dragonfly
After spending as much as four years underwater as a nymph, a dragonfly emerges from Lake Rousseau and prepares to take to the skies. But first, it will spend up to 3 hours climbing out of the nymph shell and hardening its legs, wings and exo-skelleton.
Dragonfly Prepares for First Flight
A dragonfly pumps fluid into its wings to unfold them in preparation for its very first flight. At this stage in their life cycle they are vulnerable as they cannot fly until their wings are fully dried and stiffened.
Dragonfly Smiles
A dragonfly appears to be smiling while resting in the sun. They are ambush hunters with extraordinary eyesight and can take flight and intercept their insect prey with great success.
Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
The Gulf Fritillary Butterfly is a brightly colored butterfly of the southern US. It is common along roadsides and forest edges. It is also known as the Passion Butterfly, as its host plants are the passion vine and passion flower.
Hoppy Together
A pair of Lubber Grasshoppers meet on a seedhead of a reed. Growing to 3+ inches and having a tough exoskelleton and a bitter secretion when disturbed, they have few natural enemies and voracious appetites for many kinds of vegetation, including cactus.
Land Lubber
Lubber Grasshopper on Sawgrass in the Withlacoochee Gulf Preserve near Yankeetown, Florida. Lubbers are huge grasshoppers that can consume large amounts of vegetation. There are over 100 different plant species on their menu.